Welcome to The Senate Site

In today's Salt Lake Tribune by Lisa Lisa Rosetta (and Francisco Kjolseth - photographer):

"Dentists and physicians are dropping off at just an alarming rate," said Senator Allen Christensen, R-Ogden, a dentist who estimates at least half of his patients are on Medicaid.

"The dentists do not need the patients. They're busy enough with their regular-paying clients," he said. "But the patients need the dentists. It's an ongoing battle."

Advocates have long called for higher Medicaid reimbursements for work by dentists, and for the last four fiscal years, the Legislature has responded.

Reimbursements went up 4.3 percent in 2005; 4.8 percent in 2006 and 2 percent in 2007. In 2008, it spiked 30 percent, but for pregnant women and children only; adult services saw a 6 percent bump.

But a dentist work force analysis released last week by the Utah Medical Education Council (UMEC), shows the boost in funding may not have had the desired effect.

Nearly three-quarters of Utah's 1,075 dentists reported in 2006 that they would not accept new Medicaid patients, citing low reimbursement and missed appointments as the major reasons, the report said.

Op-ed piece by Harry West in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

...I was especially struck by the words of Lane Beattie, CEO of the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce and former president of the Utah Senate. He compared congested highways in northern Utah to clogged arteries in a human being.

. . . In Utah, the region's business community took action. And it worked.

In Government Technology:

Utah has won an award from the non-profit GovMark Council recognizing the state for the Online State Construction Registry maintained by the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing.

The state of Utah was recognized as having the best overall marketing program as well as the best state and local program.

In its third year, the awards program organized by the GovMark Council recognizes marketing efforts directed at the government information technology market. Last year the Utah Department of Motor Vehicles was recognized for its marketing efforts.

"Looking at the winning programs, it is evident that the government IT community's most creative and effective marketing initiatives are integrated campaigns that leverage the benefits of both traditional and new media, " Stephen W.T. O'Keeffe, GovMark Council executive director said.

Janeen Halverson posted a great aerial shot of the State Capitol on the other senate site.

For perspective: one lap around the circular walkway is exactly one mile.

By Lyle Hillyard
Utah State Senator: Cache and Rich Counties

I was saddened to read of the passing of former State Senator Jack Bangerter. Jack represented the southern part of Davis County and I had the privilege of serving with him for several years in my early days in the Utah Senate. He was not bothered by such things as being "politically correct," he just said what needed to be said and made lots of sense in discussions on governmental direction. I still remember how he ended his fight against mandating seat belts by singing Don’t Buckle Me In to the tune of Don’t Fence Me In. He had a very good singing voice. He lost that debate never lost our respect. He loved America and our Constitutional rights. He was passionate for the things he believed in such as basic freedoms and the right to succeed with hard work. You knew where he stood on most issues and he was a great friend even when you disagreed on an issue.

My first acquaintance with Jack occurred well before my Senate experience. I graduated from law school in 1967 and moved back to Logan. While waiting for the bar exam results to be released I worked for my uncle who, among other things, raised potatoes that he sold to Jack. I drove a truck load of potatoes to Bountiful and was waiting for his crew to unload them. Jack was working as hard as any of his employees and looked at me standing there waiting for them to finish so I could drive the empty truck home. He looked at me and said, "No one stands around here when there is work to do." I immediately jumped in and helped along with the others. I realized then, and was proven right by my later experience with Jack, that there was no better man to join with to do a job - no matter how difficult - than Senator Bangerter.

Todays UPD:

Forbes ranks Utah the second best state in the nation for business, noting: "Virginia has maintained the top spot since our first Best States ranking in 2006. This year, though, its lead over second-ranked Utah was razor thin. In fact, the top five states ... were all closely bunched together." See chart of rankings.

We heard the drums inside the senate offices and looked out and found an African Children's Choir from Uganda. Awesome.

Senator Carlene Walker on the Jordan Split (in the DNews and Utah Policy Daily's Quote of the Day):

"I feel so deeply and strongly that this division is the best thing for both sides and for the children," Walker said. "There has got to be a way to make it work. I have high hopes."

Ignore this post. We're sharing a little information at the Friday, 8:00 a.m. session of NCSL's Annual Meeting* and I need an easily accessible place to stash the links. We may live stream part of it, depending on what connections are available, so feel free to drop in and post your comments.

Links and Notes:

--> A sampling of actual text messages sent from the Utah Senate - 2008 legislative session (collected for an NCSL/State Department/Algeria project in Algiers).

