Jen's Green Journal

I frequently pass on action information, but I think it's most effective if I pass on stuff that I'm willing to do myself. From now on, I'll only post actions that I've done myself.

I called Govenor Huntsman's office and ask him to veto house bill 148. It took less than 30 seconds. Guv's phone is (801) 538-1000 and his email is huntsman@utah.gov

From Human Rights Campaign:

House Bill 148 passed the legislature and now awaits action from the Governor. This mean-spirited bill, sponsored by virulently anti-gay Rep. Christensen, prohibits anyone who has been a parental figure in a child’s life to petition for visitation or any other rights. This means that a same-sex co-parent, who does not have a biological or legal relationship with the children they have parented, may never see their children again if the relationship ends. 

My 11 year-old and I attended the rally this afternoon in support of Gay/Straight Alliance clubs that was held at the state capitol this afternoon. I'm posting a few of the photos I took below.

GSA supporters	Scott McCoy speaking at the GSA rally
GSA parent Geralynn Barney	GSA students and supporters

I came away from the rally with hope -- we've overcome a lot of overt bigotry as a society. While we still have a ways to go, we have made progress for many groups, and we will get there for the GLBT community eventually. It was pointed out that social movements such as this take a lot of time before we see results.

As a parent, I believe in teaching my children tolerance and to respect diversity. I want GSAs to be available to my kids whether they end up being straight or gay. GSAs are able to help teach tolerance and respect and help those who are not homosexual to understand and appreciate those who are.

As a peace activist, I'm aware that peace comes from seeing ourselves as part of the whole, where there is no "other" and where we accept each other's differences and learn to find ways to relate to each other.

As a heterosexual woman, I see a similarity between homophobia and misogyny. I also see that the same groups that would like to take control of my body and my life and force me into narrowly-defined roles based on my gender, tend to be the same groups that would take away and deny rights to gay people.

For these reasons and more, I support the right for students to establish Gay/Straight Alliances in their schools.

UPDATE: Deanna has many more (and better photos) here: http://deesings.livejournal.com/192826.html

"Dear God, save me from your followers" - popular quote, author unknown

Deanna had a post on the "Buttars Bills" at Dee's 'Dotes. .

Apparently Buttars is offended that the Gov. considers them message bills:

"These are no message bills," Buttars said. "These are solid pieces of legislation that involve morality. Morality isn't a 'message bill.' "

The state is likely to fork out a bunch of money in legal fees to defend these bills, and I think it likely that they will lose on the Gay/Straight clubs like they did 10 years ago when they tried to ban them. I'm sure that legislators are aware of this, and so it stands to reason that many of the legislators that voted for this bill did so to please their consituents. That sounds like a message bill to me.

Buttars'  "solid legislation" is better suited for his particular religion than as statewide policy. I resent and am offended that his particular brand of "morality" is being forced upon the rest of us. My morality tells me that bigotry is wrong and that teaching religious concepts should be left to the home and church. But I guess in this state you have to have the morality of the majority in order to have your morality crammed down the rest of our throats. Buttars also needs to remember that the United States is not  theocracy . . . at least not yet.

I had the opportunity this evening to briefly testify as a citizen at the House Business and Finance committee's meeting this afternoon against HB70. I had to bring my 11 year old with me to the meeting with a bribe for good behavior.

I'm not the world's best public speaker -- I get very nervous and tend to talk fast, so I'm not sure how well my point came across. I also had to leave quickly after speaking as I had a 6 pm deadline to pick up my toddler from day care and I finished my testimony at 5:45 (the committee meeting didn't start until 4:00 p.m. and SB70 was fourth on the agenda).

I didn't have the chance to stay and see how the committee voted or hear any additional testimony. I'm sure there will be news about it tomorrow, but I feel pretty sure that the committee will have voted it out with a favorable recommendation.

From some of the discussion from the committee, it seemed that they felt that this was an issue of balance of power, and that they could be trusted to do their homework and not vote in large enough numbers to over ride a gubantorial veto if there were truly any problems with various dumping issues that might come up.

I wish I could feel as confident about the legislature. As a citizen, I don't have access to the resources that radioactive waste dumping industries would have. They can afford to pay lobbyists to continually work on their behalf year round. I confess that I'm not so confident that Jane and Joe Citizen will have as much sway as their well-funded competition.

