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Checking In At The Legislature: 2023
Legislative Session Week One

Week One Video Update

For a quick video update from the first week of the 2023 Legislative session, click below! 

The 65th General Session of the Utah legislature has begun swearing in fifteen new legislators. On the first day of the session, I sponsored and passed HB17 and HB74 in the house. HB17 extends the repeal date for the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission. HB74 makes funding for the Utah Marriage Commission non-lapsing. Legislators sit on many commissions and councils designed to align best practices, provide pathways and solutions to statewide issues, and collaborate between private and public entities. In addition to my assignments on legislative committees, I am the Chair of the Utah Marriage Commission, Chair of the Higher Education and Corrections Council, and sit on the Behavioral Health Crisis Response Commission. In legislative committees, I am the Chair of Higher Education Appropriations, on the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Standing Committee, and on the Economic Development and Workforce Services Standing Committee. Before bills are voted on in the House or Senate, they must be vetted in legislative committees.  

I’ll keep working hard for North Salt Lake, Woods Cross, and Bountiful! 

Thanks
Melissa

Helpful links and Upcoming Events:

  • Town Hall Saturday Mornings click here to watch it and post questions or view it on my Facebook page here
  • You can view our weekly agendas here.   
  • You can view Speaker Wilson introduce our three policy priorities here. 
  • Link to listen to Utah House's podcast. This edition on affordable housing. Click here to listen. 
  • View the Governor’s State of the State address here. 

Upcoming Events
You can join these legislative updates on my Facebook page or the South Davis Community page. 

IN THIS ISSUE

  • Week one video update
  • 3HB 215 Funding for Teacher Salaries and Optional Education Opportunities
  • NSL, Bntfl, WX city councils
  • The friendship between Bernice King and my Mom, Kathi Garff 
  • A Utah miracle and reunion of a State Trooper’s life saved
  • Visitors to the capitol
  • A list of House bills passed week one and sent to the Senate

3HB 215 Funding for Teacher Salaries and Optional Education

Friday, 3HB 215 passed the House and has been sent to the Senate. The value of school vouchers has been debated in Utah for decades. I voted against the proposed voucher bill in 2022 because it lacked academic and financial accountability. On Friday, HB215's 3rd substitute was read. This version passed through the Utah House. This bill gives every teacher a $6,000 immediate salary raise. It also provides a scholarship of up to $8,400 to qualified students who are straddling public and private options or not attending public school. Preference is given to those who earn less than $65k a year. It also requires financial and academic accountability for scholarship recipients, which is crucial and different from last year's proposal. It is now in the hands of the Senate to vote. 

North Salt Lake City, Woods Cross, and Bountiful Mayors, City Councils, and Youth Councils 

On Wednesday, I had lunch with Bountiful, WX, and NSL Mayors. City Council members and members of the Youth City Council gathered to hear our governor in a Q&A. On Tuesday, Senator Todd Weiler and I were invited to meet with the NSL City Council to discuss legislative priorities and city needs. It was great to see the NSL Youth Council attending the public meeting!  

The friendship between Bernice King and my Mom, Kathi Garff

In memory of Martin Luther King Jr., I wanted to highlight the friendship between Bernice King and my Mom. Bernice King was the youngest child of Martin Luther King Jr. And Coretta Scott King. She was only five years old when her father was assassinated. In her adolescence, Bernice chose to work towards becoming a minister after having a breakdown from watching a documentary about her father and later went on to become an American lawyer. 

My mother recounted her first meeting with Bernice. “My husband and I met Bernice in about 2003 and went to Coretta’s home for a small reception, where she showed us the original Declaration of Independence (one of only two copies - “All men are created equal”) on loan from the U.S. National Archives, lent to her for the MLK weekend celebration. It was electrifying to read those precious pages. Coretta was charming, gracious, and committed to the non-violence movement for freedom and equal rights.” 

“Shining a light on someone else doesn’t diminish mine. Take time here to encourage people and lift them up.” - Bernice King. 

A UTAH MIRACLE saves the life of a state trooper 

Forty-five years ago, highway patrol trooper Ralph Evans was shot twice in the back by a 13-year-old boy when the trooper was arresting his intoxicated dad. Stanley Green was on his way to a flight and had a feeling to leave 3 hours earlier. Leaving early resulted in Stanley finding Ralph Evans. If he had left just a few minutes later, Ralph would have died. On Wednesday, Ralph Evans and Stanley Green received citations and a standing ovation from the Utah State Legislature, recognizing each of them. Read their story here. 
Colonel Rapich, Wendy Jensen Nicholls, Ralph Evans, Rep. Ballard,
Dr. Stanley Green

Week One Is full of Ceremonial Events!

This week I had a lot of visitors! State School Board member Leeann Wood, Governor Cox and my husband Craig, my son Brigham, Governor's Director of the Office of Families, and SL County Council member Aimee Winder Newton, Elder Uchtdorf gave the opening prayer on the first day of the legislature, and our 5 Utah Supreme Court Justices- it's the first time Utah has had more women on the Utah Supreme Court than men!!!

Bills Passed By The Utah House So Far

For a list of bills that have passed through the Utah House during the 2023 Legislative Session, click here. 
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MELISSA GARFF BALLARD






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