Utah Cap Haps Blog

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

May Legislative Updates - Special Session

Capitol Pic of the Day

NOTICE: UPCOMING TOWN HALL MEETINGS

I am excited to introduce the first Summer Series town halls. This has never been done in the district and it is a great way to connect community leaders to the people of our district.

For the month of May, we had a great discussion about transportation with special guests Rep. Jonny Anderson, chair of the legislative transportation committee, Abby Albrecht, Director of the Utah Transportation Coalition, and Matt Sibul, Chief Planning Officer for the Utah Transit Authority.

We had a great turn out and look forward to hosting the next one in June. Criminal Justice Reform will be discussed and special guests include Rep. Eric Hutchings, chair of the Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee and Derek Brown, Deputy Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Mike Lee.


INTERIM HIGHLIGHTS

After the legislative session, the Legislature meets for two days every month in meetings we call, "interim" or "in between sessions." These meetings allow us to dive deeper in the areas for which we have oversight. Each interim committee adopts a list of items that will be studied from May through November. Here is the list of study items that were approved by each committee. 

Government Operations Interim Committee - The committee heard about the need to update the voting equipment around the state. This is an issue that was also evaluated in the previous year. Election day voting was a also heard. The committee also heard a report from the Commission on Federalism. A partnership with UVU was established to initiate courses on federalism. No action was taken for any of the items presented. 

Economic Development and Workforce Services Interim Committee - The committee listened to presentations on long-term planning initiatives from the Governor's Office of Economic DevelopmentUtah Capital Investment Corporation, Department of Heritage and Arts, Department of Workforce Services, and USTAR. Each agency also presented their top three priorities. Click here to view each of the priorities, as well as an interim summary for every legislative interim committee. 


SPECIAL SESSION HIGHLIGHTS

The legislature discussed two bills for the special session:

HCR201, Concurrent Resolution on Opposing Unilateral Use of the Antiquities Act. This concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor expresses strong opposition on to the designation of a new national monument in Utah without local input and state legislative approval. The House passed it with 61 yeas 10 no's and 1 absent. 

SB2001, Public Education Appropriations Restorations. This bill restored a budget line item vetoed by the Governor. The House passed with 67 yeas and 6 no's with 2 absent. 

After details were evaluating for both bills, they passed overwhelmingly with a majority in both the House and Senate.


OTHER RELATED CAP HAPS 

I was honored to be recognized by the Salt Lake Chamber as a 2016 Business Champion. Supporting the business community translates to supporting the jobs that take care of our families.