--> More info on Utah Senate texting here.

--> Vox Partners.

--> Government 2.0: the short list of current New Media experiments.

--> YouTube: Utah Senate Channel

--> Live streaming video: NowLive.com

--> A random picture of the whiteboard in my office, circa 3/3/08. The checklist for senate media events is on the right-hand side. Ignore the other junk. Please.

--> On LinkedIn, consider joining the Government 2.0 Group, a network of citizens and professionals exploring the use of New Media tools in government communication.

--> A moment of quiet thought about the soul of New Media. And the hope it offers to a democratic republic like ours.

Call anytime. I'm happy to answer questions, give feedback, share lessons learned, etc.

Ric Cantrell @ 801-647-8944



* 8:00 am - 9:30 am
A New Life for Online Government
Convention Center 220-221--Second Level

Web 2.0--a second generation of the Internet--offers new ways to provide services and collaborate with citizens on health, education, public safety and civic life. Explore Second Life and other social networking tools being used by Congress, NASA, the CDC and others.

* Moderator: Mark Stencel, Governing Magazine, Virignia
* Panelists: Ric Cantrell, Senate, Utah
* Norven Goddard, Alabama Department of Homeland Security
* Leigh Rowan, The SLAgency, California
* James Walker, Alabama Department of Homeland Security

Laura Jones discusses solutions to gang violence with Senator Ross Romero and John Florez.

Florez says in order to curb gang violence there needs to be less focus on treatment of individuals and more focus on suppression of crime. He is also in favor of stronger sanctions for first-time offenders.

Democratic Senator Ross Romero, who represents District 7 in Salt Lake City, says expanding educational opportunities for youth is another key to curbing gang violence.

"Education is key to this. Keeping these youth in the elementary schools, junior high, in high school, and on to college, is very much a part of the solution. But we also need to recognize that we need to have opportunities," says Romero. "If an individual doesn't see themselves having an opportunity for their future, then it is I think more easy for them to be enticed by a life of crime."

Daily Herald reports on the NASA Standards Working Group.

By Lyle Hillyard
Senate Executive Appropriations Chair

On Friday, the Utah State Tax Commission released preliminary year-end revenue numbers.

When you look at the numbers, you will notice we're collecting less revenue than originally projected. That is not a surprise (we're actually pleased it's not worse). We're still within the range we predicted last month.

No one wants to be right about bad news but legislative dinosaurs like me have been through enough economic cycles that we felt the downturn coming and planned ahead for it. We have some carry-forward money, a healthy Rainy Day fund and we socked away an additional $100 M for the Uniform School Fund. In addition, we crafted a FY 2009 budget that is significantly lower than the FY 2008 budget.

From the article in the Salt Lake Tribune:

"We intentionally reserved a large carry-forward because we anticipated a slowdown," Valentine said. "Utah is very well poised to weather any kind of economic downturn."

Some states are having to cut services because of dwindling tax revenues, said State Tax Commission spokesman Charlie Roberts. "We're in a lot better fiscal shape than most," Roberts said, pointing to Utah's fiscally conservative bent and efforts to foster a favorable business climate as contributing factors.

So, we need to pay attention, spend carefully, and act wisely - but we don't need to be afraid. In keeping with being the best managed state in the nation we have already asked state agencies to plan ahead on where and how they can cut, should that become a necessity. I'm hoping it won't.

But we will keep watching. As further reports arrive (September and November) we will sit down and decide the exact best way to handle the budget. We will have final revenue numbers after the closing period this month. I expect to know our final FY 2008 balance after the Division of Finance closes-out expenditures at the beginning of September.

We've had three years of phenomenally healthy economic and governmental growth. It is probably not an unhealthy exercise to carefully scrutinize state spending and see if the money being spent needs to be reallocated to meet the areas of growth next session.

The Trib published an LA Times story on Reid Hoffman, chairman and president of LinkedIn.com.

His service lets professionals create online profiles that help them connect with other professionals to get advice, find jobs and make hires. Hoffman sees it as a karmic, self-perpetuating social circle.

More than 24 million people agree and have traded in their Rolodexes crammed with business cards in favor of LinkedIn, which makes money in a variety of ways, including advertising and premium subscriptions. The site offers people the chance to do small favors that could help others in big ways. That's Hoffman's theory of the ''small good,'' something he's been practicing for years.

Senate folk on LinkedIn include Senate President John Valentine, Majority Assistant Whip Sheldon Killpack, Chief Deputy of the Senate Ric Cantrell, and Majority Assistant Laura Barlow.