Paul Rolly has similar feelings to mine about this legislative session -- seems to be a power grab for the legislative branch in this state. He also points out what I've been saying -- there's no incentive for our legislature to work for the public good:

"For one thing, it doesn't matter if Mansell's bills and activities in the Senate create a public outcry. There is no consequence. Mansell will be re-elected for as long as he wants. He is a Republican in a district that will always elect Republicans and he has developed powerful connections in the Sandy Republican Club, which rules politics in the southeast sector of Salt Lake County, and in Sandy City Hall.
    Mansell, it is said, will not run for re-election this year. But it is also said that he, like Caesar, already has his hand-picked successor, and, with his blessing, that person will win.
    A cursory look at the Legislature this year and the issues that it has put on the agenda indicates that lawmakers can arrogantly do whatever they want, as long as they are Republicans and move in the right (or far right) Republican circles."

Mansell's bill, SB170 would have been bad for both those on the left and the right. I've made no secret of my strong beliefs in progressive politics, but if there was a Democrat or Green that was trying to push through bills that are this bad for Utah, I'd likely vote for a Republican to either help to get them out, or else let them know that they could not count on being elected year after year if they didn't shape up. I wish we could count on our Republican counterparts to do the same thing.

The first edition of the "Lawmaker Trading Cards" are now available. Created by PSYC (Progressive Student and Youth Council), the cards include a photo of our own Utah legislators with their stances on various issues.

You can buy a pack at Free Speech Zone (2144 S. Highland Dr), King's English Bookstore (1511 S 1500 E) or through the Utah Progressive Network.

Lawmaker Trading Cards

Almost veryone knows that lobbyists exist, and that their job is to try to get legislation benefitting their organization/company/industry passed or to defeat legislation that negatively affects their organization/company/industry. I'm not sure how many people know just how much influence lobbyists have.

LaVar Webb from Utah Policy Daily wrote yesterday:

"In Utah, similar legislator-lobbyist relationships exist, although in state races no disclosures of who’s helping raise money are required. If people wonder why top lobbyists have such good access and influence, here’s why:  They don’t just interact with legislators during a session. They work closely with them year-round, raising money for them, providing strategy and support for their re-election campaigns, and even serving as campaign managers in some cases.

When the legislative session rolls around in January, the top lobbyists have cemented close relationships with many lawmakers."

Lobbyists have the resources and time (provided by the organizations/companies/industries they work for) to develop these relationships, most of the public does not.

Some of our legislators are lobbyists themselves. Some of them sponsor bills that blatently favor the industries that they own businesses in or work in the rest of the year.

When I see legislation that is against the public interest-- like SB 70 which would effectively make it easier to dump nuke waste, or SB 170 which would create sprawl and hurt property values (an issue both the left and right in this state can get behind) -- I'm pretty sure that something other than the well-being of the public is behind it.

I wonder if I could get my rep to sponsor legislation to ban our legislators from sponsoring, testifying  or voting for legislation that would benefit their own personal business interests. For example, any legislator that works in real estate or as a developer wouldn't be able to sponsor a bill like SB 170, and would have to excuse themselves from the vote due to conflict of interest.We expect those in the legal profession and the media to avoid and disclose conflict of interest, and we should demand it of our "lawmakers" as well.

One thing sticks out in my mind from the Ralph Nader film, An Unreasonable Man, I saw at Sundance. Nader was refering to those voting for Kerry as the Anybody But Bush vote. He pointed out that if Kerry had won the race, he wouldn't have any reason to listen to or care about the issues of the ABB group felt were important. Until a candidate can no longer count on your vote and has to earn it, he argued, they don't have to be accountable to you.

In much of this state, those running as a Republican in just about any given race are shoo-ins. This gives many of our legislators all the mandate they need to pass bad bills that negatively affect the people that voted for them. I'm not suggesting that the Republicans in this state start necessarily voting Democrat, but they could look at other parties, such as Constitutional Party or the Libertarian Party -- even the Green Party. One value in third parties is to let our elected officials and candidates know that they can't count on our votes, so they better start working FOR us.

The League of Women Voters put out this message:

Please call or e-mail your Senator before 10 am Tuesday and ask for a No vote on SB 70.  Call the Senate at (801) 538-1035.  Find your Senator and email at http://lwvutah.org  The League of Women Voters of Utah opposes the changes proposed by SB 70 because they would reduce the Governor's oversight of nuclear waste facilities, and therefore would not "Promote the maximum protection of public health and safety and the environment" as called for by the League's consensus position.

My Senator, Scott McCoy, has responded to my request that he vote no and says that he intends to vote no when this comes up for a Senate vote.

 

As if we didn't have enough sprawl along the Wasatch Front, Senator Al Mansell (R-Sandy) wants more of it. S.B. 170 would make good urban planning a nightmare.

