Dear Voters in Senate District 15 ~
I hope you all had a great Washington/Lincoln day. In Utah we don't really have a Presidents Day. We have a Washington/Lincoln Day! Some of us are old enough to remember when Washington's Birthday was a holiday, and Lincoln's Birthday was also a holiday. In the 1980's those birthdays were combined and a Civil Rights holiday was created in Jan. That Jan. holiday has been renamed the Martin Luther King Day in many states, and some states keep "President's Day" for their Feb. holiday. In an effort to remember the greatness of Washington and Lincoln, I created a change in our law a few years ago (and the legislature approved it) to keep our Feb. holiday as Washington/Lincoln Day. Interestingly, several states have a different title. In the South, some call the Feb. holiday 'Washington/Jefferson Day' and some include Robert E. Lee in their recognition. Okay - that may be more information than you want - - - but I really want our rising generation to have an appreciation for Washington and Lincoln - and not think that we have a holiday to honor all past presidents equally. How ever you spent your Washington/Lincoln holiday, I hope you had time to read Washington's Farewell Address and/or the Gettysburg Address, or did something meaningful to remember those great men.
The biggest news for this week is again, the budget. The revenue
estimates came on Tuesday. Just as we had hoped, there will be a slight
surplus in the tax proceeds. This means there will be an additional $34
million in the education budget and $13 million in the general fund that
we can use to add to the base budgets we passed earlier.
The challenge we face now is the remaining structural deficit. Last
year we budgeted to spend $313 million more than we brought in. We can do that temporarily, using the Rainy Day Fund and other one-time funding sources. But it is not sustainable in the long term, however. Our goal is to spend less than we collect, which means we will need to continue to look carefully at what can be eliminated from our budget. By the same token, each proposed reduction must be tempered with the reality that there are people who depend on the services and programs that we might have to cut. They are truly difficult decisions. It was heartening to read a report last week showing that 52% of Utahns surveyed agreed that we should indeed make cuts as opposed to maintaining our current spending levels. Here is a link: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705367198/Officials-project-47M-new-revenue-for-budget-but-it-wont-be-enough-to-restore-cuts.htmlFor more on the revenue projections and budget you can look here: http://www.senatesite.com/home/revenue-estimates/
Senator Mike Lee addressed us on the floor on Tuesday. He reiterated
his concern about the growing federal deficit and subversion of state
responsibility. He said that unless the federal government is required
by a constitutional mandate, as Utah is, to balance its budget, we have
little reason to hope for anything but increasing debt. I was particularly
appreciative of Senator Lee's willingness to meet with us and talk often. He acknowledged that prior to the 17th amendment, our U.S. senators were chosen from the state legislature - and he acknowledged his responsibility to be connected with the elected officials in this state.
Medicaid reform is progressing. Funding Medicaid is a huge budget
issue in every state and has the potential of causing massive financial
problems, even to the point of bankruptcy in some states. Our state is
poised to be on top of the problem, and other states are looking to us
for leadership. This is due in large part to the leadership of There are many voices in this debate and many perspectives to consider. (yes, I still do those), letters (the kind that is paper and is delivered to the mail box on the are maintained and updated by my campaign manager (see picture below) and my intern. I feel a need to state this disclaimer to avoid receiving more technological credit than I deserve - - - but I AM committed to keeping voters update :) Me and my campaign manager, Richard.
Yours for freedom ~
Margaret Dayton
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