We also host the Government 2.0 group, a network of citizens and professionals exploring New Media tools to help inspire citizen engagement. More info here. If you read this blog you're qualified and we'd love to have you join the team.

By Lyle Hillyard
Utah State Senator, District 25

Last session, I sponsored a bill in cooperation with the State Board of Regents to create a $1000 scholarship for high school graduates who complete a rigorous course of study for their 4 years in high school and have a good citizenship component to their school attendance. We decided to make it available to those who comply with the requirements with this graduating class mainly to see how it would work and to create some interest in the program. We have been very pleased to see the interest and the number who qualify. It will take all of the $900,000 that was allocated to the program this year. We will need more money to continue the funding, although the bill was written so that the Board of Regents can reduce the amount of the scholarships if those who qualify exceed the available revenue. An interesting question came up.

To qualify, each student is required to take 4 years of rigorous math. Several students completed difficult AP classes their junior year and thus did not take math their senior year. Do they qualify? I have recommended to the board, based on the budget and the fact that this exemption was not considered when the rules were announced, (hence there are probably many more students who would qualify if we made this exemption), that we not make this exemption. We should consider it carefully and if the decision is made to expand the qualifications, we do so in the future.

I really had two purposes in sponsoring the legislation. First, to create a new mind set in students beginning 9th Grade so that they would be thinking of this scholarship and change behavior early on. Granting the scholarships this year by expanding the qualifications won’t necessary accomplish that. Second, I believe we need to help students with the rapidly rising tuition costs. It would be very difficult to reduce tuition. This money will go to our graduating high school students and will be used for tuition costs for Utah post-secondary education including UCAT schools. Granting the scholarships to graduating students now accomplishes this goal. We are receiving very positive feedback from guidance counselors in high schools and believe the first year grants will create an interest and compliance with current students looking forward to their graduation and future educational training.

States who have started these programs have found two big problems. First, they make the scholarship a percent of tuition so that as tuition goes up, so do the costs of these scholarships. Second, they make the qualifications too easy so that in the end almost every one can qualify. We have avoided both problems with this bill but as we make exemptions, we raise the second challenge. It may be that some AP may qualify. As a college student, I did very well in all of my advance math classes but when I returned to USU after 2 ½ years on a LDS mission in Holland, I was very concerned that I had forgotten quantum mechanics. That made law school more inviting than to continue with my major in physics. Then someone raised the issue of concurrent enrollment qualifying. The Regency Scholarship program in my mind is to help students with the raising costs of tuition but more importantly to spur them on to better performance in tougher classes while in public education.

What do you think?

"Utah is laughing."

In 2000, the total appropriated budget for Public Education was $2,144,523,100.

As of this year (FY 2009), the appropriated budget is up to $3,712,949,800, an increase of 73.1 percent.

In the same time period, student enrollment increased 15.7 percent.

More from Senator Urquhart on performance-based pay:

Districts and Charter Schools have turned in their plans to implement performance pay measures. Those proposals can be viewed here. They are all over the map – and that is a great thing! Utahns don’t lack ideas to improve public education (or passion about those various ideas), and this initiative provides a great opportunity to experiment with some of those ideas.

After the voucher vote, I’ve had many people tell me how happy or sad they were that vouchers failed. But, regardless of their position on vouchers, they often express a strong desire to figure out a way to pay the best teachers more money. Matching that desire with an appropriate and fair way to actually to do it is a huge and complex task.

Rather than have one group come up a plan, Utah will now run more than 87 separate experiments. WOW! . . . We’ll monitor those experiments, collect the results and determine next steps.

Read more.

Check out the plans.

By Lyle Hillyard
Utah State Senator, District 25

I noticed an article the other day in the newspaper raising the old issue: Should lame duck legislators still travel at state expense to national meetings when they will not be able to use that information in upcoming sessions as they will no longer be serving? The newspaper article made some good points, and I would generally accept those arguments.

However, I think there are a few other considerations that may have an impact. When I was first elected, I was asked by the President of the Senate to attend a national meeting of NCSL because the Senator who had been assigned to a particular committee could not attend. Although everything had been arranged beforehand, when arrived at the meeting I discovered a rule that does not allow a substitute legislator to vote on issues in the national committee. So while I could attend and participate in the discussion, Utah did not have a voice in that final policy vote. A legislator at the end of his or her term can still add value by representing the state of Utah in these national organizations.

