Annual Report Card on Utah Legislature

April 2009

PDF version (Contains ratings charts and rankings)

How Did Your Representatives Represent You in 2009?

Contents

• A Better Year for Responsible Government
• Summison Receives Top House Score Dayton and Waddoups Lead Senate
• What is Grass Roots?
• Analysis of bills for 2009

A Better Year for Responsible Government

GrassRoots has been concerned about the rapid growth of government. Since 2004; government had grown by almost nine percent compared to seven percent from 1992 to 2004. With the Utah economy stalling; lawmakers did not have the resources to continue this rapid growth. Hence GrassRoots scores were up in 2009

The Senate got new leadership, and the new Senate President Michael Waddoups tied Margaret Dayton for the top score in the Utah Senate. The Senate, which traditionally has had lower scores than the House, had a Grassroots rating of 59% compared to the House’s 58%.

For several years, Senator Mark Madsen has attempted to pass legislation which would allow citizens to keep firearms in the motor vehicles. Through his persistence this important legislation passed this year.

The unborn gained several victories, as H.B. 90 tightened Utah abortion law. Bills were also passed which requires physicians to notify those seeking abortions that their unborn child will endure pain during this procedure, and a bill was passed which will allow Utah to collect money from private citizens to defend pro life legislation in court.

The session did have its disappointments as legislators failed to protect the rights of school parents to find better representation for them at schools and failed to protect the rights of students who are home schooled or attend private school.

Legislation was passed which increased regulation on hunting guides and made it easier for municipalities to increase taxes for parks and recreation. Both chambers also passed a resolution which could increase the number of foreign citizens competing against U.S. citizens for jobs.

Summison Receives Top House Score Dayton and Waddoups Lead Senate

House Summary: Kenneth Summison (R-UT) edged out Carl Wimmer (R-SL) and Michael Morley (R-UT) to receive the top score in the House. Rounding out the top five were Carl Grover (R-UT) and John Dougal (R-SL). Overall the House averaged a 58% compared to a lifetime score of 49%.

Senate Summary: Senate President Michael Waddoups (R-SL) and Margaret Dayton (R-UT) led the Senate. They were followed by Mark Madsen (R-UT). The Senate had an average rating of 59% compared to their lifetime score of 48%

Governor: In his last session as Governor; Gov Huntsman enjoyed his highest score with a 61%. His lifetime score was a 39%

What is GrassRoots?

GrassRoots has been issuing an annual legislative report card since 1992. The Constitutions of the nation and state are the guides which GrassRoots uses in picking issues for its legislative report card. Bills are picked without regard to any particular individual.

Analysis of Bills for 2009

Bills are listed by number with house bills listed first. The sponsor of the bill is in parentheses. The tally on bills from each house is listed by yeas, nays and those absent or not voting. Text of all bills can be found at http://www.le.state.ut.us/.

A) H.B. 12 (R. Greenwood) Takes away citizens rights to elect those they want to represent them by placing stricter requirements on those elected as county sheriffs. GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the House 71-1-3, Senate 22-6-1 and was signed into law by the governor.

B) H.B. 64 (B. Dee) Creates a multi-force task force to help deal with the illegal immigration issue. One of the proper roles of government is to protect our borders in defense of our nation which this bill helps accomplish. Also, the primary responsibility of government is to protect citizens’ rights and enforcing illegal immigration laws does that. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the House 63-5-7; Senate 28-0-1 and was signed into law by the governor.

C) H.B. 90 (P. Ray) Another proper role of government is the protection of life. Each year millions of innocent children are killed through abortion; this bill strengthens Utah’s abortion laws. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the House 63-5-7; Senate 21-4-4 and was signed into law by the governor.

D) H.B. 107 (S. Clark) Creates committee to look at the economic impact of illegal immigration. Taxpayer dollars should be used to protect law obeying citizens and not look for ways to promote illegal activity such as illegal immigration. GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the House (53-16-5) but did not come up for a vote in the Senate.

E) H.B. 114 (K.Sumison) Creates an account for private citizens to be able to donate to help defend pro life abortion legislation. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the House (47-16-12); Senate (23-4-2) and was signed into law by the governor.

F) H.B. 173 (E. Vickers) Enlarges government by requiring hunting guides and outfitters to be licensed. This bill is an infringement on private enterprise. GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the House (59-13-3); Senate (24-4-1) and was signed into law by the governor.

G) H.B. 198 (C. Johnson) Increases the marriage license fee by $10. While this fee is voluntary, history shows that voluntary fees soon become mandatory and grow larger over time. The voluntary fees have nothing to do with the cost of producing a marriage license. Fees not related to costs are simply increased taxes** GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the House (47-24-4); Senate (15-14-0) and was signed into law by the governor.

