This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Is it possible for Utah conservatives to support women's issues without buying into progressive or feminist ideologies? The right answer is yes, of course. But this journey has its distractions for Utah conservatives. And, as we know, especially during a hurried and heavily prioritized 45-day legislative session, most legislators, lobbyists and media have the attention span of tsetse flies, circumstances highly discouraging when asked to unpack issues wrongly perceived as too partisan or politicized.
This situation is unnecessary. There are many important issues primarily affecting women deserving immediate legislative attention. These issues should be prioritized if for no other reason than to do so would go a long way to help diminish political rancor, distrust and all sorts of needless tension and contention.
In Utah, ideologically driven women's issues are typically DOA at the state Legislature. There is little support for abortion rights and not much more for Planned Parenthood. But those issues are not hot priorities for smart and talented women who understand Utah politics.
The Utah Women's Coalition and the legislative Women in the Economy Commission have their reasonable and intelligent focus on issues that are hardly controversial. Take a look at House Bill 242 to amend the Family Medical Leave Act, making a reasonable and modest adjustment to the number of Utah companies covered by FMLA offering unpaid family leave. Did I say unpaid family leave? As amended in committee by the sponsor, HB 242 drops the employee threshold from 50 down to 30 employees and staggers the amount of time off as the employee count decreases.
In claiming to speak for small businesses, a Salt Lake Chamber lobbyist raised the question of need for this bill. Though perhaps difficult for that lobbyist to grasp, HB 242 is not a small-business bill. It is a low-wage earner, family protection bill. Lower-wage employees, often single moms, need assurances that their jobs will be there when sickness or tragedy hit. To claim, as the lobbyist did, that real-life medical and family emergencies are "inconvenient" or "costly" to the employer entirely misses the point of the bill. HB 242 addresses the inconvenience and costs to the employee and her family. In a state that cherishes its families, allowing unpaid family leave is the least we can do.
Another issue that seems like a no-brainer to address now is the installation of baby-changing tables in public places. HB 303 would require baby-changing tables to be installed in the restrooms of public buildings, both the women's room and the men's room. Again, smart private businesses should rush to provide this service, especially restaurants. Is HB 303 one more regulation? Of course it is, though it only applies to public buildings. What this conservative doesn't understand is why the hell any business catering to families needs to have government to tell it to do the sanitary, polite and convenient thing. So, in the case of HB 303, at least government is telling government what to do.
Sen. Luz Escamilla has drafted a bill to require the state Department of Human Resource Management to recommend a strategic plan to the Legislature addressing the gender wage gap within government agencies. DHRM might find nothing or it might find a real wage gap. Either way, this Legislature could put this issue to bed by simply studying it. Hasn't this debate gone on long enough?
Finally, we have HB 278, sponsored by Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, requiring medical and dental providers to bill divorced parents for their child's services along the lines of the child-support court order. Having served on the Child Support Guidelines Advisory Committee for four years, I can tell you that HB 278 makes a lot of sense. If a court order says parents split custody 50/50, medical and dental bills should be paid 50/50 and providers need to bill each parent separately for their halves. A lot of custodial moms get their credit dinged when a deadbeat dad fails to pay up. Likewise, a lot of noncustodial, but responsible, dads sometimes wonder where their money went to pay those medical bills.
I imagine that the storied battle of sexes is a forever kind of thing. But it does not have to be so needlessly contentious. Surely Utah can do its part to diminish some tension by prioritizing (and passing) some of these women's issues during this legislative session.
Paul Mero is president and CEO of Next Generation Freedom Fund.