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Checking In At The Legislature: October 2019

 

Upcoming Events: 
  • November 5th- ELECTION DAY! Don’t forget to mail in your ballots
  • Veterans Appreciation Ice Cream Social Tuesday, November 12, 2019, Doors open 6:15, program 6:30, FAMILIES WELCOME Featuring Colonel Jon A Eberlan, Commander, 75th Air Base Wing George E. Wahlen Ogden Veterans Home, 1102 N 1200 W St Ogden, UT 84404
 
Helpful Links:
In this issue: 
  1. UTA's autonomous shuttle pilot program
  2. Legacy Trail Town Hall Hike
  3. Policy proposal for a Teacher Salary increase?
  4. My water bill for 2020
  5. Recording my first album!
  6. Visiting WXHS government classes
  7. Vaping – what can we do?
  8. Proposed state tax changes
  9. Touring the new airport
  10. Talking Education with Jeb Bush
  11. PTA meet your elected officials night
  12. Concealed Weapons Permit Class
  13. 10/08 National Hydrogen day – Hydrogen update

UTA's Autonomous Shuttle Pilot Program

UTA has sent its autonomous shuttle pilot program all throughout the state. It came to the Capitol during our legislative interim meetings. Many of you may have seen or ridden it at Farmington Station. It will be exciting to see where this will take us for public transportation in the future! Future test sites and feedback can be given at http://www.avshuttleutah.com/

Legacy Trail Town Hall Hike 

Senator Weiler, Representative Ward, and I walked along the Legacy trail discussing topics such as air quality, future trail expansion, education, taxes, and many others.  It was great meeting many of you and enjoying a morning with our natural beauty! 

Recording My First Album

I recorded my first album as a pianist, "The Essence of Kreistler," with David Park, Utah Symphony violinist who is labeled #44th in the world as a renowned violinist, also with Alex Marshall, Music Director U of U Department of Theater. https://m.ranker.com/list/top-100-greatest-violinists/virtuosochannel Watch for it in January 2020!

Policy Proposal For Teacher Salary Increase? 

During the Education Excellence Commission, we had a presentation and recommendation from Envision Utah to increase teacher salary. If we pass a tax restructure, there’s a better chance of being able to fund this. Under our current tax structure, it’s not an option. See the details in this article. https://fox13now.com/2019/10/08/710716/
Discussing school construction improvements in the state with higher education Commissioner David Woolstenhulme and staff Spencer Jenkins.  

Also, with Davis County administration: Craig Carter Assistant Superintendent, Tim Leffel Finance Department Director, and State Board of Education Staff Scott Jones.  

My Water Bill For 2020

I presented in the October interim to the Executive Water Finance Board and the Water Development Commission and will be presenting in November interim meetings. This bill provides training and data tools for municipalities to have accurate data regarding water loss or unbilled water, to have real-time accuracy in fixing water leaks, and getting recommendations for the best place to spend their dollars for improvements. If the government is asking residents to “slow the flow” then government entities had better lead the way in being responsible for their water flow. This helps municipalities to be responsible and report accurately. Stay tuned for a bill number.
With me: Todd Stonely, project funding manager, div Of Water Resources; Patricia Owen, Associate General Counsel, Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel; Alane Boyd, Executive Director, Intermountain Section AWWA; Nathan Lunstad, Permitting Section Manager, Division of Drinking Water; Boyd Clayton, Deputy State Engineer, Division of Water Rights.

Visiting WXHS Government Classes

Visiting WXHS government classes was exciting! Here’s a summary of our conversations: I encouraged everyone to be involved in their communities in different ways during different seasons of life. Always vote. If you don’t step forward, who will? Be grateful for those who have built this community we enjoy and be willing to do the same for generations that follow you. We discussed issues such as vaping, water usage, air quality, education funding, and teacher pay, minimum wage, and many others.

Vaping

What can we do? There was a legislative task force assigned to study this. Watch for many bills related to vaping during the 2020 session. Here’s an unfortunate result on a recent ruling https://www.deseret.com/utah/2019/10/28/20936207/utah-judge-halts-new-restrictions-on-vape-shops-for-now?fbclid=IwAR26c6aRpx_BBsA7PWFSqH8a2qkTNRxZfcFCDQjC8LKYAvzv6L--And how vaping is on the rise in Utah: https://www.deseret.com/utah/2019/10/15/20916330/vaping-lung-injuries-in-utah-continue-to-rise?fbclid=IwAR2Qq3jPXMvMUelvl4mt519M7v_9mRMTWIYBqCxYneaMk18F91xvgGnutxk

Proposed State Tax Changes

There’s still plenty of public and closed-door conversation about a tax restructure proposal. I’m not on the task force, but here are some helpful links and details about what is being proposed. We anticipate a legislative special session to vote on it in December. 
 
