I Found The Money

The legislative session has hardly begun, but I have some preliminary thoughts on what I’m seeing. There is, unfortunately, no way for me to physically attend every single committee meeting when it comes to the bills that I favor or oppose. I can’t give comment on everything because these little legs can’t run from one building to the next fast enough. If I could, you can bet your bacon that every single Senator and Representative would know me by name by the end of the week. Since I lack the power of teleportation, I will have to settle for emails and blog posts. Which leads me to this: I have heard “where are we going to find the money for this” multiple times over bills that would solve documented problems, yet there has been little legislative opposition to bills that don’t solve problems for Utah.

This, of course, is as good of a picture we will get in regards to legislative priority. I’ve raised concerns over bills that reroute funds from education to the general fund, that lower the taxes that primarily fund eductation, and that funnel much needed funds for backlogged courts to the well-funded office next door.

When said concerns were raised, I received “I appreciate you bringing up that point” and a rehashing of what was in the bill in question, as if I hadn’t read it and my cited concerns didn’t stem directly from the language of the bill. Appreciating a point but failing to add substance to the argument does little to build trust and even less to justify the stance. When it comes to tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, I expect a good justification as to why it’s being spent on something nobody asked for.

We are hardly two weeks into this session and I’ve watched education funding cuts pass committee with the question of where the money to avoid cuts would come from. The very next day, a bill to reduce property tax, the main contributor to the education fund, comes through. Beside it, a bill to take funds from the education fund and funnel it into the general fund.

My message to our representatives is this: I think I found the money. You’re spending it on things we never asked for.

Utah has the resources, even with the Federal cuts coming from the top of the food chain. The money IS there. Utah isn’t a wealthy state, no. But we aren’t destitute either. We have the money to fund essential public services WITHOUT raising taxes. What we need is a legislature that will listen when educators tell us the cuts will harm the children they teach, we need a legislature with a cool head that won’t lash out at the judiciary to the tune of over $10 million in taxpayer dollars, we need a legislature that removes roadblocks for future leaders and civic engagement instead of adding obstacles to the mountain we already have to climb to be involved in our own government.

They’re in legislative session right now, so it’s not too late for us to appeal to their better nature and ask them to turn their focus back to what matters: The People. Reach out and ask them to reprioritize and re-commit to the people they represent.

If you’re not sure which bills to tackle but you agree that education funding should come first, pop over to the contact page and shoot me an email. I have a few you can take a look at and reach out over.