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The Week Ahead
Lawmaking Gets Underway
The gavel comes down at 10 a.m. this morning at the Capitol, convening the 57th Legislature for a short, but intense, 45-day session. When I covered the Legislature full-time as a news reporter in the old days of 60-day sessions every other year, I used to liken it to entering a dark tunnel in the dead of winter for 8 weeks, finally emerging out the other end to the happy prospect of blue skies, birds singing, and spring blossoming. That continues to be a nice thing about the Legislature starting: When it concludes, spring is here (or nearly so).
Some major speeches will be delivered this week. Gov. Jon Huntsman gives welcoming remarks today at an NAACP Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon, noon at Little America Hotel. The State of the Judiciary speech will be delivered at the Legislature at 2:30 p.m. today. Gov. Huntsman delivers his State of the State address Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., at the Utah Air National Guard Base, 765 North 2200 West. And Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson begins his final year in office with his last State of the City speech Tuesday at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 451 S. State, at the same time as the governor’s speech.
For other political events this week, see the Utah Policy Daily political calendar.
Monitoring the Legislature
Utahns can easily stay up-to-speed on what’s happening on Capitol Hill, even without making the trek to the Capitol and fighting the terrible parking situation. You can even watch and/or listen to floor session. The Legislature has created one of the best Web sites in the country, providing citizens electronic access to what’s happening.
The Legislature’s home page is http://le.utah.gov. From there you can track legislation and have e-mail alerts sent to your in-box whenever action is taken on a bill of interest. You can read the full text of all bills. You can read legislators bios and send an e-mail message to them. For a good overview of the whole week ahead, see the House and Senate weekly calendars. For agendas and other information about committee meetings, and to connect to audio and video of floor sessions, see the Legislature’s main calendar page and click on what you are interested in. If you want to hold a rally, demonstration or press conference at the Capitol, click here for a document with rules and regulations. The home page also has a link to key issues facing the 104 lawmakers.
U. of U. Wayne Owens Chair
The University of Utah has received a $1 million gift to establish a Wayne Owens Endowed Chair in Middle East Politics. The gift was provided by S. Daniel Abraham, co-founder with former Congressman Owens of the Washington D.C.-based Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. Steve Owens, Wayne’s son and a Salt Lake attorney, said the goal of the endowment is to teach about the Israeli/Arab conflict so that both sides are fairly represented and so creative, practical peace solutions can be implemented. Owens represented Utah’s Second Congressional District and died in 2002. The Owens family is working to raise another million dollars to match the gift.
Global Warming on ABC
KCPW general manager Blair Feulner and other Utahns were featured on an ABC World News Tonight broadcast last week addressing the Save Our Snow event Feulner hosted in Park City. The event and the ABC News story focused on how climate change is projected to impact Utah’s ski industry.
Presidential Politics
Interesting New York Times story on how President Bush’s troop surge in Iraq complicates presidential ambitions of Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Mitt Romney is also mentioned. … Each of the top presidential candidates has an Achilles heel, says National Journal’s Chuck Todd in his “On the Trail” column.
Washington Watch
Hatch Discusses Children's Health Coverage
Sen. Orrin Hatch participates in national town hall meeting on health insurance for children (Shreveport Times, Akron Beacon Journal, Monroe Times, and Associated Press); Hatch's chief of staff, Patricia Knight, briefs dietary supplement industry representatives on the adverse event report legislation recently signed into law by Pres. Bush (Natural Products Industry Insider).
Bennett to Meet With Frank
Article: "The two key lawmakers entrenched in the controversial attempt by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and Home Depot Corp. (HD) to acquire banking charters plan to meet next week, both sides said Friday. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, will meet to exchange views, but neither appear to have softened their opposing positions" (MarketWatch) (see also related Forbes article).
Regional Politics
Hart: Dems Can Capture West
Article: "For nearly 25 years, Gary Hart has pushed Democrats to switch their political focus from regaining the South to winning the West. Perhaps, then, it's fitting that the former senator received some of the credit for the Democratic National Convention's landing in Denver. Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Hart's paper on how the Democrats might go about capturing the West -- and therefore the White House -- made a difference in choosing Denver over New York" (Denver Post) (see also related Denver Post, New York Times, Washington Post, and Associated Press stories).
Blog Watch
At the Senate Site, Sen. Carlene Walker offers "a preview of a few of my bills this year".... Natalie Gordon explains why she's opposed to school vouchers (see also here and here).... Tyler Farrer makes some general observations about the Utah blogosphere.... At Out of Context, Heather May reports: "He's preached about global warming from his bully pulpit as Salt Lake City mayor. He's convened summits and town hall meetings. Is a book deal next for Rocky Anderson? He says he's been 'dabbling' in writing a multi-genre book. He's found a publisher who might be interested. He may have an illustrator. And he has a working title: Global Warming for Beginners of All Ages: Dr. Fid and His Really Fantabulistic Time and Space Contraption. Fid is a 'charming scientist who explains through this story what is known about the science of climate change and the dangers we're facing in the future if we don't take action now,' the mayor explained. 'I'm trying to do it in such a very simple and straightforward manner it would be easily understood by children.' ... Anderson envisions it fitting in the science, children's, nonfiction and fiction sections. 'There are all these really great books about the science of global warming, but the public by and large isn't reading them. ... If you don't spoon-feed this sort of thing to (Americans), it's hard for them to pay attention.'"
Utah’s Top Issues
With the Legislature underway, issues too numerous to list will be addressed. We will update this list as issues get hot and emerge to the top of the agenda. This list was generated by observing what’s hot in the news media, what’s on the agenda of various policymaking groups, and what’s being discussed among opinion leaders and policymakers. We welcome suggestions and input from UPD readers. E-mail daily@utahpolicy.com.
Hottest of the Hot
- Education funding
- Utah’s 2008 budget and the big surplus
- House/Senate/Governor differences on tax cut/tax reform
- Vouchers/school choice
- Real soccer stadium funding
- Transportation funding and tolling on highways
Emerging
- School nurse shortage
- Education achievement gap of disadvantaged students
- Western states primary
- Cyber-safety issues (cyber predators, child pornography, identity theft, Internet scams, etc.)
- Snake Valley water pumping for Las Vegas
- Minimum wage increase
Mature
- Downtown SLC massive construction
- Immigration
- Washington County land sales
- Open space funding
- Affordable heath insurance
Oldies But Goodies
- Banks/Credit Unions
- No Child Left Behind
- Healthcare reform/Medicaid
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