Tonight:

I’ll give a snapshot of the second meeting of the GRAMA work group (audio archive) I’m a member of, tasked with making recommendations to the legislature on bringing our open records law into the 21st century.  We discussed cost cutting with new technology, and how open records laws effect cities and towns.  Your feedback is necessary on this one!

Sen. Hatch and Sen. Lee are pushing a Balanced Budget Amendment.  I think it’s a horrible idea on the federal level, but even if I thought is was a smart move, I would be offended at what these two are selling.  This piece of legislation is so full of loopholes, it’s little more than a non-binding resolution.

Governor Herbert signed a lot of things, veto’d some things.  We’ll recap.

Finally, flood season is upon us.  We’ll speak to Weather Service Hydrologist Bryan MnInerney about local flood potential and trouble areas.

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Podcasts of this and previous shows are available here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Neil Abercrombie
Director, Government Relations
Utah State University
Phone: 435.797.0258
E-Mail: neil.abercrombie@usu.edu

John DeVilbiss
Executive Director, Public Relations & Marketing
Utah State University
Phone: 435.797.1358
E-Mail: john.devilbiss@usu.edu

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Gov. Herbert to Visit USU Wednesday to Sign Two USU-Related House Bills
First Doctoral-Level Veterinary Program in Utah

LOGAN, UT – Utah Gov. Gary Herbert will visit Utah State University Wednesday, March 30, to sign House Bill 57 and House Bill 4. The signing takes places at 12:30 p.m., at the University Inn, Sonne Board Room, 508, on the USU campus.

House Bill 57, sponsored by Rep. John G. Mathis, allows for the development of the first doctoral-level veterinary program in the state. The bill received strong bipartisan support in both the senate and the house.

House Bill 4 is the General Obligations and Bonds Authorizations bill, sponsored by Rep. Gage Froerer, that provides funding for a new business building and a new Tooele Applied Technology College building located on USU land on the USU Tooele Education corridor.

The new doctor of veterinary medicine program, which has been in the works for more than three years, creates a partnership between USU and Washington State University. Students in the program spend the first two years at USU and finish their last two years, including clinical studies, at WSU.

Once signed into law by the governor, the new DVM program will accept 30 students each year — 20 state residents and 10 nonresidents. Following the governor’s signature, the program begins accepting applications in fall 2011 with coursework beginning in 2012.

The program will provide greater opportunity for Utah students interested in veterinary medicine as it was named one of the 50 best careers of 2011 by U.S. News and World Report.

The business building, totaling $30 million, was funded with $14 million of state funds and a $16-million private match. The building will be approximately 100,000-square-feet and located just south of the current George S. Eccles Business building. It will include new classrooms, faculty offices, graduate student spaces, student study spaces, a business library and three new business centers.

The $14.9 million Tooele Applied Technology building received $9.9 million in state funding and $5 million from Tooele City. The 67,000-square-foot building will stand on property owned by USU immediately west of the new Tooele County School District Community Learning Center.

The building will house new and existing programs, including allied health, nursing, applied economics, construction technology, diesel technician, natural resource management, farm management, warehousing/material handling and professional truck driving. USU owns another 54 acres of land in the same area, which will be developed according to the university’s long-range plan, creating an education corridor on Tooele’s west side.

Documents and/or Photos available for this release:

Artist rendition of new USU business building

To view supporting documents and/or photos, go to www.enr-corp.com/pressroom and enter Release ID: 291388

###

Tonight:

We’ll kick things off with your reaction to last nights live address from President Obama on Libya: Why, and for how long?

Utah County repeals it’s spice ordinance now that the ban is statute… just to keep things clear.  Will other cities?  And in a larger perspective, do cities need to review past ordinances for redundancies with statute that may cause confusion, or even expensive law suits in the future?  If so, how should it be done?  Volunteer public panel?  Legislators and councilmembers only?

This week’s Mero Moment from Sutherland Institute President Paul Mero discusses birth rates, comparing Utah’s with areas like San Francisco.  We’ll use this as a jumping point for a larger conversation: Is it time we address the way we fund public schools in Utah, considering projected growth?

Finally, we’ll hear from Salt Lake Tribune editor Nancy Conway — in town to speak to the “Myth of Dying Newspaers” at USU — on newspapers, and the recent debate over HB477 and open records laws in Utah.

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Tonight:

We’ll be joined in studio by Preston Parker and Natashia Bodily of USU’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council on their upcoming E-Week events (Aril 4th-8th).

