League of Women Voters of Utah

LEAGUE PRIORITIES

The League has broad interests in government and civil rights, social policy, energy and environment, and international policy. This year in Utah we were most interested in:

EDUCATION
ELECTIONS
ENERGY and ENVIRONMENT
ETHICS
HEALTH
IMMIGRATION

Here are the actions we took:

EDUCATION

Gigi Brandt and Patti O’Keefe kept an eye on education for bills about League priorities: adequate funding, quality improvement, and teacher evaluation and compensation. This year due to preoccupation with the budget crunch there were fewer substantive bills that we often lobby on – such as all day kindergarten.

Bills of interest:

HB 150 (Moss) proposed direct nonpartisan election of State School Board members in place of the current nomination by the governor and a nominating committee. The bill passed the House, where an attempt to make the election partisan was thwarted, but was defeated in the Senate Education Committee.
A bill proposing a pilot Singapore math project was defeated by House members who wanted to continue current math and science pilot programs.
SB 199 (Bramble) would have prohibited parent participation in school programs by dues charging organizations such as the PTA. The amended version simply asked all school districts to have a policy of including all parent organizations in school activities, but still failed on the last night.
Several bills continued the attempt to equalize property tax revenue distribution across rich and poor school districts but were unsuccessful.

ELECTIONS

Alice Steiner as League Co-President spoke in committee and coordinated League opposition to SB 126 – Voter Identification for Elections (Daw). Our opposition to requiring voters to present ID when voting was based on (1) the lack of any voter fraud cases in Utah and few nationwide which makes legislation unnecessary and (2) discrimination against groups such as seniors, minorities, people with disabilities, and low income who are unlikely to have ID, especially photo ID. SB 126 was substituted and amended to increase the number of forms of ID acceptable for all voters making it likely fewer voters would be denied. Voters without ID vote provisional ballots and have 5 business days to return with ID to the clerk’s office. Senator McCoy also added requirements for reminder signs in all polling places. Second Substitute HB 126 passed. The League continues to oppose voter ID requirements. The ACLU and NAACP have asked the League to request a veto from the Governor.

We also opposed Substitute SB 69 – Proof of Citizenship Required to Vote (Madsen) a much more restrictive bill, which passed the Senate but was left on the House Board the last night of the session.

Other Election bills:

HB 390 Absentee Ballot Amendments (Mathis) passed. It eliminates absentee in person voting in the clerk’s office on the Saturday and Monday before the election. Salt Lake County objected since they registered 5,000 on Saturday and Monday before the last election, but small counties said they need the office time to prepare for Election Day.
Substitute HB 49 – Voter Challenge Amendments (Hansen) sets up an orderly process for challenging voters before the election and at the polls.
Substitute SB 69 – In Person Voter Registration (McCoy) would have allowed satellite voter registration by the clerk in locations other than the clerk’s office. This is another case of the Salt Lake County Clerk successfully registering thousands of voters, but small counties opposing the practice. Our opinion is that these restrictions are being imposed to reduce the number of registered voters who vote for Democratic candidates, particularly in south Salt Lake County .
SSB 69 passed Senate first reading, whereupon Senator Buttars said it was an “important bill” and asked that it be circled. Senator McCoy agreed. It was never uncircled.

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Bills in this area were carefully shepherded by Ann O’Connell and Kathy Van Dame and accounted for the bulk of League action. (See 2009 Legislative Recap handout).

League opposed HB 27 - Protection for Agricultural Practices (Morley)which aimed to protect farmers from creeping suburbanite conflicts but as written would allow large factory farms and eliminate the protection in current law from “substantial adverse effect on the public health and safety” by agricultural operations. League asked the governor to veto HB 27.
HB 120 - Snake Valley Aquifer Research Team and Advisory Council (Winn) League supported this bill which creates a Snake Valley Aquifer Research Team and Advisory Council to supply data regarding sharing Utah groundwater with Nevada . Passed. League urges the Governor and Department of Natural Resources to carefully act on the resulting data to protect Utah ’s scarce water resources.
HB 379 – Environmental Litigation Bond (Noel). League opposed. It would have required litigants challenging an environmental action by a stay or preliminary injunction to post a bond. If unsuccessful, they would also pay damages to defendants harmed by the delay. Only those citizens or organizations who could afford the bond could challenge a proposal. Concerns included Constitutional questions such as free speech, the right to petition the government, and singling out environmentalists. It passed the House but fortunately died in Senate Rules.
SB 42 – Nuclear Power Distribution and Generation (McCoy) and HB 440 – Nuclear Power Distribution and Generation (Seegmiller) were twin bills that would have allowed licensing of a nuclear power plant in Utah only if (1) a federally approved waste facility existed and (2) the plant would be economically advantageous to ratepayers. League supported by asking Rules Committees to assign the bills to a committee hearing, but both bills died in Rules.
Substitute HR 3 – Resolutions on Energy Policy (Noel) passed. League opposed the resolution which urged Governor Huntsman to withdraw from the Western Climate Initiative. Sponsors fear the WCI will regulate carbon dioxide, damaging Utah ’s fossil fuel based economy. Sponsors do not believe that increases in carbon dioxide are human-caused.