What the bill would do is explained in an email from Save Our Canyons:

"With cities largely unable to turn down proposals from developers, it means new houses could pop up on steep slopes above your house.  It means that the vacant lot in your neighborhood might be developed as a fast-food restaurant or an auto-body shop.  And if you, your neighbors and everyone else in town rises up and persuades the city council to ban that particular type of development, it tells the judge to void the council's decision because it was "based on public clamor." (lines 988-990)"

Excuse me? Public clamor?!? Hello Al, we're the public -- remember us? You are supposed to be working for us, or are you forgetting about us with all those persuasive lobbyists up there shmoozing with you?

This kind of development is bad. We can't count on the market to regulate itself -- it just won't do it. And environmentally we really can't afford more sprawl. The air quality in this state gets worse every year. We need responsible government that is committed to smart urban planning.

This type of planning needs more oversight, not less.

---------------------------------------

Background from Save Our Canyons:

BACKGROUND

The Property Rights Ombudsman Craig Call, a Utah state official, prepared a summary of this bill's impact.  Some numbered excerpts from that analysis are below.  To read the whole text, check out http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2006/bills/sbillint/sb0170.htm.

10. Removes aesthetics from the list of considerations to be included in preparation of the general plan, as well as the issues related to congestion and "sprawl."  Line 485-486.

12. Eliminates the provision that a general plan may consider regulation of the use of land on hillsides.  Line 568.

17. Nullifies temporary land use regulations (TZO or "moratorium") unless adopted by ordinance, and prohibits the delay of consideration or disapproval of an application due to a temporary land use regulation. Lines 653-655.

33. Prohibits the denial of an application on technical or scientific grounds if the applicant provides expert testimony to support approval and there is no equivalent expert testimony to support disapproval.  Lines 780-785.

56. Provides that municipal officials who violates a land use ordinance or the land use statute is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.  Lines 1054-0155.

_____________________

Call your Senator and tell them to say no to S.B. 170. You can find your senator's phone and contact info from the district maps at http://se15.utahsenate.org/perl/spage/distmapal.pl.

I was able to attend a citizen lobby training this evening co-sponsored by the Utah Rivers Council and HEAL Utah. These trainings are a great way to see how the process works and how you can get involved. They take you through the legislative process and teach you the best ways to communicate with your legislator during the busy 45-day session.

I'm enjoying learning how this all works and becoming more involved in state level politics.

I'm not a professional photographer, so I hope you forgive the not-so-great photos.

Citizen Lobby Training 2006	Vanessa from HEAL Utah at the citizen lobby training

Senator Stephenson's written a blog post on S.B. 156 at the Senate Site for anyone interested in reading it.

Senator Howard Stephenson seems to be on a mission to increase the power of the legislative branch in Utah. First there's S.B. 70 of which I've written extensively about, which would give the legislature more power than the governor to determine how much nuke waste gets dumped here. The legislature already made it more difficult for citizens to decide our nuke waste fate by making the requirements citizen initiatives more difficult after the failed citizen's Initiative 1 in 2002 which would have permanently banned B & C waste.

Now there's S.B. 156, which could give the legislature the power to determine which candidates we get to vote for U.S. Senate -- how things were before the 17th amendment was added to the constitution.

From today's Deseret News:

Bennett said the 17th Amendment passed because Americans were finding two huge problems with legislative-picked U.S. senators:
      First, some legislatures — including Utah's — were spending so much time wrangling over who should be a U.S. senator that for periods of time state legislative work was ignored and no one was picked as senator — leaving those states with just one vote in the U.S. Senate.
      Secondly, "there was rampant corruption — senators were being picked because they gave $10,000 'contributions' to legislators," Bennett said. "It made what is going on nationally back here (in the U.S. lobbyist corruption scandal) seem very, very minor by comparison."

The last bit about "rampant corruption" is notable, especially with the legislature's reluctance to pass any kind of gift or lobbyist reform bills which have come up in recent years. The legislative branch in this state needs to be checked and balanced as much as the others.

I attended the natural resources committee hearing this morning on S.B. 70, which would allow the legislature to override a gubantorial veto on nuke waste dumping issues. I brought my 2 year old daughter who behaved quite well throughout the hearing, much to my delight and surprise.

Predictably, the bill passed out of committee. Senator McCoy and Senator Fife were the only nays. But what was even more interesting was getting a feel for where the Senators were coming from.

My observations on the Senators:

Senator Peterson, who represents Tooele County (one of the most toxic counties in the U.S.) became visably upset at members of the public at the hearing who had made some audible sounds of disappointment at some of the interaction between the senators. He grew very passionate about the bill and even offered to sponsor the bill in place of Senator Stephenson if there were questions of conflict of interest.