USU poli-sci Professor William Furlong, a specialist in Latin American issues, says Utah’s guest worker program (HB116) is a “step in the right direction.”  We’ll find out why.

At 5, we’ll discuss what’s happening in Libya, and how our involvement is going, then turn things over to the President at 5:30 for ABC’s  live coverage of his address on Libya.

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SaveGRAMA.org
_____________________
3754 W Pheasant Hollow Lane
Bluffdale, UT 84065
801-803-3289
Contact:
Steve Maxfield 801-803-3289 steve@stevemaxfield.com
Linda Petersen 801-554-7513 linda@valleyjournals.com
For Immediate Release March 25, 2011

Save GRAMA proclaims victory in light of legislature’s repeal of HB477

Leaders of the movement behind Save GRAMA, a citizen referendum drive to defeat HB477, are very pleased with today’s repeal of HB477 by the Utah legislature.

“We declare this a victory, the first, we hope, of many victories, ” said Steve Maxfield, Save GRAMA coalition chair. “The legislature has recognized the will of the people.”

Never before in this state’s history, has an issue so galvanized the people of Utah. From the March 10 co-signing of the petition by Tea Party leader David Kirkham and former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson to yesterday’s call for repeal of HB477 by the Alliance for Unity, Common Cause and the Salt Lake Tribune, people from all across the political spectrum have joined together for the cause of open government.

“The legislature grossly underestimated the electorate’s disillusionment with them,” board member Linda Petersen said. “They thought this was a media issue. They thought the only people who would object to HB477 were a ‘few Liberals.’ The people of Utah have shown them they were wrong.”

Although the citizens and groups behind this repeal effort will go back to their lives and their causes, they will be watching closely the proceedings of the working group and future interim committees that will study GRAMA.

Utah is forever changed by the events of the last three weeks. From the thousands of

Utahns who got behind this effort to the revitalization of Common Cause in Utah, a seismic shift has occurred in the state.

“The legislature assumed most Utahns either thought they were doing a good job or didn’t care enough to get involved. That simply isn’t so,” said petition sponsor Nancy Lord. “Instead, there’s a widespread disillusionment. Before this movement, people thought there was no way to make their voices heard. This referendum movement has shown them that, even with the almost impossible odds imposed by SB165, their voices can echo throughout the halls of the Capitol.

This morning’s filing by the ACLU on behalf of petition sponsors Janalee Tobias and Nancy Lord challenging the constitutionality of SB165 is the second volley of the battle for the people’s right to be heard. It seeks to return to the people of Utah the right to challenge their government, to redress the wrongs done to them, in a reasonable and balanced process as envisioned by the Founding Fathers.

Now that the people of Utah know how to fight, they will not be silenced.

For more information, visit savegrama.org.

Tonight:

We had our first meeting as the GRAMA Work Group yesterday on capitol hill.  I’ll give everyone an overview of the group and the challenge we’re tasked with, as well as the issue I took with one Senator’s comments.  I’d love to hear what our listeners think, so warm up your dialin’ fingers.

Cache County Executive Lynn Lemon is very happy with the way counties came out of the 2011 legislative sessions.  He says, counties were treated very well.  We’ll discuss.

Hard drive and digital technology search warrants are relatively new in the realm of criminal investigation.  With home, car and general property searches, warrants specifically state what is being searched for, and where the search will take place.  With digital technologies, not so much.  Most warrants state only “we’re going to search this hard drive… looking for… well, anything illegal.”  Is this far?  What about info on the hard drive they find that isn’t yours? Do the challenges of how much of our lives are stored on computers, smartphones, etc make these warrants unique?  Or should warrants for digital searches be required to be as specific as a home search?  We want to hear from you?

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Statement on GRAMA and HB477 Representative Curt Webb sent to us this morning:

HB477 Issues
March 24, 2011

I strongly support the public right to information access. I support the existing public records act and recognize that it needs to be updated to address current communications technology, and an increasing demand that information be made available.

I voted for HB477. I do not consider it an unreasonable attempt to address the issues. I do not favor repeal without addressing those issues. I acknowledge that the atmosphere surrounding the bill has become toxic.

Let me address the bill this way:

Current law:

There is GRAMA legislation on the books now. Has been since 1992. It is viewed as a model of open records law. It is a reasonable balance between the public’s right to know all things having to do with policy (as should be the case) and the right to privacy for personal non-policy issues by elected officials. Both are protected under current law. It should also be noted that current law does not consider conversations, either in person or on the phone, as a public record.

