UMA WORKING FOR YOU:
Tom Bingham, here: Let me update you on a few things cooking just now that will help UMA keep abreast of what is coming in next week’s 2011 General Session of the Utah Legislature.LEGISLATIVE LEADERSHIP’S PRVIEW OF KEY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES:
Yesterday, I met with several other business groups at a “Pre-legislative Conference” annually sponsored by the Utah Taxpayers Association at the Capital. We received some very interesting perspectives from several legislative leaders on how they see the session going and what some of the key issues will be. Some of these have great significance to UMA member companies. Among those are these:
THE UTAH BUDGET: Both Speaker Becky Lockhart and President Michael Waddoups addressed the group outlining the budget challenges and what they see happening with the 2011-12 budget. Speaker Lockhart said, “We have to continue cuts in state government, because the House is not going to raise taxes.” We have asked all state agencies to submit two budgets for our appropriations hearings, a 10% reduction and a 7% reduction over last year’s base, she said. We hope we don’t have to cut 10% but we are looking at it from a different angle this year. We are looking within state government not just for across the board reductions but also for entire programs that may be eliminated as a way of cutting the cost of government to taxpayers, she told us.
Lockhart identified a couple other things she expects to see in the coming session, including a host of message bills pushing back with the Federal government on approaches they are taking with over regulating. These things are killing our economy, she said, and we need to deliver a clear message that we cannot and will not tolerate such things, she noted. Some of the messages known already include a balanced budget amendment and a referendum process for groups of states to negate congressional mandates. Immigration will be a big issue, she said, and many in her body have already filed bills from a variety of perspectives. It is going to be difficult to address all the varied approaches, she said.
The Speaker promised a fiscally conservative approach to the 2011 session and requested from those of us who represent business and industry that we provide them with good, accurate information, so they can make good and informed decisions.
Regarding the budget Senate President Michael Waddoups added that the Senate intends to make significant cuts to the state budget and promised no tax increases, specifically noting “no income tax or gas tax increases”. He noted that, “The reason we are in the economic condition we are is because, we have too many wants. There are so many things available to us these days we just think we need them. We don’t have to have them, we just want them,” he said.
URQUHART TAKES AIM AT MISSION-BASED EDUCATION
Senator Steve Urquhart, (R) St. George, is on a mission to reform higher education in Utah. He is the Senate co-chair to the higher education appropriations subcommittee and he has some revolutionary ideas about how higher education should serve students. His plan has three parts, he said, Preparation, Alignment, and Funding.
Preparation: “We do a crumbing job in public education; our high school graduates are not prepared for college”, he claimed. Two thirds of the high school graduates entering college in Utah need remediation before they can do college work; that is shameful,” he said. His answer for how to correct that deficit is to charge the cost of remediation in Utah colleges and universities back to public education.
Alignment: Urquhart believes that Public Education needs to do a better job evaluating where students should go for post secondary education. They do not all need to go to traditional college. High school counselors need to do more assessing to ensure students can make an informed decision about university or career and technical education at Utah’s Applied Technology Colleges (ATC), he told the audience.
He share some chilling statistics about completion and graduation rates for students in Utah’s higher education system. He said, ATC’s have a completion rate of 66% within one of two years, while the University of Utah has only a 57% completion rate in six years, USU is similar and the rest are way below that level. He responded to the age old argument that LDS missions extend the time for completion of degrees in Utah by pointing out the BYU has some missionaries in that system and their completion rate is 78%. “Do you want to know why”, he asked, “it is because they screen applicants for the top 10% of students coming out of high school. He said the acceptance rate for Utah’s public higher education campuses is nearly 100%.
Urquhart believes and will be pushing legislation and policy changes to move Utah higher education away from funding based on head count toward a system that establishes a strong, well defined mission for each institution with funding based on what it takes to fill that mission outside of head count. He made the argument that our state owned institutions are not being selective about enrollment because there is a perverse incentive to accept unqualified and unprepared students because each student relates to more funding. He believes the state operated higher education schools could equal the performance at BYU if they were selective about who was admitted. The current funding does not reward that process.
GRADING SCHOOLS:
Finally, Senator Neiderhauser introduced his plan for grading public schools based on a set of criteria that not only evaluates test scores but is more performance based. Under his proposal, he said schools would not only be required show proficiency in reading, writing, math and science, but also show progress in those areas based on moving students from where they are to a higher level of proficiency. He proposes to assign not only a numeric score but also a letter grade and publish those grades so students and parents know at what level their schools are performing. Obviously, the education community is not very supportive of this measure and Neiderhauser says he understands that because it represents transparency and accountability.
WORKERS COMPENSATION ISSUES CONSIDERED
Also yesterday, I met as a member of the State Workers Compensation Advisory Council within the Utah Labor Commission to review legislative proposals being forwarded both by the commission and by legislators independent of the commission. Several friendly WC measures have been introduced, some by the advisory committee. However, one measure being promoted by Representative Roger Barrus (R) Bountiful, would carve out yet another exemption from the requirement that all employers provide WC coverage for their employees. Barrus’ bill would exempt from coverage family members living in the household of the owner of a home-based business. The discussion this bill with Rep. Barrus expanded well beyond where he had envisioned it and cause council members to express serious concern about exempting more employers and exposing employees to financial ruin in the case of serious injury on the job. Following Rep. Barrus’ departure the council voted unanimously to oppose HB-61 as drafted.
UMA is keeping a sharp eye out for issues that impact manufacturing in Utah. I will keep you informed about others as they arrive.
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