Mar 27
Rep. Frank’s 2010 Utah General Session Summary
2010 at 2:43 pm | posted by Rep. Craig Frank 6 comments
(DVD run time: approximately 8:30, No taxpayer money was used in the production of this video)
As Utah’s 2010 General Legislative Session ended, there were a number of bills worth calling to your attention. Although this videp is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all the significant measures considered by this year’s legislature, it will draw your attention to many of the “higher profile bills” debated in the Utah House and the Senate.
NOTE: Rep. Frank did NOT support the cigarette tax increase because he thought it was bad tax policy. Target taxing minority, addicted populations is never a good idea and runs counter-intuitive to the basic universal tax theory of: Lowering the Rate and Spreading the Base. Also, Rep. Frank did NOT support “Healthcare Reform,” as proposed in Rep. David Clark’s HB294, but believes that the private sector’s continued concerns related to this proposal warrant additional consideration before the Clark Proposal is implemented into the law.
6 Responses to “Rep. Frank’s 2010 Utah General Session Summary”
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March 27th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
You need to fix the sound, their is no sound on the right channel, only sound from the left channel. this is real troublesome when using headphones. Mono sound is fine but you need to fix the video in whatever software you are using so that their isnt a second channel that is empty.
March 27th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Thanks for the heads up.
March 28th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Rep. Frank,
With all due respect, it is disingenuous to broadly claim that the Legislature listen’s to the “voice of the people”. They certainly did not do so with the issue of School Vouchers. They have not done so for years with regard to the issue of Legislative Ethics Reform. The “half a loaf” measures passed this year with regard to ethics changes were done ONLY because of the pressure generated by the Utahns for Ethical Government Initiative. This certainly could not be viewed as “listening to the people” since it was a fear based knee jerk reaction to the thought of losing some of the complete control and power held by the conservative majority.
Even the concept of the state government doing the “people’s business” and listening to the “voice of the people” is fundamentally lacking in this state due to the strong influence and modeling of the LDS Church. In this church the authority and decision making is from the top down. There is no true representative “government” as in the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches. Those in authority choose and appoint those to follow in their positions. The rank and file members have no say or vote in that selection process or even in how the church is run. They are not even told where their tithing money goes. The “vote to sustain” is a meaningless token rubber stamp gesture and not a true vote at all. If the U.S. Goverment were to adopt they same model of despotism as their LDS church, the Mormon Teabaggers and 9 – 12 crowd’s heads would explode!
The point of this lengthy comparison is that the “bretheren” who become the “authorities” in the legislature, time after time have sat in their committee meetings and listened to the case made for or against a certain bill and then refused to vote the bill out of committee and let the entire body discuss and vote the bill up or down on its merits. They do so because their minds were made up on the measure even before the hearings, and because “they” consider themselves the “authorities” over the citizens of this state and as such they always know what is best.
In essence the only “voice of the people” these “general authorities” of the legislature truly hear are the voices of people who are parroting what they already believe and have decided to do. This is not representing the people, it is representing themselves.
I give you the example this session of Sen. Urquharts bill on sex education. There was substantial public support and a strong grassroots effort involved in the drafting of that much needed legislation. There were well supported arguments put forth for the bill during the committee discussions. In the end there was not one member on that committee who would make the motion to readdress the bill when the bill came back with the changes suggested by members of that same committee. This may be the effect of listening to the voice of Gayle Ruszicka, but it certainly does not reflect listening to “the voice of the people”. The behavior of these legislators was shameful in this instance, to say the least.
The oft repeated argument that those Republican legislators must be representing their constituents since they keep voting them into office each election falls on its face when one realizes that in those districts anyone with an R behind their name who has the campaign resources and name recognition of an incumbent is going to win by a 60 to 70% margin regardless of what they do in the legislature and who is running against them. This is the absolute truth.