Draft of proposed tax bill (one of 7 proposals being discussed) https://le.utah.gov/interim/2019/pdf/00004608.pdf
Summary of changes: https://www.deseret.com/utah/2019/10/18/20920886/utah-legislature-sales-taxes-food-gas-services-tax-cut?fbclid=IwAR0XYveZ9oPE929arCnkDZbN6gPn8ML0CFL2eW8s8w4pvgQQhiYlNvVFvW0
 
http://www.utahfoundation.org/reports/a-lighter-load-utahs-changing-tax-burden/
There are FIVE main components to the Chair's proposal:
Sales Tax on Fuel Sales Tax on Food and Credits Exemptions Services Tax Cut
Put the 4.85% rate on gasoline, diesel, and aviation Restore the full rate on food Restores a list of exemptions to make the sales tax a broader consumption tax Includes certain services in the tax base to make the sales tax a broader consumption tax and providing more similar treatment to goods and services Adjust the income tax rate to somewhere between 4.70%-4.50%
Collected at the distributed level $100 refundable income tax credit per household member Gives an exemption for feminine hygiene tax Newly taxed serviced would be those primarily consumed by the end-user to minimize tax pyramiding  
Raises $240 m and lowers the sales tax earmark on transportation Phase-out begins at $60,000 and is fully phased out by $90,000 Reinstates the reporting requirement for exemptions    
Put this in place as a bridge solution until an alternative funding mechanism, such as an RUC, is a viable source of funding for transportation $150 refundable income tax credit if the claimant has income less than $15,000      
  Includes an EITC for the IGP population up to 10% of poverty      
*indicates additions from Chairs original proposal

Touring The New Airport

Touring the new airport with Executive Director Bill Wyatt and Pres CEO of Power Innovations, Robert Mount, to discuss future generators being powered by hydrogen instead of diesel- what a change that would make to our air quality in Utah! There are currently 47 diesel generators on-site at the airport. Using hydrogen backup generators would provide opportunities for powering shuttle busses, runways, tugs, and buildings with zero-emission. We’ll continue to work on this planning! 

Education With Jeb Bush

Talking Education with Jeb Bush was informative. His ExcelinEd foundation has inspired change in education around the country. Here are some of the takeaways I had from our closed-door legislative conversation with him: 
  1. High school weighted grading 
  2. Competency-based education- we should have K-6 math, reading, and science groups, and the other subjects collective by grade. We need more support for early learning and more opportunity to excel or help those struggling to have more specialists. Currently, we do competency classes in grades 7- 12, but it’s essential that we also have competency in K-6
  3. Higher teacher pay (even though he didn’t emphasis it, this was one of my takeaways
Here is an article about what Jeb Bush is working towards, https://www.ksl.com/article/46660275/jeb-bush-says-kids-born-in-poverty-will-never-hold-jobs-unless-we-dramatically-change-education

PTA Meet Your Elected Officials Night 

We had a great conversation about the billions of increased funds for education from the legislature, and discussing that superintendents choose teacher salary, vaping, new legislative funding for increased school counselors and safety, the vaping epidemic, and other education topics.

Concealed Weapons Permit Class

I brought my 21-year-old son, Brigham, with me to the Concealed Weapons Permit Class. This class was held especially for legislators to focus on current Utah law so as to make educated and informed choices on future gun-related bills. I’m a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment.
With former Utah Legislator, Curt Oda.

10/08 National Hydrogen Day

The weight of hydrogen is 1.008 making 10/08 National Hydrogen day!  I’ve had many conversations with authorities and directors from the inland port, draper prison site, airport, power plants, the governor’s office, and private companies discussing powering businesses and communities with hydrogen. In the Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Legislative Interim Meeting, there was a great presentation about hydrogen. It was nice of the presenter to mention me many times due to the collaborative efforts I have made to bring people together.
With me: the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Justin Harding, and Dr. Laura Nelson, Governor’s Office of Energy Development.

2. With Robert Mount of Power Innovations, Jack Hedge Exec Dir of the Ut Inland Port, and Andrew Hegewald from Dominion Energy. 
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