What prompted the Changes?

Currently all correspondence having to do with policy, whether on an official device or on our own personal devices or computers, is ”gramable”. Personal and policy correspondence is intermingled on both categories of devices. As a result GRAMA requests require a review and a sifting procedure by legal staff. No amount of automation can do the sifting. An arbitrary requirement that all public policy and only public policy, be done on public devices is an open door to mischief elsewhere.
Electronics have given us so many more ways of communicating that weren’t foreseen in 1992, so there is now much more retrievable correspondence to sift through.

The Problem

1)  GRAMA requests come from the public, the media, and from special interest groups. The number, the scope, and the complexity of those requests has increased dramatically.

2) Increasing technology has created even more records.

3) But cutbacks have decreased the number of staff and legal assistance available to sift and comply with requests.

The Questions

1) Should the public have access to records? It should. Non-transparent government is not good government.

2) What is a record? Policy related correspondence.

3) What is private? Non-policy personal correspondence.

4) If conversation is now exempt, should modern equivalents also be exempt? Text and instant messaging, as well as video calls are “contemporaneous conversation” in HB477. Should it be?

5) If personal and policy correspondence continue to be intermingled, and GRAMA requests can reach into our personal computers as well, who pays the cost of review and compliance?

6) If the requestor pays, what is a fair fee? Or, if tax dollars are to cover the cost should there be restrictions on the scope of any request?

7) Alternatively, we could choose to define public officials as without privacy. Should we? It would save the hassle of sifting and review?

How does HB477 address these issues?

1) It preserves almost all of current law and maintains the distinction between public and private correspondence. The need to sift does not go away.

2) Because the cost of production is significant and government resources are limited, the bill places the burden to pay on the requestor rather than on the taxpayer.

3) It considers all that was a record under current law to continue as such, including email.

4) It protects the new “contemporaneous conversation” tools above mentioned as equivalent to the conversation and phone call protection that exists in the current GRAMA code. This seems like a logical extension of conversation, but is perhaps the bill’s most controversial provision, and most likely to be changed by the working group.

Summary

Should we have even considered the update to GRAMA? I believe it was time to do so.

Did we make the right choices? I believe the legislature’s attempt was reasonable.

Should  HB477 be abandoned? Not without addressing the needs..

Are changes warranted? Seldom do we pass anything that doesn’t need a second look, even major changes if they make sense.

I supported the Governor’s request for an extension and a working group. I do not support a repeal if there is no assurance of addressing today’s realities.

As for public opinion: The media has always had the luxury of framing any issue. That is a fact of life and a guaranteed freedom. Our local media has shown remarkable objectivity on HB477. In other markets some media outlets have unleashed a firestorm, and I do not fault any of my colleagues for their votes.

I feel very fortunate to represent House District 5. My constituents are reasonable, intelligent, and politically astute. I have talked with many about their concerns. They do not all agree with what we did, I would not expect them to. Some would support changes, some support repeal, but almost without exception they understand why I voted the way I did.

I am not comfortable with “repeal” only. It leaves too much unanswered. Neither am I comfortable with promises alone to work on the issues. Much has transpired to make me skeptical.

Representative R. Curt Webb
Utah House District 5

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2011

HB477 WORKING GROUP ANNOUNCED

SALT LAKE CITY - Today, legislative leaders announced the creation of a
working group charged with bringing Utah*s open records law into the
21st Century.  Their first meeting will be Wednesday, March 23rd at 9
a.m.

The group will include the following. 

House of Representatives:

    John Dougall - Utah State Representative
    Holly Richardson - Utah State Representative
    Brian King - Utah State Representative
    Steve Handy - Utah State Representative  

Senate:

    Steve Urquhart - Utah State Senator
    Curt Bramble - Utah State Senator
    Stuart Adams - Utah State Senator
    Patricia Jones - Utah State Senator

Governor*s Office:

    John Pearce - General Counsel

Attorney General*s Office:

    Laura Lockhart - Assistant Attorney General  

League of Cities and Towns:

    Mark Johnson - Ogden City

Traditional Media: 

    Randy Wright - Daily Herald
    Linda Peterson - Valley Journals
    Geoff Liesik - Uintah Basin Standard
    Paul Edwards - Deseret Media Group
    Jeff Hunt - Utah Media Coalition