H) H.B. 222 (C. Wimmer) Requires that 24 hours before an abortion is performed; the physician inform the patient that the child can be given an anethestic. This bill will remind those seeking abortions that an innocent life will be taken during this procedure and the child will feel pain during the procedure. Government has a duty to protect the innocent. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the House (57-12-6); Senate (22-4-3) and was signed into law by the governor.

I) H.B. 357 (S. Sandstrom) One of our most basic rights is the right to bear arms, bill strengthens this right by extending the right to carry firearms in a person’s vehicle. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the House (63-8-4); Senate (25-3-1) and was signed into law by the governor.

J) H,B. 429 (K. Holdaway) Seeks to make it easier for municipalities to increase taxes to fund recreation, zoological and botanical societies. Government already places too high of a tax burden on its citizens. GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the House (38-33-4) but did not come up for a vote in the Senate.

K) S.B. 16 (J. Greiner) Bill violates the Fourth Amendment by allowing police officers to order groups to disband and fining them if they do not. The right to assembly is one of our most basic rights; and this right should be protected if groups are acting lawfully. GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the House (56-17-2); Senate (25-2-2); and was signed into law by the governor.

L) S.B. 18 (W. Neiderhauser) Increases the number of government agencies who must provide all of their financial information to the citizens. Citizens have a right to know how their dollars are being spent. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the House (59-11-5); Senate (25-0-4) and was signed into law by the governor.

M) S.B. 43 (H Stephenson) Government mandate which requires insurance companies to provide autism insurance. GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the Senate 21-4-4 but did not come up for a vote in the House. HH

N) S.B. 61 (M. Madsen) Allows students who are enrolled in home school or private school to participate in public school extracurricular activities. The tax dollars of home school and private school students help support public schools, these parents should not be discriminated against because they choose to pay for their own children’s education through home or private school GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Failed in the Senate (13-16-0).

O) S.B. 69 (M. Madsen) One of the essential elements of our republic is free and fair elections, this bill protects this right by insuring that only citizens participate in the elections process by requiring proof of citizenship when voting. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the Senate (22-7-0) but did not come up for a vote in the House.

P) S.B. 78 (M. Madsen) Protects our second amendment rights by allowing citizens to keep their firearms in the personal vehicles while at work. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the House (60-11-4); Senate (22-3-4) and was signed into law by the governor.

Q) S.B. 143 (S. Killpack) Reauthorizes over 50 state entities and programs within one bill. The purpose of sunset laws is for a program to end at a certain date. Reauthorizing a large number of unrelated programs in one bill is poor government. GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the House (60-10-5), Senate (24-4-1) and was signed into law by the governor.

R) S.B. 179 (C. Bramble) Takes away personal rights and responsibilities by making failure to wear a seat belt a primary offense for those under 19 years of age. GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the Senate (20-6-3) but did not come up for a vote in the House.

S) S.B. 190 (W. Niederhauser) Protects property rights by making it more difficult for a municipality to use eminent domain to stop a billboard. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the House (63-8-4), Senate (28-0-1) and was signed into law by the governor.

T) S.B. 199 (C. Bramble) Requires school boards to promote participation by all parental groups in schools. This bill increases parental power to allow them to form organizations that will best represent the interests of them and their children. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the Senate (21-7-1) but failed in the House (30-43-2)

U) S.B. 213 (H. Stephenson) Promotes free enterprise by prohibiting municipalities from regulating the dissemination of nutritional information in restaurants. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the House (51-20-4), Senate (26-0-3) and was signed into law by the governor.

V) S.B. 225 (L. Robles) Appropriates $1.8 million in 2010 and beyond to expand CHIP coverage to children of legal immigrants; regardless of how long they have lived in the country. GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the House (15-14-0) but did not come up for a vote in the House.

W ) SCR 1 (S. Jenkins) Urges Congress to grant Utah a waiver to start a guest worker program. At a time when Utah and the nation are suffering from high unemployment rates; we should be looking at ways of increasing the employment of our citizen’s first. GrassRoots approves of a no vote. Passed the House (57-12-6); Senate (16-13-0) and was signed into law by the governor.

X) HJR 8 (C. Wimmer) Proposes to amend Utah Constitution to require elections for public office, referendum and employee representation to be by secret ballot. The right to the secret ballot is one of the fundamental principles of our republic. This bill protects this right. GrassRoots approves of a yes vote. Passed the Senate (53-22-0); Senate (21-8-0) and was signed into law by the governor.