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Written by Micah Olson
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Thursday, 18 March 2010 15:53 |
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Final Report from the Utah State Senate Senator Margaret Dayton
March 18, 2010
Dear friends in Senate District 15,
As we have come to the end of another historic session, I look back and
feel pleased with most of the tasks we accomplished.
We balanced a shrinking budget. We were forced to make tough decisions
in this area but I believe they were wise and put our state in a
responsible financial position. We sent unmistakably clear messages to
the national government regarding the appropriate exercise and limits of
their constitutional power. We created powerful new ethics policy for
the legislature and other elected officials. The state of Utah has done some heavy
lifting this session and I hope you are satisfied with the result.
Here are some of the key issues on which we worked in the final week:
On Monday we passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 11, Expressing
Opposition to the Creation of New National Monuments in Utah. Senator
Van Tassell is the sponsor of this legislation and explains more on this
bill here:
http://senatesite.com/blog/2010/03/scr-11-opposition-to-creation-of-new.html
The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce offered praise for our work ethics
reform this session, along with a brief analysis of the so-called Ethics
Initiative. You can read the chamber*s press release here:
http://senatesite.com/blog/2010/03/chamber-of-commerce-on-2010s-ethics.html
We also passed SB 250, which will encourage political parties to
consider how well the state legislature feels their U.S. Senator has
worked on state priorities. Senator Stephenson explains more on this
bill here:
http://senatesite.com/blog/2010/03/senator-stephenson-on-sb-250-holding-us.html
HB 141 also passed this week. This bill will help clarify the access
fisherman and others have to streambeds on private property. Senator
Stowell explains more here:
http://senatesite.com/blog/2010/03/senator-stowell-on-streambed-access.html
And, of course, we passed a balanced budget. You can find an excellent
summary of our work by clicking the following link. You'll find a
general overview, followed by a committee-by-committee report.
http://www.le.utah.gov/lfa/2010GeneralSessionAppropriationsSummary.pdf
This session has been challenging but I feel we rose to the challenges,
made the tough decisions and solved problems before they became a
crisis. On balance, I feel the State of Utah is in a better place than
she was 45 days ago.
For the mainstream media's point of view, you can find a small
collection of session recap articles here:
http://senatesite.com/blog/2010/03/friday-morning-ok-afternoon-workout.html
Thank you for your interest and support over the past seven weeks.
Thanks for your support.
Yours for freedom,
Margaret Dayton
P.S. It seems our session accomplishments have been somewhat eclipsed
by sad news from our colleague in the House of Representatives, who has
now resigned. I hope that incident will be considered with justice and
compassion for all involved. They will be in my prayers. I also hope
that the good policy decisions we made this session will not be
completely overshadowed.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 18 March 2010 16:22 |
