The clock struck midnight on Thursday night and my first session in the House is now finished. Here is a run-down of the major issues that got wrapped up during the final week of the session.
Budget
I felt that the final budget was quite reasonable. I wish that we could have done more than a 4% increase in the Weighted Pupil Unit for education, but the realist in me recognizes that we are lucky to have gotten even that much. In comparison to the Governor’s proposed budget, the Legislature opted to be much more cautious in committing to on-going expenses.
Health Care
From my previous posts, I think most of you will know that I really did not expect an agreement to come out of this session. From my view on the inside, there was far too much reservation on the part of House members for that to ever happen. I am disappointed that the House’s best faith effort at a compromise (labelled as the Utah Cares plan) was flatly rejected by both the Senate and the Governor. As the Speaker mentioned in press conferences, this plan really does represent a major effort by House members to move to the edge of their comfort zone. I doubt that House leadership will be able to hold together a majority if they propose a program that goes any further or costs any more.
Gas Tax
In case you missed it – the “compromise” proposal ended up raising the gas tax by 4.9 cents right off the bat and moving to a formula that could end up being as much as fifteen cents over time. There is also an opportunity for counties to impose an additional quarter-percent sales tax that would be dedicated to funding local needs. While I supported the concept of changing the way that we fund transportation needs, I was strongly opposed to raising the gas tax in a surplus year. I expressed my opposition and voted against the proposal.
Property Tax
Another thing you may have missed was the statewide increase in property tax to the tune of $75 million. This was included in the “equalization” package. This will mean an increase of about $50 per year on a $250,000 home. For those of you in Provo, this will be a double-whammy because it will be stacked on top of the tax increase related to the voter-approved bond – not good timing. I understand the need to do a better job of equalization but never accepted the argument that the only way to get the equalization package to pass was to include a tax increase.
State School Board Elections
Ultimately, we ended up doing nothing on this issue. The House was very clear that there was no support for any proposal that includes political parties choosing candidates. The Senate rejected that idea, pushing for partisan elections right up to the very last day. Fortunately, there is at least a year until this issue blows up, so stay tuned for more politics and possible maneuvering.
Wood Burning
I was a cosponsor on HB396 which contains language to make that there would not be any season-long bans on wood burning. I wish we could have gone further, but I think the Air Quality Board got the message loud and clear.
Anti-discrimination and Religious Freedom
This was one of the most emotional and difficult decisions I had to make. I will admit that I and many in the House were not very enthusiastic with SB296 as it was written. As with any compromise bill, the language did not do everything that I wanted it to do and included some language and provisions that I don’t like.
For me an important factor was that in meeting with representatives from the LDS Church, they made it clear that they felt that they need the protections offered to them in this bill and that delaying for even one year could jeopardize the church as an institution. After a long period of introspection, I decided to vote for SB296, SB297, HB322 and HB447 as a package, especially with the modifications made to SB297 that protect the rights of individuals to not be forced to endorse a particular marriage arrangement that violates their conscience.
I was quite disappointed that despite very strong support in the House, the Senate chose to not even take a vote on HB322. I hope it (or a version of it) will be back next year. The LDS church has provided a helpful summary and overview of what happened:
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/explaining-religious-freedom-and-lgbt-rights
I look forward to seeing you at my “Post Session Wrap Up” on Friday, March 27
