YOUR VOICE IS THE Backbone OF THE UTAH GOP
Your Input is Important in this Discussion
Many of you have submitted your thoughts regarding my Op-Ed titled "Utah can work out a place for transgender athletes" which the Salt Lake Tribune published, then deleted within 3 hours on March 17th,
See more in the next section below.
I am posting many of your responses here on the page about transgender athletes. Names and cities have been removed for privacy.
2022 Priority Issues
Conflict of Interest Amendments - Lobbyists
Letter to the Editor - Salt Lake Tribune - February 22, 2022
"I respectfully ask the voters, citizens, and taxpayers of Utah the following questions:
1. Should the people of Utah allow powerful lobbyists to manage the election or reelection campaigns of politicians in Utah?
2. Is it reasonable to believe that a politician could hire a lobbying firm to manage his or her campaign, get elected in November, take office in January, and immediately be able to say no to their lobbyist campaign firm that would soon be lobbying them in the fast-approaching legislative session?
3. Does this practice create a conflict of interest? Who would the elected official be beholden to? We the people or the hired lobbyist who managed their election campaign? "
Click here to read the letter in full.
“A lobbyist may not serve as a campaign manager for, or affiliate with an entity that provides campaign management services or other campaign services to, a candidate who, if elected, the lobbyist may lobby.”
Read the Lobby Factsheet here
Water Supply and Wildfires
Letter to the Editor - Deseret News - February 8, 2022
"In certain places in Utah, outside a city’s limits or its “retail water service area,” certain residents rely on “contract water” for their culinary and fire suppression needs.
Unfortunately, many of the decades-old water contracts have not been updated and, in some cases, full-time residents are denied a “continuing (water) service.”
In other words, for months out of the year, full-time residents have no water delivery to their homes, including no water in their fire hydrants. To compound the problem, many of these residents live in high or extreme wildfire danger zones."
Click here to view the letter at Deseret.com.
We must finish the unresolved issues of water service outside of municipal boundaries from Constitutional Amendment D.
It ensures year-round culinary water and water for fire suppression to residents in towns and unincorporated county, wherever the municipality which owns the water rights does not deliver the water directly to the customers.
Read the Water Factsheet
Freedom of Speech and Social Media
Freedom of speech is an absolute for me. It is one of our first freedoms, enshrined in the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
While I embrace the positive aspects and opportunities social media provides regarding free speech and political engagement, I am concerned about the dangers of social media and the possible distortion of free speech, as well as censorship by big tech companies, and the rapid spread of both ideas and misinformation on these platforms.
It is with this in mind that I am sponsoring a bill titled "Freedom of Speech and Honest Discourse on Social Media".
Read about it here.
Protecting Homeowners and the Disabled - HOAs
Letter to the Editor - St. George News - February 22, 2022
"....What happens when the HOA board and management company violate the HOA governing documents, ignore state and federal statutes and are the ones out of compliance? What type of protection or recourse does a homeowner have?
It seems the answer is, not much. Unfortunately, homeowners quickly find themselves alone in uncharted territory. Instead of their home as a place of refuge, it becomes a place of conflict and confusion.
It appears in Utah, we have left our homeowners very vulnerable to rogue HOA boards and management companies. "
Click here to view the letter on the St. George News website.
My HOA initiative addresses many of the specific complaints I hear regarding HOA Boards and management companies. It also outlines a desperately needed path for dispute resolution without costly litigation via the States Property Rights Ombudsman.
Read the HOA Factsheet