Dear Legislator,
As I said last year, I appreciate you for being willing to serve as a legislator. I understand the amount of time you have to give to do your job effectively, how much pressure you experience from special interests, how much personal time and privacy you have to give up. So I wish you good luck as you enter this session.
Below are some of the issues I feel are important, not much different than in previous years.
Issue 1: Partisanship. I hope you put the needs of the state ahead of politics in your decisions and balance the needs of the public with the needs of private interests.
Issue 2: Micromanagement of other governmental entities. After following the Legislature closely for 10 years, I strongly feel that the state Legislature should leave governance to the entities given that responsibility by our Constitution: the state school board, county governments, local boards of education, city governments, etc. If legislators feel that those entities are failing in their responsibilities, they should at most review and set updated standards, then let the other constitutionally established governments within our state handle the specifics. Please resist the temptation to micromanage everything in the state.
Issue 3: Support of public education. This year there is a reported $1.3 billion excess of revenue, which the governor has indicated he will recommend go mostly to public education. But that will not come close to closing the funding gap that has grown since 1996. In each of the 10 years from 1996 to 2006, the public education system was shorted $300 million, so during that time the system had to deal with a $3 billion reduction. And, in each of the 12 years since 2006, the system has had to deal with a reduction of at least $200 million a year. That is another $6 billion. That is a very modest estimate of a cut of $9 billion over the past 22 years, which has meant stagnant wages, many teachers leaving the profession early, increased class sizes, fewer counselors, fewer librarians, fewer school nurses, less updated technology, etc.
Issue 4: The number of bills presented and passed during an average session. In every legislative session, 800 to 900 bills are considered. It seems only obvious that if fewer bills were presented, more time could be taken to carefully evaluate them. I strongly support efforts to reduce the number of bills presented and to eliminate the end-of-session surprise bills.
Issue 5: Raising taxes. I don’t like paying taxes any more than the next person, but I do accept that we could not operate as an organized, safe society without them, and to restore lost funding for public education, we need to raise taxes. But, as taxes are raised, please consider who will be hit the hardest, acknowledging that households in the lower 80 percent in income already pay a higher percentage of their income for taxes than do the top 20 percent. And if you are fighting against a tax increase, be accurate in your discussion. For example, a 10 percent increase in a tax rate does not mean a 10 percent increase in taxes.
Issue 6: Public lands. Please resist efforts to turn federal public lands into state lands, where their availability for public use will be threatened.
Issue 7: Enticing new businesses to locate on the Wasatch Front. In 2017, Utah’s population grew by just over 50,000. About 22,600 were move-ins from other states and countries, most of whom located on the Wasatch Front. Enough is enough. Bringing more and more people adds more costs than increased tax revenue, costs for schools, maintenance and upgrade of infrastructure, law enforcement, etc. The cost of housing is too high for young new workers to afford. There will be a water shortage. Our freeways are too crowded, not just during rush hours, and the inland port’s trucks will add to the traffic congestion.
Issue 8: Fiscal responsibility. Fiscal responsibility doesn’t just mean making ends meet with lowest taxes possible. It means making sure important needs such as public education, law enforcement, health care, social services, etc., are covered sufficiently, even if additional taxes are needed.
Fred Ash | Utah Retired School Employees Association.
Fred Ash, Sandy, is the legislative chair of the Utah Retired School Employees Association.