That being said, Representative Brad Dee’s (R – Ogden – District 11) HB 112 – Supreme Court Review of an Initiative or Referendum is, I feel, a direct attack on the peoples right to circulate petitions.

You see, the bill, if passed, would delete various time requirements for the Supreme Court to review initiatives and referendums and would allow the Supreme Court of Utah to differ fiscal impact estimate issues related to these matters. In other words, if the people are sending a petition around, the Supreme Court is no longer required to act within a set time period to ensure that the people can sign said petition – they could sit on it and, effectively, kill any chance of reform from the people. Furthermore, the Supreme Court could tell an agency under attack to “honestly” investigate the cost associated with implementing a new law – and I am sure these agencies will be unbiased in their assessments.

It should be obvious that this bill is trying to kill future attempts from the people to reform our government.  By removing time restrictions we are removing the requirement for government to certify petitions and, therefore, potentially removing the right of the people to speak on various issues.

Well, I have one simple question for Representative Dee – why are you so afraid of the people to speak? Are you afraid to hear what they have to say about how you and your colleagues govern?

This bill is an attack on your right to speak and should die the most horrific of deaths.

Click here to tell Representative Dee that you demand the right to participate in our democracy.

P.S. Even though this post does not reflect the views of Fair Boundaries, I still encourage you to sign by clicking here.

Want proof? Look at Representative Carol Spackman-Moss’ ( D – Salt Lake – District 37) sound ethics bill,  HB 247 – Lobbyist Restriction Modifications.

Currently, a former legislator could lobby on behalf of a bill if they are engaging in lobbying that is on behalf of themselves or a business they are associated with (unless that business is associated with lobbying or government affairs).  Spackman-Moss’ bill would remove this loophole and demand that legislators wait one year after leaving the legislature before becoming a lobbyist…period.

This bill, and the “cooling off” period it is advocating, is just one of many Democratic ethics bills that are going nowhere because a Republican did not sponsor it. I have to wonder where this bill would if it was proposed by some random legislator in the heart of Utah – alas, I will never know.

This is a great example of a bill that will go nowhere because of the name associated to the bill.

Click here to contact Representative Spackman-Moss.

Well, last year I said it was a good bill, and this year I will say the same.

Teenage drivers are already the most likely to be hurt or killed in car accidents, and the addition of cell phones only adds one more distraction. Even experienced drivers are more distracted when using a phone, let alone those who have been driving for two years or less. Those found guilty would be charged with a class C misdemeanor if an individual is found using a cell phone at the time of an accident and the driver could, potentially, loose their license.

Now this bill should not be confused with the text messaging bill that passed last year.  The ban on text messaging applies to all drivers, this would simply make any use of a cell phone illegal to minors.

I would also like to point out that this bill is an example of how lawmakers constantly modify bills from year to year in order to reach a desired goal.  Earlier today I discussed how Representative Rebecca Chavez-Houck is expanding her bill due to its successful passage last year, well this bill is the opposite. Riesen, hoping to pass a bill that he feels does some good, is scaling his original bill in hopes that he can get some of his ideas on the books. Both of these actions are common in lawmaking as everything is a give or take – this is the process in action.

Hopefully this bill will pass and Riesen will be able to expand the law in the future.

Click here to contact Representative Riesen.

So tune in to 90.9 FM at 6:00 PM or click here to listen online.

Thankfully, this bill passed, and Representative Chavez-Houck is looking to improve the law further with HB 232 – Medical Language Interpreter Amendments.

The bill itself will allow the Division of Health and Human Services to recommend to the legislature the need for laws relating to the act if HHS discovers that people are abusing the system or unqualified individuals are getting through the system and dispensing inadequate or incomplete medical advice.  Furthermore, the bill would set up a certification system and demand that certifications would expire.

In short, this bill takes a good law and makes it better.

As I have said, health is one of those things we simply can not skimp on because we dislike people who don’t look like us – disease could care less if you know a particular language or come from a particular country.  With the expansion of this law we will ensure that our community will be healthier and that people are making informed decisions about their health.

Click here to contact Representative Chavez-Houck.

Well, thankfully, I recovered just in time to read Representative Kerry Gibson’s (R – Ogden – District 6) HJR 12 – Climate Change Joint Resolution. Ya see, this Dairy Farmer knows a thing or two about them bookitie smarts all them educated people are talking about in the big cities, and he wants to put a stop to all this climate change nonsense they have been talking about.

HJR 12 is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to halt any and all carbon dioxide reduction policies, programs, and regulations until climate data and global warming science are substantiated.

Now I am not going to go on about all the usual stuff these climate change deniers bring out, stories about how it was cold yesterday so the climate can not be changed or how (quoting the bill mind you) “global temperatures have been level in declining in some areas (my house, for example, has been climate stable)” or how a set of emails up playing the threat means that certifiable data is suddenly. No I am not going to talk about how stupid it is to point to the failed Copenhagen accords is proof that the science is bad or to say that capping CO2 emissions would, somehow, put “billions of human beings into long-term poverty,” no…I am going to talk about the fact that we live in a society where a diary farmer thinks he has all the answers when compared to years of data analysis and  thousands of scientists saying that this is a real problmem.

And how we live in a society where people will listen to him.

