Kimberly Wagner: Utah lawmakers keep acquiring more power for themselves

Utahns who tout limited government and local control continue to elect legislators who are accruing more power for themselves and getting very involved in what I believe should be local issues. That’s one of the reasons I’m running for a seat in the Utah Legislature — to reinforce the checks and balances that should exist between state and local government.

As a body, the Legislature talks about local control, but its actions suggest that what they mean is that they want state control over more issues relative to federal government control, not that they trust others at the state and local level (including voters) with control.

As Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Gehrke has observed, the Legislature continues “whittling away at the power held by the governor, state agencies and local school boards” but in particular “city and county government authorities.”

Consider a few examples. First, our Legislature has a veto-proof supermajority, and it exercised that power earlier this year to overturn Gov. Spencer Cox’s veto on House Bill 11, the bill banning transgender girls from public school sports, which is now in litigation on constitutional grounds.

Only Republicans voted to override the veto, and not even all of them were on board with that action. Because they have a veto-proof supermajority, if enough Republican legislators want something to happen, it will happen, with no need to consider the views of colleagues or even the governor from their own party.

This is especially concerning as only 50% of Utah’s voters are registered Republicans. Moreover, because these same legislators too often run unopposed for re-election, there is very little accountability at the ballot box.

Second, during COVID, both Summit County and Salt Lake County implemented mask mandates, which they had the authority to do. The Legislature overturned those local mask mandates when they were within a couple of weeks of ending anyway.

Third, as Gehrke points out, by creating “authorities” staffed heavily with members of its own body (e.g., Utah Inland Port Authority), the Legislature further pushes its agenda onto local governments on “land-use decisions, tax revenue and bonding power.”

Fourth, the Legislature continues its efforts to micromanage what’s happening in our classrooms by making decisions that many think are better left to school boards, school districts, schools and teachers.

Fifth, control is at its most local when expressed directly by the will of the voters through ballot initiatives, but the Legislature has repeatedly gutted measures passed by a majority of voters. Consider the legislative maps created and adopted by the legislature last fall. Legislators adopted their own committee’s maps, created with virtually no transparency, without paying any apparent attention to the maps proposed by the independent commission—a commission created because voters asked for it.

Gehrke said, “This is the third time I’ve covered redistricting, and judging both on the product and the procedure, it is the most brazen and shameful abuse that I’ve seen.”

If you really value local and limited government, please consider whether you want to vote for the same incumbents who are elected over and over, with little to no accountability, and who don’t appear to share that value.

Kimberly Wagner has an M.A. in political science and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior, both from UCLA. While raising her family in Fruit Heights, Kimberly has been actively involved in her community. She’s currently the United Utah Party candidate for Utah Senate District 7, which lies mostly in Davis County.