LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER

DISTRICT 43

Representative Cheryl Acton

WEEK 2 (of 7) General Session Review

I once interviewed a UTA bus driver who was receiving an award for driving over two million miles without an accident. (Imagine that – in a bus! Merging in and out of traffic every few blocks!) I asked him his secret to success, and he said it’s looking not just immediately in front of the bus and around the bus, but also down the road. We try to do all three of those things as legislators.

Every year we balance the state budget as we are constitutionally required to do. We also look at existing laws to see what needs to be amended, deleted, added to, clarified, etc. It’s important to remember that any representative or senator can draft any bill he/she likes on just about any subject to do just about anything – but that doesn’t mean anyone else will vote for it. And it has to pass several juggernauts to make it into law: the rules committee, the standing committee, the floor (one each in both houses), ultimately being signed by the governor, if he likes it. If there’s a cost involved with enacting the law, that also has to be funded in a complicated process. This long and difficult life cycle of a bill is absolutely necessary to expose just plain bad ideas and weed out unintended consequences.

My Bills This Session:

It’s been another busy week and things are speeding up on the Hill. I passed one bill off the floor this week (HB6, the base budget bill for Executive Offices and Criminal Justice Appropriations, which I chair.)

H.B 55 Juvenile Justice Services Amendments

I also advanced HB55 Juvenile Justice Amendments unanimously through the House Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice Standing Committee. HB55 allows Juvenile Justice Services, at their discretion, to continue mentoring, counseling, and offering some other services, if needed, to youth as they leave custody to help them remain stable and prevent recidivating into the adult prison system. A small pilot study was 100% effective, which makes JJS very hopeful that this will make a difference in their adult lives – and with a zero fiscal note! One of my motivations for the bill was this statement by Frederick Douglass: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” That bill is on the reading calendar to go to the floor this week, then on to the Senate.

I am also co-sponsoring a number of bills, such as HB60 to ban vaccine passports, HB117 to make it possible for victims of domestic violence to keep their addresses out of public records, and HB122 to stop using the word “illegitimate” in the code when referring to the circumstances of a person’s birth (a small change, but a long overdue one!)

I am also enthusiastically floor sponsoring Senator Harper’s bill SB63, which allows government employees to take bereavement leave following a miscarriage. It passed the Senate committee unanimously and is the first of its kind in the nation!

I have other bills and one resolution in process that will :

ban the use of Social Credit Scores in making lending decisions in Utah;
require school board members’ votes on policy and action items to be published on the boards’ web sites for voters to search, and
encourage adults, especially parents, to safeguard children from ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), ten specific experiences that have been shown to cause mental and physical harm to children throughout their lives, increasing their chances for addiction and incarceration, among other problems.
Re-align the code to clarify parameters for charging on DUI, DMCS, and automobile homicide. HB29 goes to committee this week. Laws are currently spread throughout the code in multiple volumes. Over the interim I met with a working group consisting of prosecutors, defense attorneys, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and others to make sure we got it right.
I have four other bills of less general interest, like protecting some public funds from other agency use, increasing compensation for AP&P and corrections officers (desparately needed!), placing Jordan River signs where state roads intersect with the river, and a bill to add one UDOT representative to the board of the Jordan River Commission.

Three themes are emerging so far this General Session:

Water conservation / The Great Salt Lake
Wage inflation / employee compensation
Tax cuts

Westland Elementary

Rep. Cheryl Acton meeting with young constituents at the Capitol.

This week, fourth grade students from Westland Elementary in the heart of my legislative district came to the Capitol. I welcomed them from the House floor and spoke to them on the east steps. They were delightful!

Podcast

Currently, 7/10 girls lack access to period products. This week, the House Education Committee passed HB 162 (Rep. Lisonbee), which will provide period products in public and charter schools throughout the state. This week’s podcast dives into this legislation, how it came to be, and why it will benefit so many Utah girls. Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Washington

This week we hosted Rep. Chris Stewart and Rep. John Curtis to the Majority Caucus. They spoke to us about their committees in Washington and what’s really going on back there. Always interesting to hear their take on things.

My RFAs (Requests for Appropriations) This Session:

This year, I am also presenting three Requests for Appropriations (RFAs) that will:

Help domestic violence victims prosecute their attackers by covering law enforcement costs for court-admissible “strangulation exams.” Domestic violence is the cause of one third of Utah’s murders. A person who is strangled in an assault is about 7 times more likely to be murdered by their attacker down the road. Strangulation must be verifiable for successful prosecution.
Send 50 Utah teachers annually to participate in civics and history enrichment education in seminars and workshops conducted by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge and other programs.
Complete the West Jordan Big Bend Project on the Jordan River. The project is seeking to restore the natural flow of the river and reduce water lost to phragmites and other invasive species, so that more of the river will flow into the Great Salt Lake. It will also provide an urban oasis for those of us who live in the Salt Lake Valley.

Please reach out to me to let me know your thoughts on legislation and the issues of the day. It empowers me to do my job when I know how you’d like to me vote!

Sincerely yours,

Cheryl

Week 2 (of 7) Newsletter for 2022 General Session