New Media: 

    Jason Williams - KVNU-FTP host and blogger
    Jesse Stay - Social media technologies consultant
    LaVarr Webb - Utah Policy Daily

Public:

    Michael Wilkins - Former Supreme Court Justice
    Janet Frank - Utah Valley Regional Medical Center
    Liu Vakapuna - SLCC Student Body President
    David Kirkham - Tea Party Leader
    Phil Windley - Web & Technology Pioneer
    Lane Beattie - Salt Lake Chamber

Lane Beattie has been asked to facilitate the process as chair.  Other
interested parties are invited to participate in partnership with these
group members and online, at a website to be constructed at
GRAMArevisited.com (or HB477.com).  

The group will bring their proposals to a legislative interim
committee, in anticipation of a special session.

# # #

CONTACTS:

Joe Pyrah
Chief Deputy of the House
801-903-0095
joepyrah@utah.gov 

Ric Cantrell
Chief Deputy of the Senate
801-647-8944
rcantrell@utahsenate.org

Tonight:

Bumping open lines to make way for a special guest.  We’ll be joined in studio by American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Gary Schmitt.

Mr. Schmitt was at USU today speaking on military readiness and proposed cuts to military spending.  He has previously taken issue with cuts proposed by the President and Secretary Gates.

We’ll find out where he’s coming from, and what he proposes, considering the ongoing expenses of Afghanistan and Iraq.

At five, we’ll turn things over to Andy Morgan of AndyattheMovies.com for the FTP Movie Show.

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Tonight:

Opposition to HB116, Utah’s “guest worker” program, signed into law by Governor Herbert on Tuesday, has drawn some criticism by immigration opponents.  Many are calling it “backdoor amnesty” and an “invitation” to illegal immigrants.  Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told us yesterday a guest worker program would actually help his office fight crime.  Today the LDS Church congratulated the legislature for passage of the bill(s), and opponents are saying they’ve crossed a line into political advocacy in doing so.  Where do you draw that line?

Cache Valley Peace Works, with an invitaiton (Press release):

LOGAN  —  This Saturday, March 19th, will be the 8th anniversary of the beginning of Iraq war. Eight years after the “shock and awe” attack in 2003, 50,000 troops remain in Iraq, along with thousands of corporate contractors and war profiteers, and the tremendous financial drain continues.

To witness against war and to promote peace, members of Cache Valley Peace Works have been holding weekly peace vigils every Friday since September, 2005.  We hereby extend a special invitation to all citizens of Cache Valley to join us in marking the 8th anniversary of the Iraq War by participating in the peace vigil this Friday, March 18th, from 5:30-6PM in our usual place in front of the Logan Tabernacle (50 N Main Street).

And we’ll be joined by U of U’s Pam Silberman, and USU’s Vonda Jump to discuss the National Children’s Health Study.  Out of 105 communities chosen to participate, two are from Utah (Salt Lake City, Cache Valley).  We’ll find out what the study aims to achieve, and how you can get involved.

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Tonight:

This week’s Mero Moment from Sutherland Institute President Paul Mero is a discussion on “Utah solutions,” and Governor Herbert’s signing of four immigration reform laws today.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff joins us at 5pm to discuss his fight against cancer, his book Am I Not a Man?: The Dred Scott Story, and the 2011 Utah legislative session from the AG’s point of view.

Digital ways to donate to relief efforts in Japan.

Huntsman the Communist? (A preview of Thursday’s interview with Dr. Owen)

The Society of Professional Journalists will award Governor Herbert tomorrow the “Back Hole Award” for signing HB477 into law, making most electronic communications of lawmakers private.

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NY Times’ Kirk Johnson on the politics of Utah with Mormon Politicians Feel Tea Party Heat.  One of the most intriguing quotes:

“On a good day, he’s a socialist,” said Darcy Van Orden, a co-founder of Utah Rising, a clearinghouse group, referring to Mr. Huntsman. “On a bad day, he’s a communist.”

Okay.  Is she onto something?  Dr. Robert Owens, retired pastor and author, believes she is, and also argues that the sentiment of Utah’s Tea Party is a microcosm of national sentiment, despite national polls saying the opposite.  He argues:

As communism spread after World War II to include Eastern Europe and China, America built NATO, to hold it at bay in Europe.  Then stood almost alone to battle its expansion into Korea, Asia, and Central America.  American blood and treasure was expended in torrents for five decades until the Soviet Union collapsed as a Christmas present to the world in 1991.
Time and again when the odds were against us we, the American people, rose up to meet the challenge head on.  When President Kennedy challenged us to go to the moon we did.  When President Reagan challenged us to believe in ourselves again after the shame of Watergate, the forfeiture of victory in Vietnam and the Iran Hostage crisis – we did.