This is systemically what is wrong with the political system in Utah that it does not have the checks and balances of a two party system. Those in power have unchecked power which gives them the arrogance to think they can do whatever they please. This is evidenced by the numerous ethical violations in the past decade, and by the moronic time and money wasting legislation that is passed in each session.
Listening to the “voice of the people” and “doing the people’s business” should be replaced with listening to the “voice in my head” and “imposing my will upon the people” since I am the “authority”. To paraphrase the LDS Church pronouncement, “when our leaders speak, the thinking has already been done”.
This is what is wrong with your video Sen. Frank, not the stereo sound.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Craig,
thank you for putting this video together. I have been very impressed as I followed you on facebook how you post about everything you are doing in the legislature. I like the transparency! Good job!
April 1st, 2010 at 7:44 pm
This turned out really well, I’m impressed! All obvious biases aside, I agree with Debbie- way to be a reachable, transparent legislator.
May 19th, 2010 at 8:40 am
Rep. Frank,
With all due respect, it is disingenuous to broadly claim that the Legislature listen’s to the “voice of the people”. They certainly did not do so with the issue of School Vouchers. They have not done so for years with regard to the issue of Legislative Ethics Reform. The “half a loaf” measures passed this year with regard to ethics changes were done ONLY because of the pressure generated by the Utahns for Ethical Government Initiative. This certainly could not be viewed as “listening to the people” since it was a fear based knee jerk reaction to the thought of losing some of the complete control and power held by the conservative majority.
Even the concept of the state government doing the “people’s business” and listening to the “voice of the people” is fundamentally lacking in this state due to the strong influence and modeling of the LDS Church. In this church the authority and decision making is from the top down. There is no true representative “government” as in the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches. Those in authority choose and appoint those to follow in their positions. The rank and file members have no say or vote in that selection process or even in how the church is run. They are not even told where their tithing money goes. The “vote to sustain” is a meaningless token rubber stamp gesture and not a true vote at all. If the U.S. Goverment were to adopt they same model of despotism as their LDS church, the Mormon Teabaggers and 9 – 12 crowd’s heads would explode!
The point of this lengthy comparison is that the “bretheren” who become the “authorities” in the legislature, time after time have sat in their committee meetings and listened to the case made for or against a certain bill and then refused to vote the bill out of committee and let the entire body discuss and vote the bill up or down on its merits. They do so because their minds were made up on the measure even before the hearings, and because “they” consider themselves the “authorities” over the citizens of this state and as such they always know what is best.
In essence the only “voice of the people” these “general authorities” of the legislature truly hear are the voices of people who are parroting what they already believe and have decided to do. This is not representing the people, it is representing themselves.
I give you the example this session of Sen. Urquharts bill on sex education. There was substantial public support and a strong grassroots effort involved in the drafting of that much needed legislation. There were well supported arguments put forth for the bill during the committee discussions. In the end there was not one member on that committee who would make the motion to readdress the bill when the bill came back with the changes suggested by members of that same committee. This may be the effect of listening to the voice of Gayle Ruszicka, but it certainly does not reflect listening to “the voice of the people”. The behavior of these legislators was shameful in this instance, to say the least.
The oft repeated argument that those Republican legislators must be representing their constituents since they keep voting them into office each election falls on its face when one realizes that in those districts anyone with an R behind their name who has the campaign resources and name recognition of an incumbent is going to win by a 60 to 70% margin regardless of what they do in the legislature and who is running against them. This is the absolute truth.
This is systemically what is wrong with the political system in Utah that it does not have the checks and balances of a two party system. Those in power have unchecked power which gives them the arrogance to think they can do whatever they please. This is evidenced by the numerous ethical violations in the past decade, and by the moronic time and money wasting legislation that is passed in each session.
Listening to the “voice of the people” and “doing the people’s business” should be replaced with listening to the “voice in my head” and “imposing my will upon the people” since I am the “authority”. To paraphrase the LDS Church pronouncement, “when our leaders speak, the thinking has already been done”.
This is what is wrong with your video Sen. Frank, not the stereo sound.