These are the same people who don’t believe in evolution, and would have stoned Galileo on his outlandish thoughts on “global rounding and solar circulation.”

Yes, we have little faith in our scientists these days, and it allows mental nymphs such as Gibson to actually think that what he is saying is correct – and for some of his colleges to go along with it.

Now, I could be wrong, Gibson could be a full-time climatologist on the side – but if that is the case he should really tell the people running the state website to change his profession on his profile; furthermore, I will fully admit that I am not a climatologist either. But I also will state that people are experts for a reason – they spend their lives learning about particular topics and not just think that one or two counter points means that an entire theory was bunk.

To use an example that Gibson might understand: Every dairy cow I have ever heard of produces milk, but I heard a story once about how a guy milked a bull, so that must mean that Gibson should be able to drink bull milk as well and not have any sort of concerns.  Crass? You bet, but it proves a point.  Of course I am wrong about “bull milk” and you would think me a fool to be preaching that as fact – but it is the exact same thing.  The science is in on climate change, and I am sorry if you don’t like the facts.

Click here to tell Representative Gibson not to drink bull milk.

As we were both pouring over “the Facebook” we stumbled upon our mutual friend, Ashley Anderson’s, photo of himself in his “survivaball…” Please see below:

Now, if you are like my girlfriend, you probably have no idea what a Survivaball actually is, thinking that it was some sort of kids toy where you put them into a ball and roll them around.  “No” I calmly explained, “it is actually a protest device that eco-friendly people use to protest climate change.”

I then promptly pulled up this site, and showed her this video:

Her response?

“OOOOOOH, it is so cute! I want one”

This, naturally, makes me slap my hand to my forehead.

“Look,” she proclaims “it has eyeballs…and hands! I WANT ONE FOR MY BIRTHDAY! Tell Ashley to get me one.”

Now, I love Jill very much, but it is times like this that I realize I have to convert her to a worldview that recognizes the problems our world faces. Now, although she is a dirty, filthy, Republican, she also is not the uneducated type who us liberals so like to make fun of.  She will look at a situation and take in the information to come to a conclusion – it is just that, based on her upbringing, she comes to different conclusions than I would. Indeed, before this comment we had an exchange on healthcare reform were each of us was entrenched in our ideological view points.

But this is where I want to get to the heart of my post. We must understand that there are smart people who disagree with us.  All to often we are concerned with grandstanding that, in the end, only pleases us and does little to convert people who don’t know the situation. We must talk to each other rather than talk at each other – it is the only way we can have an open and honest political discussion and, hopefully, work together to make the world a little bit better.

Well, it is back, and this time it is an even stronger bill than before. To recap from last year, the bill would allow the collection and storage of rainwater either above or below ground without having to receive a water rights permit. This bill has been modified from last year to allow the storage only up to 2,500 gallons in underground containers or above ground in 55 gallon containers above ground (addressing the concerns of agriculture).

As I said last year, this bill is beneficial to urban areas where rain and snow would normally just flow down the drain and be wasted.  By capturing it and using it on, say, cooling systems, rooftop gardens, and irrigation, the water would not need to come from reservoirs miles away from the source – saving both energy and reserves by not having to pump as much during dry times.

Finally, I hope this bill will pass as it did get the recommendation of the State Water Development Commission – showing that this is a practical solution to Utah’s water needs.

Click here to contact Senator Jenkins.

This bill is one of those bills that is straight forward and, hence, has a uncertain future in the legislature.  The bill basically says that if you are charged with human trafficking, you will be charged for each individual you smuggle or traffic across the border as opposed to just receiving one blanket charge.

This is a sound immigration bill as well as a sound human rights bill. Certainly it acts as an actual deterrent to illegal immigration (as opposed to silly drivers license laws that just inconvenience citizens), but it also recognizes the fact that some people are brought across the border to serve as either sex workers or indentured servants.

I hope this bill passes, but the legislature has a history of screwing this sort of thing up.  I hope it does pass, but we will see what happens.

Click here to contact Representative Fisher.

Now, I must admit that I originally supported this bill when I first wrote about it, however I received an email from my friend Deb Henry over at the aptly named Hey Deb Henry (who also happens to work for UDOT) that this bill actually goes counter to UDOT’s plan for the lane.

In my original post, I basically said that our carpool lanes are a joke, and indeed, I still feel that they do. But UDOT is addressing this through some innovative plans that take advantage of modern technology. Take a look by clicking here since UDOT is dumb and won’t allow me to embed videos.

For those of you thinking I am rickrolling you, just know that the video talks about how UDOT has a plan to implement variable tolls in four zones across I-15. Now, although I understand that there is a chance for cheaters, the video does address how law enforcement can monitor activity on the toll road while still giving emphasis to carpoolers. Plus, lets not pretend that there are not already cheaters now. I do say that this bill should go further in increasing the fine for carpool lane/toll road violations…but that is another story.

Henry also point out to me that this bill would create extra trips because drivers would normally have to deal with congestion.  Now I don’t fully agree with that argument as I suspect people would just delay their trip, but even that would reduce emissions as people would not have to be in as much stop and go traffic.

In the end, I my original post that none of you saw should serve as a message to many legislators – don’t be afraid to change your opinion when you get more information.

Click here to contact Senator Morgan.