Welcome to The Senate Site

By Sheldon Killpack
Utah State Senator: District 21

Re: DNews' Ethical Dilemma

I appreciate the forum to state my opinion on a matter that is weighing on me. I also want to clarify that this is my opinion and not that of Legislative Leaders or the Legislature although if asked, the list of those wishing to sign on the bottom may be rather lengthy.

If you are reading this blog, you probably already know that over the past week or so Rep. Steve Urquhart has been publicly criticizing Bob Bernick and the Deseret News for a story Bernick wrote about Utah’s referendum law.

Simply put, Bernick claimed that “legislative leaders” intended to take on the law. The only problem with this claim was that it was not true. It was not merely a prevarication; it was not run-of-the-mill media bias; it was not even an inaccuracy.

It was a lie.

Newspapers have a profound influence on the public. They consider themselves having a long, proud and historic tradition in this country of educating the public about our government. This tradition has blessed us with a culture of knowledge, which in turn drives public opinion and – often – public policy.

So when reporters lie, the system gets polluted.

Yet another way to pollute the system is to confuse a reporter for a columnist. When I wake-up in the morning and read the Salt Lake Tribune, I know there’s a decent chance that Paul Rolly or Rebecca Walsh may have a column that blasts legislators (generally Republicans – just my keen observation) and, on occasion, me in particular. I accept that and consider it okay, because it is a columnist’s job – and those in power will always receive a large share of the criticism. Hello reality.

On the other hand, when I open up the Deseret News, I don’t know whether the Bob Bernick piece is opinion or news. Is it a political column or is it an “objective” report of the facts? The problem is not just that I can’t tell the difference, but rather that the Deseret News allows its most prominent political reporter to so cavalierly surf back and forth between each vastly different role.

The Deseret News allows Bernick to run story after story about Legislative ethics and open government. Yet, it allows this individual of great persuasion to ride the line of journalistic ethics day after day. This paper has several responsible, ethical and objective reporters who suffer the effects of this bad decision.

I realize that I am calling out Mr. Bernick - an individual with the ability to roll out the ink in large measure and I fully expect some sort of retaliation. Having said that, I sincerely hope the Deseret News deals with the growing Bernick problem. And I think there is more to this problem than the referendum lie of 8/19, or Bernick’ s compounded lie of 8/20, or the follow-up to the lie written by John Florez on 8/25.

You just never know. Left in disrepair, this problem could eventually lead to a groundswell of civic opposition. Imagine thousands of Utahns joining an initiative process to ban themselves from reading the Deseret News.

At that point, perhaps even Bob Bernick would finally admit to the public that legislative leaders have no plans to undo the citizens’ process.

Can you spot the 3 Utah State Senators with Utah's adopted son? (pulled from the front page of the Deseret News)

Update: Matt Canham's Out of Context post.

Mark Stencel's Twitter site points to this blog examining the fossilizing remains of "Printosaurus Rex".

Good reading.

By John Valentine
President of the Utah Senate

This isn't personal. When facts spill out that give citizens a misleading impression of our work on their behalf I believe we have a right - maybe a responsibility - to offer further perspective. In actuality, we let it slide most of the time but the current situation seems to be moving beyond the accidental slip-up by an otherwise professional, hard-working reporter.

That said, here are some quick observations on Bob Bernick Jr.'s latest column, published in the Deseret Morning News.

Bob Bernick, Jr. said

"The Office of Legislative Auditor General's budget grew by an astounding 80 percent over the past seven years,"

and that the Auditors . . .

"last year turned out 22 audits compared to 17 several years ago."

The 80 percent growth figure spans seven years, but the increase in audits from 17 to 22 (29%) only spans three years. Over the past seven years, the number of audits per year has gone from 11 to 22. Using a seven year span for both(which I believe is intuitive), the comparison should be: Budget Increase = 80%, Productivity Increase = 100%. I believe the people of Utah have been well served by this organization.

The Deseret Morning News also printed

"The Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel's budget grew by nearly 62 percent"

and that LRGC. . .

"hired five new employees over the past few years to deal with a greater workload."

That part is accurate. The workload has increased - particularly in areas like Information Technology and big-issue task forces. Two of the five new hires were IT staffers. Compare the web access and services we provide citizens to other state legislatures and I think you'll realize that this was money invested well.

As the state grows and becomes more complex we are seeing more big-issue task forces and more intensity in the legislature. Bigger issues require more analytical and legal staff.

A significant part (just under $400K) of the increase is due to the mobile communications program for the entire legislature housed in their office. My staff tells me that Mr. Bernick was informed of this, but it didn't turn up in his story.

Bob Bernick further reports . . .

"The other main legislative office - the Fiscal Analyst, which drafts the state's budget - grew by 49 percent over that time frame - the same growth as the executive branch's main tax funds."

