By Representative Christine Watkins, District 69
The 2018 legislative session is in full swing. The first week is over and many bills have passed the House floor. The bills that were passed the first week were bills that were presented to committees during summer interim. A bill that passed these committees with no dissenting votes was put on the third reading board and the sponsor presented the bill; questions may or may not have been asked and most have passed on to the senate.
One bill of interest is the Fireworks Restrictions Bill. It will change how we do fireworks. It will restrict the dates that fireworks are allowed. They will be allowed from July 2-5 and July 22-25 instead of July 1-7 and July 21-27. Fireworks will still be allowed for New Year’s Eve and Chinese New Year. Penalties for using them out of the allowed dates will increase from $750 to $1,000. It will allow cities and local governments increased flexibility. It passed the House easily and I believe the Senate will pass it too.
I was able to visit with the Carbon High School history fair winners. All were state winners and some were National History Fair winners. I really enjoyed learning about their projects and getting to know the students. Mr. Chris Sweeney does such a great job supporting his students and keeping history fresh and exciting.
The projects were divided into three groups. James Bryner, who presented a history paper titled “Pierre-Charles-Alexandre Louis.” Then, Tessa Atwood, Mersedez Clifford, Tyler Pierce, Bethany Prettyman and Katie Snow presented a group performance titled “The Secret Heroes of the American Revolution: The Culper Spy Ring’s Stand for Freedom.” Finally, Shannon Baker presented an individual documentary titled “Standing Together: Sam Gompers.”
I’m continually impressed by the students in my district, and meeting some of the bright young minds today made me excited for the future of Utah!
My intern is Lacee Meyer. She grew up in Carbon County and is attending UVU. She is an excellent intern and has done an outstanding job helping me in my duties.
I have presented three bills; the Volunteer Firefighter bill will be presented on the House floor early this week. The other two bills were held in committee and will be presented again this week. I have others being worked on so I am busy. Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to serve you.
If you are planning on visiting the Capitol, please let me know, I love to have visitors. The Utah State Capitol is such a beautiful building and it is fun to show it off. My phone number is (435) 650-1969, Facebook: Representative Christine Watkins District 69, email: christinewatkins@le.utah.gov
