January 29, 2021 Newsletter - Weeks 1-2 (of 7)
News from the Utah Capitol
Rep. Cheryl Acton (House District 43)
January 2021 – Vol. 5 No. 1
From the Desk of Rep. Cheryl Acton (District 43 – West Jordan)
The Utah State legislature convened for our annual General Session on Tuesday, January 19th. For seven weeks, the House and Senate will be discussing and voting on ways to make Utah better, and there’s never a shortage of ideas, many of which come directly from constituents. If you ever find yourself saying, “There oughta be a law…,” let me know! There may be something we can do together to improve our state.
Newsletter stories will be brief, but if you would like more information on any subject, please let me know. I enjoy sharing what is happening at the Capitol, and I always take notes.
OPENING DAY
Utah legislators come from every area of the state and represent many different career fields: teachers, realtors, attorneys, referees, small business owners, engineers, retirees, etc., bringing together many different life experiences and perspectives. For seven weeks, we work to make Utah a better place, and we always balance the budget! Then we go home to our jobs and families, where we live by the laws we just passed.
WEEKS 1 AND 2 (OF 7)
Former U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop swore in 14 new and 61 returning representatives, then we honored our friend and colleague, Rep. Lou Shurtliff, who passed away recently from pneumonia. Speaker of the House Brad Wilson addressed the body, laying out his vision for the session and his concerns about the state, including the path forward through COVID and his concern that only half of Utah high school graduates enroll in post-secondary education within three years of graduation. Soon we were voting on bills, and the session was officially underway.
We heard from Chief Justice Matthew Durrant in the State of the Judiciary address, and Governor Spencer Cox addressed us in the State of the State.
From the State of the State Address:
· “Utah has the highest rate of upward mobility in the country, and the second lowest poverty rate.”
· “Government was never designed to solve all of our problems.”
· “If we want smaller government, we need bigger people.”
None of my bills has gone to committee yet, but I co-sponsored two bills, which have passed the House and are on their way to the Senate. One insures minority representation on the Intergenerational Poverty Commission. The other reduces the number of reports required by the state from school districts across Utah, because reports are very time-consuming and some are not terribly important.
COMMITTEE WORK
Some of the most interesting and in-depth discussions on bills take place in committees, which are open to the public and available for viewing online. My two standing committees, Judiciary and Health & Human Services, have some of the most interesting bills of all. I love my committee assignments!
In Health & Human Services we’ve heard many bills, including HB34 Medical Respite Care (Dunnigan), which would allow the state to apply for a federal waiver to transfer homeless individuals to a respite care facility to complete the healing process after they leave a hospital. (Currently, they bounce back and forth between the street and the hospital, racking up huge ER costs.) We also passed HB110 Healthcare Payments (Maloy), which will make it illegal for a healthcare facility to garnish wages if the debtor is current on his/her payments.
In Judiciary, we passed out many bills, including HB113 Shared Medical Costs (Brammer), which requires unmarried biological fathers to pay half of out-of-pocket prenatal and delivery costs incurred with amounts to be collected by the Office of Recovery Services.
APPROPRIATIONS
In many states, a handful of legislators make all of the decisions about state spending, but in Utah, every legislator is assigned to a subcommittee that oversees a large chunk of the state budget. I am the Vice Chair of Executive Offices & Criminal Justice, where we consider budget requests for the Department of Public Safety, the Courts, Corrections, the Attorney General’s office, and many other entities.
In our subcommittee, we discuss all funding requests, including staffing needs, pay increases, and capital equipment, like a new Public Safety helicopter. (Incredibly, the Department of Public Safety only has two helicopters in total, one of which is very old.) It’s amazing how much you can learn about government by watching what is being funded and defunded.
CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VISITS
This week, Rep. Blake Moore and Rep. Burgess Owens came to the Capitol to report on what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Rep. Moore spoke about being rushed to safety on January 6th. Rep. Owens spoke about the American dream: “We dream big with confidence that no one can stop us, but when government institutions or powerful individuals stop us, we don’t dream anymore.”
MEET MAILI, MY 2021 INTERN
During General Session, legislators are given an intern to help us out in a variety of ways while earning college credit. If you try to reach me and I do not immediately respond, reach out to Maili.
My name is Maili Workman, and I am Representative Acton’s intern for the 2021 Utah State Legislative General Session. I was born and raised in Utah and currently live in Layton. I am a student at the University of Utah studying Political Science with an emphasis on Law and Politics. I plan to attend law school in the near future and become an attorney. I love the beautiful state of Utah and I’m excited to continue assisting Representative Acton in serving the people of District 43.
You can contact me at mworkman@le.utah.gov or +1 (385) 420-3102.
SOME LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION
· To find out what the state spent on anything: Transparent.utah.gov
· To compare healthcare costs: Healthcost.utah.gov
· To see how education dollars are spent: Project Kids https://www.utah.gov/pmn/files/515461.pdf
· To see budget information: Cobi.utah.gov
· To track bills and listen to committees: Le.utah.gov
· To read vaccine protocols: Coronavirus.utah.gov
· To schedule a vaccination in Salt Lake County: https://slco.org/health/COVID-19/vaccine/ or call (385) 468-7468.
Rep. Cheryl K. Acton
5143 W Wheatcrest Circle
West Jordan, UT 84081-3953
Text or Call (801) 809-3571
Email: cacton@le.utah.gov
Web Site: cherylacton.com
Facebook: Representative Cheryl Acton