Today, in Utah where local Tea Party members work to overhaul the face of Republican politics, and elsewhere where the threat of financial collapse and overwhelming debt hangs like the Sword of Damocles above us all, decisions must be made.

Dr. Owens will be our guest on Thursday to discuss and take your calls.

Tonight:

We’ll be joined in studio by Preston Parker (Advisor), Allison Bauer (Director), and Hillary Searle (Comm. Director) of the USU PRSSA conference happening March 24-25th.  The PR world is changing quickly, and small businesses can now compete on par with corporations with large PR budgets.  But how?  We’ll find out. (Also: Early registration ends tomorrow!)

Rep. Kraig Powell (R- District 54) told a Heber City radio station last week and wrote in his column that HB477 was “an abomination” and that representatives were blackmailed into supporting HB477, many of them without even understanding what it was they were voting for.  Not only was this anti-transparency bill passed by a majority, it now looks like this bill — signed by the Gov — exists only through a dysfunctional legislative body.

Watching the — near, possible, maybe not? — meltdown of a nuclear reactor in Japan after last week’s tsunami has sparked a debate on nuclear energy production here in Utah.  Many want such a project fast-tracked, some are saying the possible meltdown in Japan is why we don’t want one in our back yard.   But considering nuclear power generation pollutes less than any other method around, and the reactor in Japan hasn’t yet actually melted down, are we about to learn the wrong lesson?

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[Ed. Note: Key word - under current law]

Press Release

Sunshine Review Announces Utah Winners of the Annual Sunny Awards

Award recognizes state, local governments with perfect transparency scores

ALEXANDRIA- The nation’s leading government transparency advocate, Sunshine Review, announced on Thursday the 112 winners of its 2^nd annual “Sunny Awards.”  The 2011 awards, which more than double last year’s number, recognize the best state and local government websites in America that exceeded transparency standards.  The Sunny Awards announcement preludes the launch of “Sunshine Week,” a period nationally recognized by hundreds of media and civic organizations, that celebrates the efforts of activists and the strides taken towards open government.

“Sunny Award winners deserve recognition for making information available to citizens and for setting a transparency standard that all governments can, and should, meet,” said Mike Barnhart, President of Sunshine Review. “Access to information empowers every citizen to hold government officials accountable. Official accountability is the cornerstone of self government and liberty.”

For a full list of Sunny Award winners, visit here.

Background
Since its inception in 2008, Sunshine Review has analyzed the governmental transparency websites of all fifty states and 6,000 local governments. Last year, 41 websites earned grades of ”A” transparency grades. Grading takes into account the proactive disclosure of information regarding budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records, and taxes, as well as the ease of use and availability of information.

SunshineReview is a non-profit organization dedicated to state and local governmenttransparency. The Sunshine Review wiki collects and shares transparency information and uses a “10-pointTransparencyChecklist” to evaluate the content of every state and more than 5,000 local government websites. Sunshine Review collaborates with individuals and organizations throughout America in the cause of an informed citizenry and an accountable government.

Tonight:

We’ll start off with this week’s installment of the Mero Moment.  Sutherland Institute President Paul Mero weighs in on HB477, open government, and the public reaction.

Just a few days left in the 2011 state legislative session, and our friends at the Senate Site are still going strong.  Today, we’ll speak with Senator Lyle Hillyard about the budget announced today, what we can expect in the final few days, and what comes next for his (much hated on here at KVNU FTP!) HB477.

Craig Hislop sat down with State School Board member Tami Pyfer to discuss the bills this session that will effect education in Utah, and (just passed by the Senate) making school board elections partisan.

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The Senate Site has posted the explanation from lawmakers on the rushed passage of HB477, the bill — now law, assuming the Governor doesn’t veto — restricting public access to legislators electronic communications.

We’ve talked about it a lot on the show this week, and I’ve posted audio clips via our podcast of Sen. Hillyard (Part One and Part Two) taken from the Senate media briefing explaining why he sponsored Rep. John Dougall’s bill in the Senate.

