On tap, they say, are bills to restore vision and dental care to Medicaid patients, remove the rest of the sales tax on food and raise the state's minimum wage from $5.15 to $7 an hour.
Utah's newly-elected lawmakers are poised to "do the right thing" this January for struggling families, said advocate Tim Funk at a news conference on Wednesday, the morning after a mid-term election in which Democrats took control of the U.S. House.
The balance of power in Utah's predominantly Republican Legislature, which debated and rejected the Medicaid and minimum wage proposals last year, hasn't changed. But Funk, who works at Utah's largest food pantry, Crossroads Urban Center, believes changes nationally signal voter discontent with the powers that be.
All six states with minimum wage proposals on Tuesday's ballots approved hikes to hourly rates, ranging from $6.15 in Montana and Nevada to $6.85 in Colorado and Ohio. That brings the total number of states with wages above the federal minimum to 29.
"We could have had minimum wage on the ballot, but the majority [party] chose to go against the will of 77 percent of Utahns and not put it up for a vote," said West Valley City Democratic Sen. Ed Mayne, citing local polls.
But passage may hinge on support from Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who favored the idea early last year, but later decided that more study was needed to determine who, if anyone, will benefit.
Huntsman organized a task force to do just that, but the group hasn't met for a year. A study it commissioned was delayed after its author, a University of Utah professor, suffered a health setback.
Mayne is optimistic, believing even if Utah doesn't act, the U.S. Congress will.
Advocates may have more luck removing more of the food tax, which they succeeded in partially reducing last year with support from Huntsman and House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy.
The food tax is "regressive" in that it hits the poor two to three times harder than the middle class and wealthy, said Doug Macdonald, executive director of Utah Issues. And sales tax increases approved by voters in Utah and Salt Lake counties mean the working poor lost some of the ground gained.
Perhaps the biggest struggle will be over Medicaid, which has come under scrutiny by a legislative task force bent on wringing savings from the $1.6 billion program.
Polls last year showed Utahns overwhelmingly supported spending $2 million to replace lost vision and dental services to the elderly, blind and disabled. But at a special legislative session, Republican lawmakers refused to debate the matter while at the same time approving construction of a $15 million parking garage at the Capitol.
"It's high time they started doing our bidding and leave their agendas at home," said Ricki Landers of the Disabled Rights Action Committee. "Every time they pass bad legislation, I'm telling."
kstewart@sltrib.com
Benefits elude the poor
Measures that Utah Issues cite as proof that Utah's poor have yet to reap the benefits of the state's job growth, gains in wages and record-low unemployment:
* 10.2 percent of families live in poverty, up from 9.5 percent in 2002, says Utah Issues executive director Douglas Macdonald.
* Rising home prices contributed to a 25 percent increase in homelessness, as measured by street counts in January.
* More than 15 percent of Utah households went without health insurance in 2005, up 2 percent from 2003.
* Despite wage gains, Utah workers have lost ground since 1980 after their wages are adjusted for inflation. The middle class suffered most; the richest 20 percent saw their real wages grow.
* Utah is the fifth-most "food insecure" state; 15 percent of households report going to bed hungry.
* In 2003, Utahns earning less than $16,000 paid 11.4 percent of their incomes on taxes, compared to the 7.6 percent paid by those earning above $280,000.