The "executive branch's main tax funds", as the reporter puts it, are the General Fund and Education Fund. Notwithstanding significant tax cuts, those funds grew by about 49% from FY 2002 to FY 2009 - 50.1% to be exact. But comparing that to the Fiscal Analyst's budget is a little like comparing apples and oranges. A correct statement would be: Total General/Education Fund appropriations growth = 50.1%; Fiscal Analyst General/Education Fund appropriations growth = 37.5%.

Finally, Mr. Bernick says

"Over four years, the average state executive branch worker has seen a pay raise of 17.5 percent." He then says "With those numbers in mind, here are a few examples of some of the larger, or just odd, pay raises and pay scales in the Utah Legislature."

"Average" includes BOTH highs and lows and should not be compared to a handful of the higher-performing or "larger" outliers. For every person that earned a big increase, someone else retired or moved-on and was replaced by an individual with less experience and therefore lower pay.

An accurate comparison would be: Executive Branch compensation increases over seven years = 43%; Legislative Branch compensation increases over seven years = 44%.

Excellent staff is worth the investment. I can't count the number of times we have asked staff to provide hard-to-reach information and sophisticated analysis at the drop of a hat. Legislative staff has provided timely information and service in a consistent, credible, professional manner that should be the envy of any legislative body, anywhere.

My entire career as a tax attorney and (former) CPA has prepared me for this role and I take my job seriously. When I am no longer Senate President one of the legacies I will leave to this state is excellent legislative staff. They are not perfect, but they are smart, motivated, problem solvers. They are highly competent, hard working, and innovative and they work incredibly well as a team.

Tucked at the very end of Bob Bernick's column today is this little piece of something that doesn't sound much like a mea culpa:

"I am often these days attacked by bloggers, and while I make an effort NOT to read the misinformation about me and my work (just keep on plugging away), I know for a fact how inaccurate and unfair blogs can be."

We are aware of very few bloggers that have recently addressed Mr. Bernick's work. Here they are:

The Senate Site: We're changing what?!
Steve Urquhart 1: Deseret News Fabricates Story
Steve Urquhart 2: Deseret News Fabricates More News
The Salt Lake Tribune's Out of Context and Salt Lake Crawler

Where is the alleged "misinformation?"

Who are the bloggers who are being inaccurate? Or unfair? The meeting with the Deseret News Editorial Board was recorded. The DNews should make the entire unedited conversation public and let people evaluate Mr. Bernick's work for themselves.

James Thalman gives an update on the Health System Reform Task Force.

Busy morning. The Education Interim Committee and the Health System Reform Task Force are meeting.

Listen live on-line at www.le.utah.gov

By Lyle Hillyard
Utah State Senator: Cache and Rich Counties

To say that this has been a very different growing season would be an understatement.

First, with the late wet cold spring, much of the planting was delayed and that impacted the growth of the plants as well. My brother-in-law who was gone to Scotland with his wife on a mission last year had returned so I had someone to help with the work but that also added another voice in the decision making. We have long disagreed about whether to plant two or just one row of pole beans. I like to stand the poles up against each other to help with windstorms but he thinks that two rows produce much more than we can use or freeze with one picking.

By the time he got them planted, he did two rows but about half did not grow so we have two rows of poles but only about one row of plants. They are just blossoming so I doubt we will have much before the first frost which is usually the second week in September for Logan.

Second, I took a family vacation for two weeks around Memorial Day when we just spent some time with our daughter and her family near Sacramento and our son near Portland. I believe my wife is still in shock that I would just go without meetings or other business that would interfere with just being together with the kids. My brother-in-law also found himself gone a lot being with their children and grandchildren after being gone 18 months. I am sad to say that I am rediscovering that there are times to plant and weed and nature doesn't wait for you to return from vacation. The long dry hot summer helped because we had plenty of irrigation water to keep the plants wet and growing.

With all of that said, let me say that the corn is doing very well. We have a very sweet variety that we receive raves from the people with whom it is shared. The tomatoes are not ripening very well but thankfully we have a son-in-law in Centerville that keeps us in good supply. The new potatoes are coming on with the four patches that we planted about two weeks apart. I will be digging new potatoes into October. I eat them all fresh because I don’t eat many potatoes in the winter; we do not store them like we did when I was growing up. The raspberries look good but they do not really come on until Labor Day. The apples are only so-so this year. I find that after a big year, they do not do as well the next year. My dad said that they need a year’s rest. There will be plenty to eat but I don’t know how our apple juicing will go.

I always cover myself with bug spray when I work in the garden but this year I have not noticed very many mosquitoes. That seems strange because, most years, they are really thick. I should feel good about that with the news that the West Nile Virus has turned up in the mosquitoes in Cache Valley this summer.

Let me know if you need some food.

Today the DNews seems to have announced a legislative initiative to change the current referendum law.

Eh?

We know of no movement afoot to alter the current system. We're not inclined to change the law. We feel the current balance is about right -- referendums and initiatives are tough, but doable.

Now, we did have a wide-ranging, open conversation with the Deseret Morning News' Editorial Board yesterday afternoon, and part of it was a philosophical discussion on referendums and initiatives. The article, however, is foreign to the tenor of that conversation.

