Promoting democracy in Utah one pint at a time.
Promoting democracy in Utah one pint at a time.
So, I have already seen the intertubeweb blow up over the past hour after the breaking news that Senator Chris Buttars has been removed from his chairmanship in the Judiciary Committee – effectively killing his political power on the hill.
There are numerous factors that create power on Capitol Hill: how well you are able to talk to people to get what you want, your position within your own party, your ability to rally troops for a particular issue, and what committees you sit on. The first three are somewhat obvious – but committees are a tricky thing – some are more powerful than others, and all have the potential to make you new friends or enemies.
Committees act as a sort of halfway house for bills and are generally the only place that most bills will ever see proper debate – furthermore this is the only time that the public can provide direct input on any particular bill. Committees are specialized into various fields such as rules (the most powerful) to ethics (the least used); this specialization allows the hundreds of bills to be heard at any given time. What makes committees so important is that anywhere from 5-15 legislators sit on a panel and decide if the bill should even be heard by the full legislature – if it does not make it out of committee, the bill is dead.
Within committees, certain positions are more important than others. The most important position in any committee is the chairperson; they control the agenda and what bills will be discussed in the first place – if the chair does not like a bill, guess what, it ain’t going anywhere.
The bad bill just keep stacking up whenever the legislature is in session, don’t they? The most comprehensive commentary on this years’ bills are over on Curtis’ Blue in Red Zion.
I’ve been hearing quite a bit about HB 187, which is of interest to the Utah Rivers Council and users of Utah’s rivers. This bill could mean 1000’s of miles of Utah rivers could be open to development. This bill is going to hearing and Utah Rivers Council could use your support by showing up Friday, February 20 at 2:00 pm in Room 445 of the Utah Legislature. See more about this on the Utah Rivers Council website.
A group calling themselves “America Forever” pulled a full-page ad in the Sunday Salt Lake papers warning Utahns of the “homosexual movement”. In the Tribune it’s on page D12, and I’m sure that it’s in the Deseret News too. The ad is full of lies and fear tactics and it’s scary that there are people that believe this. My first instinct was to laugh because it seems like it should be bad satire, but this group seems legit.
In case you don’t get the paper and you need a laugh you can see the ad by clicking the photos below:
A full page of hate in the Salt Lake Tribune
A full page of hate in the Salt Lake Tribune
So we have reached that time in the legislative cycle where lawmakers frantically try to get their bills heard during this legislative session. You see, last Thursday was the last day to submit bills without the House or Senate considering it beforehand.
In an effort to get things in order, lawmakers will – in legislative speak – have the “bill numbered by title without any substance.” These bills are known as “boxcars” in political jargon, and act as a way for lawmakers to hold their place in line when they are finally ready to put a bill froward. Now these bills have nothing in them and literally consist of just the bills name, number, and sponsor – no change of legal code, not radical ideas that would plunge the state into chaos, no…just the bills name, number, and sponsor.
But, man, some of them are sooooo tantalizing; here are a few I would love to write about if they just had some meat to them:
H.B. 171 – Children’s Health Insurance Program Amendments – K. Holdaway
H.B. 335 – Health Insurance Transparency – J. Biskupski
H.B. 336 – Concealed Firearms Amendments – C. Wimmer
H.B. 339 – Legislator – Benefit Plans – E. Hutchings
H.B. 347 – Alcoholic Beverage Control Act Modifications – G. Hughes
H.B. 349 – Heavy Beer Amendments – C. Oda
H.B. 376 – Revisions to Alcoholic Beverage Control Act – G. Hughes
H.B. 384 – Public Lewdness Amendments – D. Ipson
H.B. 400 – Pete Suazo Utah Athletic Commission amendments – C. Oda
H.B. 405 – Geothermal Pool Amendments – K. Sumsion
H.B. 414 – Eminent Domain Modifications – C. Frank
H.B. 417 – Revision to Local Government – M. Noel
H.B. 426 – Tobacco Monies – M. Newbold
H.B. 428 – Unemployment Insurance Amendments – S. Mascaro
H.B. 440 – Nuclear Power Generation and Distribution – J. Seegmiller
S.B. 72 – Taxes on Motor Fuels – J. Valentine
S.B. 190 – Acquisition of a Billboard by Eminent Domain – W. Niederhauser
S.B. 203 – Revisions to Transportation – S. Jenkins
S.B. 205 – Redevelopment Agency Amendments – C. Bramble
S.B. 215 – License Plates Amendments – G. Bell
S.B. 218 – License Plates Modifications – P. Knudson
S.B. 223 – City and County Carbon Credits for Sequestration of Waste Stream Materials – R. Romero
S.B. 224 - Highway Construction Material Amendments – C. Bramble
S.B. 239 – Transportation Revisions – S. Killpack
What was truly odd was that I was speaking to legislators, not as an intern or staff, but as a sort of freshman reporter. I sat down and talked to as many as I could find to ask them what bills were important to them, how they felt about some of the goings-on on the hill, what they think will happen with the budget, and other various questions that I never would have thought to bring up had I not been writing for this silly little blog.
And so, I have a few more tips and leads, was fascinated by the insights legislators gave to various bills, and I have even more of a sense of wonder about the whole process.
I will be reporting on what the various legislators had to say soon, but for right now I am just going to take it in…I think I know why I do this crazy thing called politics.
When Governor Huntsman suggested the state should do away with the antiquated private club law, I figured it would get some resistance from the legislature. I’ve been watching the debate play out, cheering for Dave Morris – one of the most vocal leaders in opposition to the current law and the owner of the Piper Down where Drinking Liberally meets – and the Utah Hospitality Association.
What I didn’t expect was for the new clown of a Senate President Michael Waddoups to try to make our laws even more regressive. Despite his previous waffling on the issue, Waddoups has recently stated that he wants to start collecting information about drinkers in the state, recording where they go (and in his dream world how much they drink, no doubt) into a central database of sinners. And not just for bar patrons – he also wants to record everyone who has a glass of wine with their dinner in a restaurant. Privacy? Who needs privacy? What’s next, a Ministry of Information?
The Republican party claims to be the party of limited government, don’t they? How is creating a large database of your citizen’s social habits not an intrusion of government? And is this something the state should be spending money on?
To create a database of drinkers is to presume guilt before innocence; assumes the majority of drinkers are reckless and irresponsible. In my experience this is the opposite of reality. Don’t treat us all as potential criminals, Sen. Waddoups.
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Welcome to Drinking Liberally Salt Lake City. We meet at 6:30 p.m. every Friday in the back room of Piper Down [Map] and go to 9:30. All are welcome.
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