2022 Legislative Update
Utah’s 2022 Legislature slogged through 819 pieces of legislation (752 bills 67 various resolutions) in just six weeks (45 days). Efficient ? Wow, yes! (But did they read it all … hell no!) Effective …. Yet to be determined! But the breath and depth of the material is amazing. Can we get Congress on the ball – or would that become more of a nightmare ??
Still, having so many more laws and all the tweeks and twists to current updates, in such a volume ... is that a good thing or a bad thing? From such we have a “Ranked Choice Voting Pilot Program,’ on one hand, and have so many new laws it takes lawyers to remember them all – even they have a hard time keeping up.
About 250 bills passed in the last 48 hours of the session under the “suspension of the rules.” This is when all the ‘”good” stuff’ usually gets through – things like good old SB54 that changed Utah’s electoral landscape, the 2019 Taxation ‘modernization’ which resulted in the Taxpayer referendum and the pre-covid 2020 session repeal by the legislature, etc.
And this session hasn’t been without its own controversies. One of the latter-day controversy was when Mike Brown was ejected from the Senate Taxation and Revenue Committee by Chair Sen. McCay (R) from Herriman. The committee was holding a hearing on HB 60 which wanted to ban Vaccine Passports. Brown had a sticker in favor of HB 60 which McCay said was not allowed – which we have looked and have been unable to find in the published rules of the legislature on the website.
Of course, Chairman McCay would never have made up a rule about “posters, or stickers, or …” such things …. of course! Just like he wouldn’t be so rude to a Utah voter to have one-such literally carried out by UHP officers of a meeting he was chairing!!
Senator Dan McCay won’t get censured for his actions, he was only “doing his job” and” legislators are immune from adverse actions when they are “doing their job’– afterall. Maybe it will all blow over before November …. election time, you know … McCay IS running this year (Senate District 18). Voters don’t remember very long, anyway. Right, Dist. 18??
See the outcomes of the various pieces of legislation we were following, shown below. Overall, the session finished before midnight on the 45th day. NOW it is up to Gov. Cox to sign or veto the 500+ bills passed. So, more later.
A Few more issues
UTAH GRAMA under attack- HB 96
UTAH GRAMA under attack- HB 96
UTAH GRAMA under attack- HB 96
Almost every State Legislative session, someone or another has a bill 'modifying' Utah's Gov't Records Access Management Act (GRAMA). It started in 1992 as a national model and over the last 30-years has been tweeked and twisted into a 21st Century Platypus (a joke of nature)! The lastest wants to raise the cost of requests to get PUBLIC INFORMATION! Not only 'Hell NO!' but 'NOT EVEN on your birthday!' HB 96 is another attempt to make GRAMA more difficult and less relevant - while making transparency of government more impossible. And wouldn't you know it, it passed !!
HB 313 - Rep. Jon Hawkins
UTAH GRAMA under attack- HB 96
UTAH GRAMA under attack- HB 96
While some bills want to make Ranked Choice Voting permanent and praise RCV as a success (these didn't make it through, by the way), HB 313 wants to add surveillance at ballot drop boxes and require both more security and ID requirements for new voters who are first-time Utah voters. Securing Utah's votes is also the aim of a citizen's petition drive, which died, but that cost Utah as much as this bill would (it was introduced Feb. 4). The Fiscal note was worked out at $500,000. The bill was amended and altered and passed. It will likely become law and it is yet to see whether it will help Election security and integrity or just be another fly in the ointment.
Continuing Utah Issues
UTAH LAKE
Great Salt Lake Preservation
Great Salt Lake Preservation
A proposal to dredge Utah Lake and 'create' 20,000 acres of 'new land' in the lake to be developed and sold as waterfront property is causing quite a stir (no pun intended). Check out dontpaveutahlake.org for more into on the Conservation side of the issue and look into the Utah Lake Authority on the political side, as well as Lake Restoration info and 2022's HB240 from the Legislature. Is Utah Lake worth a $6.8 Billion project?? Do we want 'islands' and causeways in Utah Lake? Will the proposed changes help or hurt the lake, the recreation opportunities of the lake and what is the impact of such dramatic changes to the area??
Great Salt Lake Preservation
Great Salt Lake Preservation
Great Salt Lake Preservation
Like Utah Lake, the Great Salt Lake is under study (and funding by the State) for preservation methods and programs. Gov Cox wants to spend $200 million to meter Secondary Water and $600k to update the Lake Management Plan. While 2022's HB410 wants $40 million to help protect the Great Salt by providing more water to it, literally buying water rights to go toward the GSL, among other things. Several groups have praised and decried the move as well as the cost (some saying it didn't go far enough, others calling it a good first move). We will continue to watch and keep you appraised.