Representative Christine Watkins and her seatmate, Rep. Susan Pulsipher, had the honor of hosting South Jordan Mayor Dawn Ramsey during the last week of the session.
By Rep. Christine Watkins
The 2019 legislative session is over. There were 1,233 bill requests filed and 105 resolutions, adding up to 1,338 pieces of legislation. In 2019, 574 pieces of legislation passed between the House and Senate and that is a new record. $95 million went into the rainy-day fund, $250 million on-going for public education and $28 million for clean air initiatives. State employees got a 2.5% increase and education received a 4% increase to the WPU.
The Business, Economic Development and Labor Committee that I serve on had most of its money restored with the adoption of a new budget for this year. Many ongoing budget allotments were made for one-time allocations. This was a signal that the tax reform has to be worked on and completed in order for these allocations to continue. I passed a bill that will give rural rapid/light manufacturing $500,000. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development will design a grant program where rural communities can apply for this money. I did get $500,000 for the Coal Country Strike Team, which will help Carbon and Emery to work together with planning for diversifying our economies and help with technical education and housing. I also got $25,000 one-time money for the Helper Arts Festival to celebrate their 25th Anniversary. Obviously, there are many more appropriations that were made, but they are too numerous to print here.
I passed five bills and have several that didn’t make it. I will work on them over the summer and either discard them or have them ready to go when the 2020 session begins. Some good bills, other than mine, that may affect you are:
- HB132 raises the amount of alcohol in beer from 3.2% to 4%.
- SB100 allows for electronic drivers licenses to be issued.
- HB294 changes the renewal of driver’s licenses from five years to eight.
- HB433 the Inland Port Amendments will allow a hub and spoke opportunity for a number of rural areas as well as technical changes.
- HB250 School Fee Revisions will give the State Board of Education more oversight over school districts and the fees they charge. It also gives school districts time to revise, lower or do away with many school fees.
- HB431 Expungement Act amendments will create a system that wipes out a person’s criminal records if convicted of certain low-level crimes and if the person stays out of trouble for a number of years. There are three-year, five-year and seven-year time divisions. The courts will automatically review and expunge the records. This process is normally time intensive, expensive and requires lengthy amounts of time to pass.
The best way to learn about specific bills or topics is by visiting le.utah.gov and type in the bill or topic in the search bar.
There is still work going on with the tax reform issue. We will have a town hall in the area to discuss it and receive input. I will be sure to let you know when that will happen. It is expected that we will have a special session is August to vote on the tax reform bill.
It was an exciting and productive session. I tried to answer as many emails that I had time to. I don’t have my intern do it, so I apologize if I missed you. I read everything, just didn’t send everyone a response.Thanks again for letting me serve you, it is truly an honor. Rural Utah is the best!
Contact:
Email: christinewatkins@le.utah.gov, Cell 435-650-1969, Facebook: Representative Christine Watkins District 69.