Second, I have attended meetings and picked up material that I know will help other legislators who are interested in the issue. I just pass that information along to the interested member and they can use it. Had I not attended, the material would not have been provided to those who need it. I know from previous leadership positions that we try to make sure that every committee is represented and that legislators attend their meetings so that the three goals of attending national meetings are accomplished:

1 - To express Utah’s position on national and state issues,

2 - To gather knowledge of what is happening in other states so that this can be used in Utah, and

3 - To meet people who are experts in their own states so that as issues come up in Utah, there is reference in the other states for input on what they are doing to handle the problem.

My suggestion would be, rather than making an iron clad rule that lame ducks are forbidden to travel for the state, look at each case and make a reasoned judgment.

By Lyle Hillyard
Utah State Senator: Cache Valley

There have been several events in my life that have really caused me to stop and think about how fast time flies. The first was when I turned 30. Then again when my first child was married. They all pale in light of the trauma of attending my 50th year class reunion which occurred over the weekend.

The class of ’58 from North Cache High School had 145 graduates (this was in Richmond, Utah. In the olden days it was the farthest north of any High School in Utah but has since been replaced by Sky View High School now in Smithfield). It was reported at our dinner that 29 have passed away. Surprisingly to me most were due to cancer. The second-highest cause of death was accidents with car accidents being the highest. Of the survivors 85 sent photographs and 69 attended the reunion. Most with spouses. One traveled from Eastern Pennsylvania and many from out of state. 37 live within the friendly confines of Northern Utah.

I soon tired of asking people what they were doing and be told that they were retired. Most were still recognizable but some were totally so different that even though I had spent 12 years in school with them, I would have never guessed who they were.

After a fine, full evening and lots of talking, I came to this conclusion; it did not make much difference in what they did for a living or where they lived. People are a lot more important than things. The main subjects for discussion were their health and their families.

I wish someone would have told me that 50 years ago. They probably did but I did not care to listen then.

This just in . . .

News Release
July 10, 2008

CNBC Ranks Utah #3 Top State for Business
Other High Rankings from the Milken Institute, Business Facilities Magazine

Salt Lake City -For the second year in a row, CNBC has ranked Utah the No. 3 Top State for Business, recognizing Utah’s economy, high quality of life, and business friendly environment.

“This ranking highlights our constant effort as a State to maintain a strong economic foundation,” Utah Governor Jon Huntsman said. “Our unmatched quality of life, livability, and dynamic workforce make Utah a great place for businesses, employees, and their customers.”

Utah’s annual job growth is the third highest in the nation at 1.4 percent with the national average at 0.1 percent. While our state’s job growth is slowing, we continue to add jobs. Our unemployment is the third lowest in the nation at 3.2 percent, significantly lower than the national average at 5.5 percent. Utah provides businesses with a young, highly educated and hard working workforce pool, vital for continued success.

Utah was also recently recognized as No. 1 for Technology Concentration and Dynamism by the Milken Institute in their State Technology and Science Index, which gave the State a No. 8 ranking overall.

Business Facilities Magazine just ranked Utah as a top ten state in five core areas: Business climate, manufacturing momentum, most educated workforce, drugs and pharmaceuticals (top ten medium metropolitan area: Provo-Orem, No. 5), and medical devices and equipment (top ten large metropolitan area: Salt Lake City, No.2).

# # #

By Lyle Hillyard
Gardener

I have been out of town for several days and could not believe my eyes when I saw my garden yesterday. It seems like once the irrigation begins, the garden grows up by the day. My strawberries are about done, as is the rhubarb. The potatoes have blossoms and that usually means that I can dig new potatoes. That will be the project this week. The peas are in pod so creamed peas and new potatoes will soon be on the table.

The reality of living in “cold” Cache Valley came home on the 4th of July which we spent at our daughter’s home in Centerville. Their garden is months ahead of ours. They even have tomatoes soon to be ripe and ours haven’t even begun to bloom. We trade our new potatoes and raspberries for their tomatoes and cucumbers. This year with food prices and the concern about shipping costs, we may find ourselves thankful for what we have produced and maybe willing to eat of potatoes and carrots that we dig up under the snow and leaves and not be so dependent on the food in the grocery store that is shipped in from Chile.

Call me next March if you run out of food.

The sun never shone on a cause of greater worth. ’Tis not the affair of a city, a county, a province, or a kingdom; but of a continent—of at least one-eighth part of the habitable globe. ’Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now.

