20110212 Utah County elected delegation update

This was an update from the Elected Representatives of Utah County. The meeting was held at the Provo City Hall and was well attended by the elected officials. About 100 people showed up to listen and ask questions.
2/12/2011 9:37:33 AM Information Jason Chaffetz “The work that we are going to do next week is finding out how to fund the government between now and september. We are 14 trillion in debt. We are going to have a problem in conference and will have to work it out.
The continuing resolution is going to cut 100 million in spending for 6 months. What I think we have to do is move more things from mandatory to discretionary. It is not just social security but other mandatory spending that is also hurting us.
CUP funding is equal and would like to drop next year by 1 million. We fought to get rid of some international funding that we give to Ireland. 500 million total so far that they don’t have.
I cam to listen.”
2/12/2011 9:40:51 AM Question Margaret Dayton Egypt?
2/12/2011 9:41:08 AM Answer Jason Chaffetz “Got too volatile so we had to cancel our trip. They are a strong ally and help us out in the war on terror. We consume a lot of barrels of oil and the Suez Canal is very important to us. We are concerned about the long term fate since we have a gas line that goes through Egypt to Israel. We don’t know who is going to be in control and our intelligence doesn’t have enough information yet. We watch for other areas as well.
I am excited about this because I am a Chairman over national security, homeland defense and TSA. That falls under me. I will be taking a lot of trips.
March 22 and 24 we will have some town halls.
It takes about 1 million dollars to support per person one of our troops. We are going to spend in excess of 200 billion dollars in Afghanistan. We will get about 100,000 people out of Iraq. What is going to back in there after that are state department personnel. We will be sending in massive amounts of contractors to defend those state dept personnel.
We are pouring billions in to Pakistan for help. USAID couldn’t give me one project that was specific that they have completed. I am uncomfortable.”
2/12/2011 9:45:59 AM Question How successful are you at defunding Obama care?
2/12/2011 9:46:10 AM Answer Jason Chaffetz “Obama care is mandatory spending so far. We can’t fix it this next week, but we will target it for next year. The majority is ready to defund it soon. Boehner says we can’t move Obama care out of mandatory immediately but soon.
Thanks for letting me serve.”
2/12/2011 9:47:24 AM Introductions Taylor Oldroyd While the legislators come up to the seats I will turn this to Keith Grover.
2/12/2011 9:49:29 AM Information John Valentine Many of the things that are done here are pre orchestrated. Francis is surprised by this vice chair action here in this caucus. But we want to give you time so we moved this along quickly.
2/12/2011 9:50:53 AM Information Margaret Dayton “Thanks for coming out on Saturday morning. I wanted to say that we want to address some specfic issues. We want to help out UVU and we are least funded with the least space. We are the example of the best education for price. We are very excited about the new science building. We are excited to have great leadership there. We want to increase the funding and we are united in that here with the Utah County Caucus.
Val Hale is the liason from the school with us. I have a son that uses their equipment late at night because it available and very busy. We need to continue our efforts to get better funding.”
2/12/2011 9:54:07 AM Information Taylor Oldroyd Klondikes and other activities have called some away.
2/12/2011 9:54:24 AM Introductions Francis Gibson House 65 most of Springville, Mapleton and East Spanish Fork.
2/12/2011 9:54:50 AM Introductions Ken Sumsion “Lehi, Eagle Mountain, Spanish Fork growing and largest number of household. I am working on retention votes for judges. I have a bill that will bring the boundaries back to locality responsibility.
Passed out of education committees 3 bills to fix some splits”
2/12/2011 9:56:13 AM Introductions John Dougall Representing a new group that we didn’t know about.
2/12/2011 9:56:45 AM Introductions Becky Lockhart I represent this area.
2/12/2011 9:56:59 AM Introductions John Valentine Orem and all of Cedar Hills.
2/12/2011 9:57:22 AM Introductions Keith Grover
2/12/2011 9:57:40 AM Introductions Chris Herrod I have 17 constituents in AF canyon.
2/12/2011 9:57:49 AM Introductions Margaret Dayton Rules chair in the senate.
2/12/2011 9:58:10 AM Introductions Holly Richardson Pleasant Grove, AF and part of Cedar Hills. Blogging and politics. Medicaid reform.