For more information on Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency (based on Utah Clean Energy, with inserted editorial comments by Kathy VanDame)

ETHICS

Although we did not lobby this year, the League has supported along with Common Cause for many years four bills that finally passed this year: limiting gifts from lobbyists to legislators and reporting more of them

(SB 156 – Gifts and Meal Provisions for Public Officials (Bell); increasing disclosure by candidates of campaign contributions
(3^rd Substitute HB 346 – Campaign and Financial Reporting Amendments (Dee); requiring former officials to wait a year before becoming paid lobbyists
(HB 345 – Elected Officials – Restrictions on Lobbying (Dee); and limiting personal use of campaign funds by unsuccessful candidates or elected officials after they leave office
(SB 162 – Use of Campaign Funds Amendments – Valentine). A more complete gift ban, which is favored by the public, was proposed
(HB 213 – Ban on Gifts to Legislators (Johnson) and passed committee but died in House Rules.

HEALTH

League took no action on health legislation. Three bills that came out of the Health Care Reform Task Force passed.

HB 188 - Health System Reform-Insurance Market (D.Clark) is designed to expand access to the health insurance market, increase market flexibility, and provide greater market transparency.
HB 165 - Health System Reform-Administrative Simplification (Newbold) sets standards for the exchange of payment information between health care providers, insurers and patients.
HB 331 – Health System Reform - Health Insurance Coverage in State Contracts (Dunnigan) says some state departments, including DEQ and the Department of Transportation, must require contractors to offer health care to the contractors’ employees and their families. The policy would apply only if the contract was for $500,000 or more.

Reforms include use of a website portal and help for workers who lose their jobs and can’t afford to continue employer-provided insurance on their own under COBRA. The Task Force expects these changes in the private health insurance market to be part of a 10-year reform process that will concentrate next on health care cost and quality.

IMMIGRATION

Alice Steiner led action on immigration issues.

League supported Second Subst HB 107 – Economic Impact of Illegal Aliens (S. Clark) which proposed a study of the economic impact of illegal aliens on the state, to be done by the Legislative Auditor. The original version also delayed for one year the July 1, 2009 effective date of SB 81, the immigration bill passed last session, but that provision was amended out. The bill died in the Senate on the last day because the cost of the study was not in the budget.
League also supported SB 113 – Delayed Effective Date for Illegal Immigration Legislation (Jones) but it died in Senate Rules.
League opposed and the House defeated HB 208 – Modification of Exemption from Nonresident Tuition ( Greenwood ). The bill would have required undocumented children of undocumented immigrants to sign an affidavit saying that they are not employed or earning income in the U.S. Otherwise, they would permanently lose the in-state tuition rate at state funded universities and colleges. The rationale was that to be working they must have provided false documentation proving legal residence.

OTHER GOVERNMENT ISSUES

League opposed two other bills on good government grounds.

Sherilyn Bennion, a retired journalism professor, helped us understand HB 122 – Government Access and Management Act Amendments (Aagard) which would have limited public access to government records involving anticipated litigation. HB 122 died when the House and Senate could not agree on revisions.
Ann O’Connell helped us oppose HB 278 – B and C Road Amendments (Noel) which diverted local road maintenance funds to litigation on R.S. 2477 roads in federal wilderness areas. But HB 278 passed.

LOBBY CORPS AND OBSERVER CORPS

We depend on members to be part of our Lobby Corps who follow legislation in person at committee meetings and floor sessions or on line at le.utah.gov, Utah ’s excellent website. They report back to interested members, including the Legislative Action Director and the League Office, who have signed on to a Lobby Corps listserv.

This year Anne Zeigler organized a new Observer Corps that includes many new members. They try observing to see if they want to be part of the Lobby Corps too.

Public statements on behalf of the League before legislative committees are made only by the League president or her designees to be sure that League statements accurately represent League consensus positions. Of course members are encouraged to speak on their own behalf.

Anne reports that these Leaguers attended legislative sessions this year: Sherilyn Bennion, Marilyn Bown, Gigi Brandt, Jenn Connelly, Kathy Dorn, Michele Franks, Ruby Hammel, Dan Mayhew, Nikki Norton, Margo Thurman, Anne Zeigler, Ann Wechsler, Ann O'Connell, Kathy VanDame, Polly Hough, Alice Steiner. Many more followed debate on line and responded to emailed League Action Alerts. We hope many more will take part next year.

KCPW and KPCW BROADCASTS were written by Sandy Peck and broadcast by Marilyn Smith, Julie DeLong, Joyce Barnes, Marelynn Zipser, Phyllis Frankel, and Nancy Melling at 8:35 and 8:10 each weekday morning. The reports were also emailed far and wide. The League email list includes media, community groups and KCPW listeners.

LWV WEBSite lwvutah.org

Bob Beaudoin posted Action Alerts and KCPW reports on our website. Kathy Biele and Nanette Benowitz also assisted in this effort.

Thanks to All!

What shall we do next year?

LWVUT 2009 Legislative Priorities
(You can see how the League puts its priorities into political practice by clicking here.)