A group of elected officials, including Mayor Kent Money, Senator Waddoups and Senator Buttars met with the governor today to talk about delaying the Jordan District split. They presented the governor with a petition and information showing stark imbalance in student enrollment, building needs, and taxable property value between the two new Jordan School Districts.

Here is a PDF of the information.

When you have that up on your screen, click on Senate Radio to hear Senator Waddoups explain the numbers. (Here's the MP3).

By Lyle Hillyard
Senate Chair of Executive Appropriations

While the issues of mission creep are always involved with any discussion about challenges for Higher Education, Utah has two movements that will really test the future of this state. First, are the smaller schools that feel they need to expand their offerings and become what their area must have to be competitive. We have been able to address some of that needed expansion with the large amounts of new money we have been receiving.

Those days are gone for now but the pent up demand is still there. Where will we get the money? Each of the big schools can also show that they also have unmet needs that require that they receive a substantial boost in funding. While every legislator is supportive of higher education, they seem to be more supportive of the schools in their area or where they attended than for the system as a whole. If we begin taking money from one and giving to another for what ever reason, it will create war and could risk stopping the good system we have had since 1969 of a Board of Regents to govern all the schools.

The other challenge comes from the UCAT’s who want to pull away from the control of the Board of Regents but still offer credit to the students who want it so that they can transfer that credit to one of the regular colleges as they progress towards graduation. That is currently being handled by articulation agreements between the various UCAT schools and a higher education facility. If the legislature gives a blanket approval for such a transfer of credit, I am concerned that we could jeopardize the credibility of these current schools to have their graduates move on out of state into graduate programs with this credit on their transcript. A second problem in my view is if teachers at the UCAT programs are teaching classes that have the same credit as classes at the local universities then why should they not be paid the same and why should the students not pay the same tuition? I am concerned that after this expansion is completed, some one will come to the legislature and say we need a new program that focuses on technical training where students are trained in skills that they need so they can move right into the workplace. UCATs provide an important service that could be lost with a change

I wish the Board of Regents good luck as they try to handle these issues and then present their recommendations. We do want what is best for the students, economy, and educational establishments of the state. We are talking about big bucks here.

DNews.

Deseret Morning News:

. . . the current 'one size fits all' approach doesn't offer enough incentive. It's time teachers who are worth their weight in gold get paid that gold. Just as it's time for teachers who simply 'phone it in' to be bucked from the horse so true professionals can run the show.

Salt Lake Tribune:

For the first time, Utah school districts are seriously considering how they can distribute bonuses or pay raises to teachers based on how well they do their jobs.

. . . That would benefit not only dedicated, talented teachers but also their students, as mediocre teachers would sharpen their skills in order to earn more money.

. . . [But] there are two myths that must be dispelled before merit systems can be effective. The first is that there are no mediocre or poor teachers in our schools. The second is that, even if there were, there is no way to differentiate between them and the excellent teachers. Both these myths have been used by teacher association leaders to undermine past efforts to adopt effective merit-pay plans.

SLCSpin:

Until recently… honestly analyzing public schools, their teachers, and administrators

was never done in polite society…

Those days are over. Finally.

On Washington Post's D.C. Wire:

The U.S. Supreme Court today did not release its long-awaited ruling on whether the District's handgun ban violates the Second Amendment. That means the potentially landmark decision will almost certainly come tomorrow morning when the court is planning to issue the last of its rulings for the term. The case, District of Columbia v. Heller, which was argued nearly four months ago, could settle the decades-old debate over whether the Second Amendment grants individuals the right to own firearms.

Utah's Constitution - BTW - is pretty clear on the "individual right" question.


[Thursday morning update:] Here's the decision.

By Lyle Hillyard
Utah State Senator, District 25

Last Friday, I came home from my brisk 5 mile walk and sat down to a great breakfast of Cheerios and raspberries from my garden. I looked at the two most important parts of the Herald Journal and the Deseret News (obituaries and letters to the editor) and did not see my name so I knew it would be a good day. I scanned the rest of the paper and, to my surprise, saw that I was mentioned in an editorial piece by my friend Bob Bernick of the Deseret News. I was tempted to cut it out and send it to my grandchildren and see if they were impressed with me being called “well-respected” (I knew my children would not be) but then I realized that they work through a thing called the Internet so they would not even know what a newspaper was. Because of some of the things stated in the piece and the whole idea of a blog being used to "report news", I thought I should offer a response.