2/12/2011 9:58:36 AM Introductions Mark Madsen 1 city in Tooele and 16 in Utah County. This is the most populous district in the state. Property rights, education.
2/12/2011 9:59:37 AM Introductions Curt Bramble Represent city of Provo area.
2/12/2011 10:00:09 AM Information Becky Lockhart “This week Sandstrom’s bill passed out HB70. Please review all the amendments and changes. That bill should come to the full house this enxt week.
Feral bill came out. Anything attacks you, you can kill in self defense. Our voxpopuli blog at UtahReps.net. We are on twitter and facebook. We have highlights of everthing that is going on. Spotlights and other pieces of information. That is my shameless plug for new media.
Redistricting is a big question. We don’t know and we haven’t made any decisions about when. We won’t have the data until April from the census. We will work on it once the session is over. We will travel the state and hear from the public.
We will want to have some internet technology for you so that you can draw maps yourselves. Both Sumsion and Madsen mentioned they have the largest. The growth occurred and we need to redistrict and Sumsions may be 2.5 to 3 districts.”
2/12/2011 10:04:52 AM Question Number one the state should be responsible for education. What is the state doing to bring the discussion back from the nation and take a more prominent role.
2/12/2011 10:05:32 AM Answer Margaret Dayton “NCLB our state led a fight against it. Less than 8% of our education funding is from federal yet 100% of how we work is mandated. When we tried to opt out more states joined us. All of the states are working against it. We ended out passing a bill that stated, where federal provisions conflict we will do what the state says. If we chose our own curriculum we couldn’t get the books for it since no publisher would come with our state alone.
I want us to have this be a state issue.”
2/12/2011 10:07:57 AM Answer Chris Herrod We sometimes get beat up for spending less than others. 60% of the lands in Utah are owned by the federal government. When Ken Salazar pulled our leases, our education lost billions of dollars. If you talk to the public lands people they will let you know what the problem is.
2/12/2011 10:09:34 AM Answer Curt Bramble Not only do we have ownership directly that is a problem, but also the surrounding lands restricts access to Utah owned land.
2/12/2011 10:10:29 AM Answer Ken Sumsion We are working on some changes to help improve our ability to fight better with our attornies. They are ready to launch in to the fights but we need to help fund them. In the last few months the federal government has started to do a land grab based on regulations and positions that agencies are taking. We have to fight these lawsuits.
2/12/2011 10:12:38 AM Answer John Dougall Was Obamcare a lawsuit worth fighting?
2/12/2011 10:13:02 AM Answer Becky Lockhart The Army Corps of Engineers has begun to change the way they interpret a law or rule. The state just lost lands because gullies are now theirs to manage and that made this a huge land grab. Incredible over reach. Your private property is being taken as well. Watch for that!
2/12/2011 10:14:39 AM Information Val Hale This delegation is a extremely supportive of UVU and we appreciate all that they do. We have 2 issues that we are focused on. A building that is privately funded. The second is an equity issue. We have 33,000 students and 2 out of 3 are from Utah County. I want to express appreciation to these here. I want you to know that these people are very helpful. Thanks.
2/12/2011 10:16:03 AM Question What is life and wellness?
2/12/2011 10:16:13 AM Answer Val Hale Our life and wellness area was built for 5,000 people and we now have 33,000 and the parking is a problem. So this is paid for by student fees.
2/12/2011 10:16:55 AM Question Education question about Mark Shurtleffs fight?
2/12/2011 10:17:24 AM Answer Chris Herrod They have a statute of limitations issue. We have to file about 2000 cases that are about to run out. Montana and New Mexico are filing similar bills. ALEC is working on this.
2/12/2011 10:18:25 AM Answer Curt Bramble Rep Herrod is the new public sector ALEC co-chair.
2/12/2011 10:18:48 AM Question Like to know which bill you support on immigration. I support Mr. Sandstrom.
2/12/2011 10:19:07 AM Answer Margaret Dayton I will be interested to hear what the house members say. I am the senate sponsor fo this bill.
2/12/2011 10:19:32 AM Answer Keith Grover The bill and audio is available online. I would suggest you go listen. We did pass it out of committee 9 to 3.
2/12/2011 10:20:32 AM Answer John Valentine You can see how we vote on le.utah.gov.