Senator Hatch questioned the idea that the legislature regulate the waste at all -- he seemed to feel that we could leave that to regulatory departments, like the Division of Environmental Quality. It was pointed out in later testimony from Jason Groenwald of HEAL that something this toxic needs to be regulated through a body that is answerable to the public.

Senator Stephenson doesn't see a problem with letting the legislature have a 2/3 override provision, stating that it was rare for 2/3 of the body to agree on anything (there was some derisive laughter from the public present on this, since from our point of view, the legislature often has 2/3 agreement on many things. Most of our reps and senators are Republican, for example -- there's not a lot of balance in our state government). I can only hope that they'll listen to the majority of Utahns on this issue, though, since most of us -- Republican, Democrat, and Green are against having nuke waste dumped here.

---

As a member of the public interested in attending this meeting, I was very disappointed that the capitol isn't very public-friendly right now. Mostly this is due to reconstruction efforts, but there are no signs directing you where to go and you have to go some distances uphill and out of your way to get to where you need to -- not even knowing if you'll be able to get there that way.

I did discover that there is a public parking lot just south of the employee parking lot on the east side of the complex, but this was only after finding parking on the north west thinking I'd be closer to the west building which is where the hearing was being held. I walked and strollered my toddler some distance east and then south to get around the maze-like obstructions of construction zones and stairways. Closer to the public parking area (and the only way to walk in), the sidewalks disappear and the road narrows, and then you have to walk into the public parking lot through a narrow road that doesn't allow much room between you and the cars.

I hope this lack of public friendly routes to the necessary buildings is just a coincidence, but the cynic in me wonders if this is meant to discourage those of us that aren't insiders from butting in with the business of running our state.

I am better prepared to get around up there now, so look out! I may be spending some child-free Tuesday mornings up there during the rest of the legislative session.

So word is just barely out that there will be a hearing on the controversial S.B. 70 by the Senate Natural Resources committee early tomorrow morning.

This is the bill that would allow the legislature to overturn a veto from the governor on the issue of Envirocare's proposed expansion of their nuclear waste dump.

It's controversial because Senator Stephenson, who is sponsoring the bill, is a paid lobbyist for the Utah Tax Payers Association of which Envirocare is a member. I wrote about this possible conflict of interest here.

This seems to be moving very fast, and this hearing seems to be scheduled in such a way as to limit public participation -- most likely due to the fact that the majority of Utahns do not want nuclear waste dumped here.

For those who are able to participate, show support, or just want to get their feet wet in the political process,  the hearing is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Monday, January 23 in room W015 of the West Wing which is the bottom floor of new west wing addition to capitol. There are plenty of helpful people working up at the capitol that can help you locate the meeting. Parking may be a little tight so leave a little early.

I'm planning on being there with my 2 year old and I'll stay as long as her behavior holds out.

If you can't make the meeting or can and want to help more, you can contact the committee members

( behind this cut )

The League of Women Voter's legislative update has it worded differently:

Today at 9:00 the Senate Natural Resources Committee debates SB 70, a bill that changes the approval process for expanding low level nuclear waste storage at Envirocare. The law currently says the governor AND the Legislature must approve changing a radioactive waste facility. The question is exactly how they do that. SB 70 says that the Legislature's approval should be in the form of a law. This means the governor, who has said he's opposed to Envirocare's expansion, could veto that law but the Legislature could override the veto by a two-thirds vote and have the final say. (ed. note: still looks like a power grab to me)

Senator Stephenson, the bill's sponsor, is an officer and lobbyist for the Utah Taxpayer's Association, whose members include Envirocare. This has raised the question of conflict of interest.

Some people view Utah's deserts as wasteland. It took me until I was 20 years old to appreciate how amazing the desert here can be. I don't want Utah to be used as the nation's dumping ground for its nuke (or any other) waste

The misleading-ly named Envirocare makes it's money by disposing of "low-level" (a very relative term) radioactive waste from around the country in our desert countryside. Many polls have shown that the majority of Utahns don't want this stuff dumped here, and there have been many instances (almost every year) where citizen-based organizations have had to fight to keep Envirocare from accepting hotter waste, or expanding the size of it's dump.

I wrote a few days ago about a proposed bill up at the legislature this session that would give the legislature power to override the governor's veto on the issue of Envirocare's expansion. What I found out today is that the bill's (SB70) sponsor, Senator Stephenson, is president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, a group that Envirocare has contributed to financially. An ethics investigation is being called for to see if there is a conflict of interest.

More info:

Press release from HEAL Utah
KSL

Someone commented on Dee's 'Dotes that they saw a photo from our rally at the capitol yesterday on the Chicago Tribune website. The link is here.