First, I am glad what I did was only a "minor issue." Actually the TC 23 is not issued by legislative staff or even us “bosses”. It is issued by the State Tax Commission which I believe is official state action. What I did was give my comment on what it showed and how I believe it should be handled in my capacity as Senate Chair of Executive Appropriations, and after talking with our non-partisan fiscal analyst staff. When I heard that the collections were down for one month only, I visited with the Governor’s staff to get their read on the event. They agreed with our staff that the revenue collections for the year are still within the ranges and until we know more any discussions would be pure speculation. More numbers will be available in August.

You may remember that the same cash flow for the end of April showed clearly that we would end the fiscal year with a surplus. There were also concerns that new withholding tables and new collection methods may have caused the downturn in collections - it may have had little to do with a serious downturn in the economy. We all agreed that the revenues had been so allocated that we would have enough surpluses to cover to the end of June so there was no need to panic and stop spending on the budgets approved during the session. I was also concerned that the wrong signal – panic, panic, we are really losing money and hence going into a recession even in Utah – could become self-fulfilling prophecy.

Second, the memo given to the members of Executive Appropriations included the full House and Senate Democratic Leadership. Any one of them could have asked for the item to be discussed during the meeting under other business or talked about the memo. The legislative staff works for them as well (staff does a very good job about not taking sides).

Third, our State budget has a lot of input from the Democrats. I have found them just as interested in it being balanced and that we have surpluses to spend with a well managed State. If you checked the record, you will find most of them vote for the budget bill. I try to take a lot of time during the session and in the interim meeting on that side of the aisle, answering questions and accepting their suggestions. At least from my perspective and from what I have seen over the years, I think we work quite well together in creating a state budget.

As I drove home the day after we had announced my reaction to the TR 23, I was concerned when I heard on the radio that the budget chairman had announced that we could be $100.0 M down in revenue that no mention was made that we also could be up $70.0 M. I was pleased that we do do have a credible means to share information. We don’t have to sit back and listen to what news reporters choose to highlight or mention. We even encourage Democratic Senators to make their comments on this Senate Blog Site. Bob knows my cell phone and is welcome to call me any time he wishes to discuss reports or the lack of reports but even this old dog can learn new tricks.

If I can use the Internet to post information on a blog site anyone can and the reliance people have had to place on the printed or broadcast news can now be balanced from other sources. They can then choose what to believe and accept. As new revenue and budget numbers become available, I expect to report them on the Senate Site along with my recommendation on what to do with this information.

Missouri does it right. At the end of session legislators chuck their bills and paperwork into the air. Georgia does too. Stateline.org chronicles America's legislative end-of-session traditions like songs, skits, synchronized ceremonies and even the "Shroud Award" for the deadest bill. Minnesota is bugged.

Representing Utah, Senator Scott McCoy describes our final night awards ceremony:

"Interns in Utah’s state Senate award signed Certificates of Senator Superlatives at the session’s close, including honors for the best wardrobe, the most likely to vote no, and the “only person on the floor able to understand his bill,” among others.

"State Sen. Scott McCoy, a liberal Democrat in a state where two-thirds of the House and Senate is Republican, won an award from this year’s interns for delivering speeches most likely to fall on deaf ears.

"'I’m often a dissenting voice on a lot of things we pass.' McCoy said. '(But) all of (the awards) are in good fun and in jest, and a way to celebrate what is normally a high-intensity, short time-frame period of 45 days.'"

Representative Urquhart: Performance-based pay for teachers.

Wow.

By Lyle Hillyard
Senate Chair of Executive Appropriations

Utah enjoys one of the hottest economies on the planet, but we learned this week that we may not be completely immune from the larger national picture. State revenue collection for the last month has turned out to be slightly less than we expected it would be. We are still within the range we predicted last February, however.

More detail: The most recent Tax Commission Revenue Summary shows combined year-to-date General Fund and Education Fund revenues down 0.8% at the end of May -- lower than February's Fiscal Year 2008 growth forecast of 0.6%. Here's the report.

Our economists now predict revenue for Fiscal Year 2008 (which ends this month) will be in a range between $100 million lower and $70 million higher than the February forecast, with likely risks on the downside.

This is not a surprise. Some of us old timers have been through an economic cycle or two and you probably remember us worrying about it during session. I'm proud of my colleagues for supporting wise fiscal policies such as limiting spending, depositing $100 million into the Rainy Day Fund over the last two years, setting-aside another $100 million for next year, and carefully building a balanced budget. We're so old-fashioned we look progressive.