Any push on our part to change the process is news to us.

Senate President John Valentine talked to Doug Wright about the article this morning. We'll link to the podcast when it's up.

[Update:] Here is the audio, about 48 minutes, 16 seconds into the first hour of the show.


[Update, 7:30 p.m.:] Out of Context

. . . the only two Republican leaders quoted in the story -- Senate President John Valentine and Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble -- say it's the first they ever heard of such an effort.

. . . It's what Bramble and Valentine told me early this morning when I called to check out the front-page news in our competition. So what's going on? Dunno, but the story remained up on the D-News website all day without any correction or clarification.

[Update, 9:34 p.m.:] SteveU.com

. . . Editorial board meetings are recorded. If the D News can show me where any “GOP legislative leader” said we’d “take on the state’s referendum law,” I’ll print this entry and post a YouTube video of me eating it, saying, “Bob Bernick does not make up news,” between every bite. To the contrary, you would hear legislative leaders saying the exact opposite of what the D News reports; they would hear those leaders saying that Utah has the referendum balance in the right place.

[Update, 8/20:] DMNews prints a ... Well, it's not a retraction. I'm not exactly sure what this is.

[Update, 8/21:] SteveU.com: DMNews Fabricates More News

[Update, 8/21/08]: Apparently, City Weekly didn't get the memo.

Stuck in traffic? The Legacy Parkway opens in less than a month.

By Lyle Hillyard
Senator, District 25

The office building where I work every day has a very good air conditioning system that makes it so cool that some of the secretaries wear sweaters to keep warm. Try as we may, we can’t get them to raise it so it is not so cold. The problem is when I leave and hit the hot outdoors, it melts me. By the time I get home, I have lost any desire to go outside and work until just before sunset. This made me think about what it was like before air conditioning. We, of course, did not have it on the farm as I was growing up. In the summer when we had to haul hay and work outside during these very hot days, we would begin as soon as it was light and then work until dark with a several hour break during the heat of the day. It was a challenge to do the milking in between but we would separate so that some of the workers would milk while the rest of us would carry on. During the heat, we would take some time to play in a ditch or canal to cool off. No one seemed to be concerned about contracting some unknown disease from that water.

In our home, which was also not air conditioned, we had some relief from the heat by the adobe walls and a big shade tree that we grew on the west side of the home. It was the home in which my father was born in 1901 so it was not new. It seemed to be cool or maybe just cooler than outside. At night, I would often sleep on the patio outside. Although, that posed two problems - first I would receive a number of mosquito bites. I can’t remember if we ever had mosquito repellant. Secondly, we would roast. It was on the east side of the house so as soon as the sun was up, it was bright and there was no sleeping in like you could do with a good blind in the bedroom.

It was always a treat to make home-made ice cream. Maybe it was the anticipation of it being made or knowing you could control the ingredients. But nothing tasted better than home-made ice cream in the hot summer.

Contrast that to now. I find the air conditioning going in the car even when the temperature reaches a high of 70. It is nice to cut out the noise, wind and dust from a moving car but as gas prices continue to rise and air condition impacts fuel economy, you may see more and more people going open air.

I don’t know if we are really warmer now than we were 60 years ago but I am sure that we have lost our ability to adjust to the changes. I learned as a scout master that if you went camping in the snow and it got gradually colder, you were better prepared to change clothes so you could sleep in a snow cave. The thought of leaving a warm house in the middle of winter and doing the same thing outside in the snow is unacceptable. As energy costs spiral out of control, maybe we will have to begin using some of the methods our parents and grandparents did to handle the heat but it won’t be easy to give up the easy life.

By the way, when you begin making the home-made ice cream, call me if it is pineapple. I wonder how the pioneers made pineapple ice cream - it was probably just good old vanilla.

KSL: Arch collapses in Southern Utah










Haven't laughed in a while? Don't miss the comments.

By Lyle Hillyard
Senator, District 25 - Cache and Rich Counties

The Utah Opera Festival programs will end this weekend in Logan. They have been marvelous with rich talent and staging. The lead performers are first class from around the world. The choruses are made up of the understudies, any one of whom could take over the lead part. Someone remarked about the marvelous gift Michael Ballam has of picking out the talent from auditions around this nation of selecting truly gifted performers.

Tickets costs are very small compared with what you would have to pay to see these same performers sing in New York. I am always impressed to see how many people attend the short program just prior to the performance when Michael asks how many are from Utah and how many are from out of state. The out-of-staters out number the locals by a sizable amount.

The impact on the economy in Logan is tremendous. I would invite everyone who is looking for something to do this weekend, to head up to Cache Valley and enjoy these great shows. Otherwise, plan your summer next year to include a trip to see the opera. The love of the opera is even changing an old dinosaur like me.

The Higher Education and Applied Technology Governance Committee meets today at 1:00 p.m.

Admit it, just reading the name of that committee gives you chills. More info here.

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.'"