AP photo by Douglas C. Pizac

The description reads:

 

A few years back there was a citizen's initiative on the ballot to block B & C level radioactive waste from being dumped in the state. It didn't have the funds to compete with Envirocare's (the ironically named company that stores the waste for profit) media campaign and the confusion on the issue caused the initiative to fail.

Legislators took offense that the public went above their heads to create law and the very next legislative session they made the already cumbersome citizen initiative process even more difficult.

Recently, Governor Huntsman had expressed that he won't okay Envirocare's proposed expansion, and there are some in the legislature that aren't too happy about that either.

From the Salt Lake Tribune's article today, "Lawmakers ponder bill on waste":

  "The announcement made some lawmakers bristle. They don't like the fact that the governor's decision can override a majority of the Legislature, which also must approve any expansion.
    At the same time, some lawmakers say they don't want to look like they are granting the controversial company special favors if they approve a bill allowing them to bypass the governor."

I'm a big believer in checks and balances. In the first instance, Utah's citizen's attempted to check the legislative branch's tendency to side with corporate power over the health of our environment and communities. Now the governor is attempting to check that, at least in this instance. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, in this and future sessions.

HEAL Utah and the Utah Rivers Council will be offering legislative lobby training again this year, for those of you that are "concerned about protecting your community's health and environment". The training will be held January 25 from 6 p.m. - 7:30. You can get more info and R.S.V.P. by contacting John Urgo at 355-5055 or at john@healutah.org .

Ethan over at SLC Spin has a few posts from the first legislative day, including a short one about meeting Pom Poms Not Bomb Bombs there. I hope to see more legislative coverage on SLC Spin in the next 40 odd days.

It's day one of the 44 day 2006 Utah legislative session. I was up at the capital today for the "Rally for Legislative Justice" with fellow radical cheerleaders. The Green Party and Code Pink were also there.

The cheerleaders did our modified cheers encouraging legislation for healthcare and education, teasing Rep. Chris Buttars for his wacky creationism stance, and encouraging our reps to "serve the people". The Green Party handed out packets of sunflower seeds and  billion dollar bills with MLK's portrait on the front, and some great ideas on how to spend the projected billion dollar budget surplus on the back. Eileen Olson from Shundahai Network handed out pinwheels to "envision wind power" and to say no to nuke power, an idea that's been kicked around recently in some legislative circles.

Deanna of  Dee's 'Dotes and I also met a fellow Utah political blogger up at the Capital, Ethan from SLC Spin.

Photos by my daughter, Autumn (with a little cropping from mom)

At the State Capitol

Passin' out stuff to legislators and others on Capitol Hill

"Think Wind Power" pin wheels

My thoughts and energy tend to get caught up in the politics that happen at the national level, but it's much easier to affect things on the local and state level. Our representatives in the state legislature will usually listen to their constituents. If your reps don't hear from you, they might be more willing to listen to those with the big bucks, so get your views in there!

The legislative session officially begins January 16th (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in most of the states in the U.S.). Here are some simple ways to get involved:

Find out what's up this session. The past two years I've recieved updates from the League of Women Voters in Utah. You can contact them at lwvut@xmission.com, or you can track specific bills by clicking here. The Deseret News also has a section devoted to what's going on up on the hill.

Contact your Representative and Senator. This is pretty basic stuff, but effective. In a conversation I had with my rep last year, I found out that they really do take into account the views expressed to them by their constituents. He told me that the communications he receives from constituents (in order of effectiveness) are:  1) in person (you can even request to see them during a session at the capitol bldg. by having them paged by attendants), 2) letters, 3) phone calls, and 4) emails -- due to high volume, these are the least effective, but if you use this method, be sure to put something  concise and easily identifiable in the subject line, like "Please vote NO on HB666".

In all the above forms of communication it's important to inform your rep that you are his/her constituent as they are more likely to consider your information or opinion above that of someone who is. To find out who your reps and senators are, click on these links for House of Representatives and Senate.

Participate in a group that represents your views. Some groups, like Equality Utah  (this year) or HEAL Utah  (previous years)  offer legislative lobbying training. Some groups, like Utah Issues have events to bring bring citizens and legislators together to meet and discuss important topics.

To kick off the legislative session this year, the Green Party of Utah (nationally affiliated), SLC Code Pink, People for Peace and Justice and Pom Poms Not Bomb Bombs will hold a "Rally for Legislative Justice" from Noon to 1 p.m. on Jan.16th on the plaza where the legislature meets on Capitol Hill. Come join in the fun and help educate our reps!