Bottom line: We will be just fine for Fiscal Year 2008, but we'll need to watch the cash flow collections like hawks. If it turns out we need to address the Fiscal Year 2009 budget we should be able to do so in the upcoming legislative session.

Interestingly, revenue collections at the end of April were slightly higher than we forecast - so we don't think this recent atypical drop can be completely attributable to the economy. Two factors that may have played a part are 1) recent adjustments to the state withholding tables, and 2) a new method of collection we just implemented.

We'll have a more complete picture for you when we close out FY 2008 (which is usually mid-August). We appreciate the citizens of this state who monitor the Senate Site and pay attention to what happens on Capitol Hill.

We'll keep you in the loop as the situation unfolds.

By Lyle Hillyard
Utah State Senator, District 25

As you all know, this has been a very slow spring for planting my garden (until last Saturday, I would not have called it a summer). With the constant rains, it has been too wet and too cold to work the soil and help many of the plants grow. I did notice that the rhubarb and the strawberries have done exceptionally well.

My father was a field man for Del Monte for many years in Cache County and told me that corn will only grow when it reaches 70 degrees. We have not had many of those days so far this year. As I see how poor the corn crop is in Iowa, I think my corn may be more valuable this year. My wife does a great job cutting it off the ears and freezing it for year round eating.

Some of the squash froze last Thursday night when it got to 32 degrees here in Cache Valley. Is it really June 12th? I could not go walking the other morning because it was snowing. And the morning before that, I could see my breath while walking. I refuse to wear a winter coat in June so I toughed it out in my sweatshirt. I hope with the sudden increase in the temperature that the garden will really take off. I can’t see many small apples on my apple trees so that causes concern. My son-in-law told me that he was trying to buy fruit trees the other day and was told that the tree lot was sold out. There seems to be a rush on fruit trees every year that employment becomes unstable because people are looking for ways to provide food for their family.

By Chris Buttars
Utah State Senator, District 10

When we first started to consider the split, both sides, I believe, were in agreement. Especially considering the purpose of the District split was to improve the educational process for the kids. Because it was originally perceived as being “all about the kids”, almost everyone voted for the split.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t ended up that way. In fact, as it stands today, it’s not about the kids at all. It’s all about the money. As the proposal stands today, and as reported by the East side to the press, the amount of money the West side would owe the East side could very well reach $300 Million!

Yes, you heard it right. The West side could be obligated financially up to $300 Million, payable to the East side. And this, before we even consider our own bonding obligations of somewhere between $500-600 Million over the next six years.

Now ask yourself if you were in this situation with a proposal that you had not even been allowed to vote on, and the proposal as it currently stands could cost you, upfront, $300 Million (payable to the East side district) and in your discussions with the other side telling you “if you don’t like it, then let’s go to mediation”, how would you feel?

That’s where we are at. Is it any surprise that the West side will not accept this proposal in any way, shape, or form? If the East side holds onto present demands, I believe there will be major legal action and an injunction that will prevent the implementation of the split until who-knows-when. That action would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Can anyone tell me how that action is “all about the kids”?

I believe that a simple, temporary fix would be for the Governor to call a special session to delay the implementation date of the split.

By Carlene Walker
Utah State Senator, District 8

The theft of records at the U of U Medical Center is not the first large-scale breach of sensitive private information in Utah. It was actually the fourth such incident in less than six months.

We will not know the impact of the recent theft anytime in the near future. Even if the tapes are recovered no one would know if they were copied. The thief now knows how valuable they are.

The costs of just monitoring the credit of the 1.3 million people with stolen SSNs will run between $31 and $46 Million dollars. To their credit, the University Medical Center has committed to making sure that credit monitoring will be provided free for a year.

Bottom line: We can not know that our private information is secure. Many times we won't know our information has been taken until years later. And we may never know.

Given that reality, what is our next line of defense?

Here is a short list.

1. Monitor your credit report. At a minimum, you should check your credit report. Go to annualcreditreport.com (NOT freecreditreport.com. Annual Credit Report .com is free. Free Credit Report . com is not. Go figure.) You may request a free report from each of the credit agencies once a year, so it makes sense to do one every four months.

2. Red Flag. Contact each of the three credit bureaus and put a 90 day red flag alert on your credit files. This is free, but you have to renew it every 90 days.

3. Credit Freeze. If you want to take safety a step further, you can freeze your credit. It will cost you $10 per credit bureau but I think it's worth the $30.

We passed legislation so, beginning in September 2008, you will be able to unfreeze your credit in 15 minutes. Currently it takes three days. This matters when, for example, you suddenly want to buy a new car and they have to check credit quickly.