2/12/2011 10:20:47 AM Answer Curt Bramble On the senate side it is hard to ask because it is not known until the bill comes over. There was a bill that revoked the driving privilege card that got out of committee. We are working on another bill that would require fingerprint background checks with pictures. We are working on other legislation.
2/12/2011 10:22:32 AM Answer John Dougall There are half a dozen bills with changes that are floating out there. One of the key things we forget is that many people want to come live here. They also want friends and family to come with them.
2/12/2011 10:23:23 AM Answer Chris Herrod I testified with Sandstroms bill. I have a bill going to committee on Monday that will tighten down the Everify. I think we have turned the debate to focus on good legal immigrants.
2/12/2011 10:24:09 AM Answer Francis Gibson I signed on as a cosponsor with Sandstroms bill. There are other bills out there. The bills are evolving and changing. My constituents are adamant that we need to do something. I have a delegate that has legally sponsored an immigrant and has for the past 10 years. She has spent over 20,000.00 to be legal. That is someone that I want to be here. I hope the federal government will fix that.
2/12/2011 10:25:55 AM Answer Curt Bramble “On all sides there is agreement that the federal government has been a pathetic failure. We have sent resolutions to encourage reform. Our national groups have sent them as well. We have come up with the concepts of a state based work permit program. If we can pass this with enforcement and verify and penalties then the federal government will be forced to act and not ignore it.
They have to fight rather than just ignore it. The federal government did change what they were doing because they were forced to by Arizona.
TO the extent that we pass a bill then the federal has to act.”
2/12/2011 10:29:33 AM Answer John Dougall As we run down this path, we need to be careful about what we do. Native born citizens of hispanic descent are going to be hit by this as well. We can not forget what will happen for all of us.
2/12/2011 10:30:38 AM Answer Mark Madsen “I have a bill on the issue. It is an attempt to quantify the costs and contributions of the immigration. If we were to find out that this is a windfall to the state then I might support it. We are given a false choice sometimes. We need to tweak the incentives and encourage undesirable elements to leave.
I support the Sandstrom bill and believe that we should try and improve it. I believe there is a difference from those who came legally versus those who are from the start illegal. I belive that we should treat them differently.
If we are going to have guest worker programs we want to avoid a sanctuary state that will flood us with illegal immigrants.
I have tried to sponsor someone too and after multiple efforts and trips to the Embassy I finally received denial and that is because of too many illegals.”
2/12/2011 10:34:52 AM Question Deidre Henderson Spanish Fork medicaid reform?
2/12/2011 10:35:12 AM Answer Holly Richardson Passed out SB180. You have to stop trying to tweak the status quo and restructure the entire system. There are a number of factors to look at.
2/12/2011 10:37:15 AM Question We don’t have enough doctors. The UofU takes in too few.
2/12/2011 10:38:07 AM Answer John Valentine No time for that one.
2/12/2011 10:38:18 AM Question Wendy Bagley Rep Wrights food safety bill concern?
2/12/2011 10:38:38 AM Answer Chris Herrod Rep Wright and I are working to get a bill passed that you can grow your own food. Senator Wright will allow us to concern Utah food within the state of Utah.
2/12/2011 10:39:35 AM Question Ron McDonald Why don’t we do like AZ and pull licenses?
2/12/2011 10:39:50 AM Answer Chris Herrod That is about the only penalty we can enforce and we will incorporate it in the bill.
2/12/2011 10:40:15 AM Answer John Dougall Why should business be immigration officers?
2/12/2011 10:40:30 AM Question SB 178 I think it may make some improvements but isn’t this a case of the State overstepping?
2/12/2011 10:41:06 AM Answer Curt Bramble “It is my bill. Speaker Lockhart and I were asked to address the issue. Property rights have meaning in our society but we are asking about health standards. If you have a home converted to a duplex then you could be grandfathered in. Provo City took a position that they could force by city ordinance fiat and they would remove that right. That was a problem and HB 381 was written. Provo got upset about it.
SB 178 has been vetted by Provo and reviewed by others and we are trying to find a wrkable solution as a compromise. This is a specific enumerated list of things that Citys can do.”
2/12/2011 10:44:12 AM Question You talked about everify but it is voluntary?
2/12/2011 10:44:28 AM Answer Chris Herrod It will be required based on our new law. There will be consequences.
2/12/2011 1:54:50 PM Adjourn John Valentine