Representative Christine Watkins attends the Speaker’s Dinner at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City.
By Christine Watkins, Representative District 69
Last week was a very busy week on the hill. We had a great time passing SCR1, a resolution recommending the replacement of the Statue of Philo Farnsworth with a statue of Martha Hughes Cannon. 2020 will be the one hundredth anniversary of women getting the right to vote in America. Martha was the first woman State Senator in the United States (defeating her husband), a doctor and a suffragist. Private funds will be used to create another statute of Martha and ship the statue to the Nation’s Capital. Many entities are trying to get the statue of Philo Farnsworth in their community, but that decision has not yet been made.
My Business Expansion and Retention Amendments Bill passed out of the House unanimously and is in the Senate Rules Committee. This bill is critical for rural areas and will create an appropriation floor and other helpful changes.
HB161 2S, my car registration bill, passed out of committee with a unanimous vote and is headed for a house floor vote. I also passed out HB347, Law Enforcement Agreements, which deals with an issue that the city of Myton has with a checkerboard land problem in their city. Part of the land is Indian land and part is Presidential land. This bill will allow training of Ute police officers to enforce the laws in the city of Myton.
A bill to watch is HB175. This bill would create a nine-member Oversight Committee with statutory direction to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of a local government. This committee would be comprised of nine state legislators. This bill screams micro-management, another costly government committee, and for a people that who want less government intrusion, this is counter intuitive! I will not support this bill and I will work for its demise.
Thursday, my son Danny Stucki and I attended the Speaker’s Dinner. It was held on the floor of the Vivint Arena. It was a lot of fun and yet a bit sad knowing that Speaker Greg Hughes will not be returning. He has been a fair and just leader and I admire him for the great example he has set.
This week is the last week of committee meetings. Starting Thursday, we will be spending all day on the floor debating bills and either passing or not passing them.
Thank you for your support. I really appreciate the phone calls and emails.
Cell: 435-650-1969
Facebook: RepresentativeChristineWatkinsDistrict69