4. If you think you may be a victim of ID fraud the Attorney General's website will walk you through reporting, then rebuilding your credit and your life.

Here's the link:

www.idtheft.utah.gov

Taking steps to protect your credit is just as important as locking your front door at night. Please keep yourself safe.

We don't allow bikinis in the senate either.

Two excerpts from the Deseret News Editorial on the lead article in the Utah Taxpayers Association's June Newsletter:

The irony is that Utahns get more outraged about property taxes than any other tax. In truth, Utahns pay less in property taxes than the national average, and less than people in California, who have spent 30 years under Proposition 13 — a tax-limiting measure some Utahns covet.

Another truth is that Utahns have the eighth-highest overall burden of taxes and fees in the nation. That is according to the latest figures from the Utah Taxpayers Association, which annually calculates the state's burden and measures it against all other states. Conventional wisdom says Utahns have a high tax burden because of the large numbers of children they must educate. To some extent, this is true. But a big part of the burden Utahns bear comes from fees, for everything from business licenses to drivers' licenses and college tuition.

. . . The report offers some good news. Despite a growing tax burden as a percentage of personal income, Utah's rank actually has slipped, from fifth place in the previous report. Also, recent tax cuts enacted by the Legislature are bound to improve that ranking in the future.

But without the fees, Utah ranks 20th in tax burden. It ranks 15th in individual income taxes, again because of public education costs.

The property tax burden, however, ranks 38th.

By Howard Stephenson
Utah State Senator, District 11

Hearing the truth about erroneous, but deeply held beliefs is a painful experience for all of us. Nevertheless, truth can also be a powerful anesthetic for that pain. Truth about the ominous omnibus education bill, SB 2, has been largely missing in reports about this important piece of legislation. That is why I would like here to debunk litigant's stories about SB2 before they reach the status of Utah political mythology. Maybe it's too late, but even established mythology should be challenged.

As co-sponsors of SB2, the education funding bill also known as "omnibus", Representative Brad Last and I wrote an op-ed for the Deseret Morning News. We wanted to mop up some of the misconceptions circulated by the candidates who are suing the state for what we think must be political motives.

We thought those who read this blog would also appreciate additional perspective.

1. The litigants make their first obvious blunder when they say that good bills were "held hostage" until the end of the session so they could be combined with "bad" bills in an omnibus package. The fact is that all fiscal note bills are held until the end of session. That is not a violation of our rules. It is exactly what our rules require and what we do every year. That is how we ensure a balanced budget each year.

2. Litigants are saying SB2 includes language from bills that didn't pass the first time through. HB200 was one of those bills. When its language was included in SB2, Rep. Karen Morgan tried to amend it out. The House debated it for 30 minutes. She couldn't persuade a majority to vote with her. Sen. Scott McCoy tried to amend the same provisions. He failed, too.

There were more attempts to amend SB2, but you get the picture.

The fact is that every single word in SB2 was subject to discussion and amendment. Welcome to an essential (and potentially frustrating) element of democracy: You need a majority vote to change the law. It seems the political message being taught here is if you can't attract enough votes by the force of your argument, you can always sue those who voted against you.

3. Our so-called omnibus bill was 42 pages . . . hardly the thousand-page congressional monstrosity the litigants try to invoke.

4. SB2 didn't happen in the dead of night. It was the result of an entire session of negotiations. The news media reported the details. We posted information on our official Web site and on our blog site. We passed out the details to all legislators, reporters and the interested public. We made staff available to answer questions. The two chambers and the governor's office were in constant communication. The entire chamber debate is archived online for everyone to witness.

The only way this anti-democratic lawsuit makes any sense is as a campaign stunt. Sixteen of the plaintiffs are currently running for office. Others are reportedly running for leadership positions in their caucus. As the vice chair of the state Democrats recently said, "If some of the plaintiffs on this suit win their elections due to 'earned media' then so be it."

I think that is pathetic. Let the money flow to the teachers and classrooms. We hope our board of directors (a.k.a voting citizens of Utah) will recognize this lawsuit as election-year grandstanding, pure and simple.

I believe that the root cause of the litigation is not so much about process as it is about innovation and change. Public education is a sacred cow for many people. Attempts to modernize, incentivize or test new programs are usually met with resistance. Our goal is to provide a world-class education for Utah's families with the funding available. Sacred cows must be examined for efficiency and new ideas will be piloted where appropriate.