Read Tyler’s comment on the post, and I’ll include my own below.  IMHO, this was not a proud moment for the Legislature, or Senator Lyle Hillyard (Not to mention Reps. Butterfield, Webb, Draxler and Sen. Knudson, all voting in support).  What are your thoughts?

So far, legislators, primarily Dougall and Hillyard have provided only anecdotal “evidence” of the cost. And even if cost really is an issue, this is perhaps the least creative “fix” to that, and one that happens to not just “lose the PR” battle, but paints the legislature as making a judgment call on “worth” not so much as “cost.”

Outside of cost, Hillyard spent a lot of time in the media briefing and on the floor pointing out that clients sometimes email him at his legislative address. I understand that concern, and I even sympathize to an extent that our legislators who have jobs outside of their legislative duties. But what was so disappointing for me, listening to Hillyard, was his complete lack of personal responsibility. Senator, you are an elected official, charged with representing the people of Cache Valley, not just your law office clients. If your clients are emailing you at your Senate address, you (and only you) need to take responsibility for correcting that. It’s not — in any way shape or form — the responsibility of your constituents, who expect an open and transparent governing process.

Finally, I love the outreach from our legislature online. Especially that of the Senate body. But in effect, the way this has been handled, and the decisions leadership have made in how to begin a dialog (which is implied by their “we’ll get back to this later” message to Utah’s media) undermines that very outreach. Those of us who know legislators personally or interact to a greater degree during the legislative session may be able to see past this and watch for a continuing dialog, but for the general public busy with their daily lives, HB477 and the process by which it became law this week furthers the notion that their lawmakers are only telling them half of the story.

The point of “sunshine” or “open government” initiatives are not only good government, but a more engaged and less cynical public. With this process, and this bill, the Utah Legislature has done more to feed that cynicism than fight it. I am disappointed that Senator Hillyard would be more concerned about the “trials and tribulations” of legislators than the bigger picture of encouraging public faith in Utah’s institutions.

Tonight:

A bonus legislative spotlight today, getting a behind the scenes look at the Utah Senate from the eyes of the legislative interns.  These people are the future of Utah politics, and we’ll find out what they’ve learned in the 2011 session.

Open Lines at 4:30.  List the ways you mourn the passage of HB477.

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Tonight:

Rep. John Dougall (R-None of your business!) surprised everyone with HB477, which would strip much of elected official’s communications from GRAMA laws.  In short, text messages, emails would be exempt from media/public records requests.  Sen. Hillyard today implied he was open to making some changes, simply because of the time/money spent on requests, and the fact that lawmakers have private lives the rest of the year.

USU’s poli-sci guru Prof. Michael Lyon’s has an intriguing take — one he thinks is being missed in all the deficit discussions — on what is and isn’t causing the national debt to rise.

One of our last few (sniff!) Legislative spotlights.  Thanks to our friends at The Senate Site, we’ll get the latest right from the horses mouth: the lawmakers themselves!  (Listen to all of our 2011 session interviews with Utah State Senators here)

Utah legislators are considering both a Food Tax hike, and a Gas Tax hike.  Lawmakers are saying one or both may be the lesser of two evils in keeping our budget balanced, but opponents say this is the Legislature shifting the burden of revenue onto the backs of Utah’s poor.

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The article discussed in our voluntary taxation segment yesterday:

My questions for voluntary taxation proponents: How would it work on the broad scale proponents are suggesting?  CIA operations that they can’t tell you the details of, strategic foreign policy via foreign aid, or even unpopular — but arguably necessary — government action like financial regulation and city development and planning efforts.  How do you keep even a very limited government effective and sufficiently funded?

And considering the low voter turnout here in Utah, or phases of apathy in public interest nation wide, how do you avoid a “Sorry, no Yellowstone this year… No one cared” scenario?

Tonight:

SB221, Sen. Okerlund’s “Resource Management Plan” passed the Utah Senate today and heads onto the House.  We’ll offer another plug for this bill, and why it’s a solution for everyone involved (environmentalists, land developers… even Ken Salazar!).

Yesterday, caller “Nathan” suggested we discuss House Bill 313, and the ramifications it would have on Utah education.  The bill is being called a “Subtle Voucher” bill by educators, who reminded us that over 70% of Utahns rejected a voucher system in 2007.  Proponents of the bill say it will make things more fair for charter schools.  What say you?

Bill would allow wreckers to act without police.

On Monday, a caller challenged us to spend an hour on the idea of voluntary taxation: Would it work?

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