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| Representative Tilton in the News |
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| Unanimous council vote will be required to strip mayor of power |
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| Deseret Morning News, March 4, 2008 |
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Stripping a mayor of his powers won’t be too easy under a bill on its way to the governor.
 SB20 would force city councils to vote unanimously to strip a mayor of his power. The bill is an attempt to stop councils from taking the mayor’s powers and play nice, said Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville.
“I don’t think this bill is going to correct everything, but I think this will help the mayors and the council to fight nice,” Tilton said. “The constituents need to go back and put the pressure back on the city councils and the mayor to play nice in the sand box.”
Current law allows city councils to strip mayors of their administrative powers without a public vote, but if the council wants to make any changes to the mayor’s power, they must either get the mayor’s consent or approve the change with a unanimous vote. The bill would require a public vote on any such changes. The House approved the bill on Tuesday and is now on its way to the governor for his signature. |
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© 2008 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
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| House resolution opposes additional wilderness designations |
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| By Joe Bauman, Deseret Morning News, February 14, 2008 |
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A resolution intended to influence Congress and the Bureau of Land Management against further wilderness designations became a blazing wrangle Thursday, with a southern Utah representative calling for Utahns to control federal land in the state.
The House approved HJR10 58–11 Thursday, a bill that urges Congress not to enact further wilderness designations in Utah “without the unanimous support of Utah’s congressional delegation” and urges the BLM not to restrict access to its Utah land by saying “wilderness characteristics” exist there.
“I remember the joke many years ago, of how much money this (wilderness designation) was going to bring to our counties and our rural area, one of the poorest areas in the state of Utah,” Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, said. “And the joke was the backpackers come in with a pair of dirty shorts and 20 bucks, they stay there a week and they don’t change either one of them.
“I think that’s true.”
Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, sponsor of the bill said the resolution will convey a message concerning federal land in Utah.
“We have the ability to make a determination as to Utahns as to what we want to do with those lands,” he said.
He denounced a congressional bill to designate as wilderness more than 9 million acres, which would be “essentially off-limits to anything but a person walking there.”
Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville, said the proposed wilderness areas “actually would block our ability to create a transportation corridor” to remove energy resources from Uintah and Duchesne counties.
“It’s prudent that we not shackle our ability to produce energy from the natural resources on our public lands located within the state by creating more wilderness,” he said.
Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake, said energy production in Utah is compatible with protecting wilderness land. In Kane, Garfield and Wayne counties, the BLM has said that designating wilderness would not make any difference in the oil and gas production in 15 to 20 years, she said. Even in the Uinta Basin, wilderness would only reduce the predicted oil and gas years by 3.5 percent in the next 15 years, she said.
Majority Leader Rep. David Clark, R-Santa Clara, responded, “15 or 20 years, no energy development? No impact? I still plan on being around in 15 or 20 years.” Wilderness would lock up land past his and his grandchildren’s generations, he said. “There are ways to do this. There are middle grounds and there are opportunities to find balance in this program.”
Clark said the 9-million-acre bill is an extreme measure. He finds it “extremely offensive” that people who may have visited Utah only once — probably Park City — could designate wilderness in the state.
Rep. Roz McGee, D-Salt Lake, said wilderness draws visitors to this part of the country, and the state doesn’t have enough wilderness land. With less than 1 million acres designated as federal wilderness areas, the state has less than other western states, she added.
Noel’s comments were by far the most blistering of the debate. He said colleagues on the other side of the aisle don’t have compassion for the disabled because wheelchairs aren’t allowed in wilderness areas. He argued for state sovereignty, as the federal government has title to most of the land in the state.
“Are we supposed to exist on one-third of the property in our state?” he said. “Are we supposed to tax our citizens to the maximum while the federal government gives us a pittance back in payment in-lieu of taxes of 10 to 15 cents an acre?
“I say it’s wrong, I say it’s disingenuous, and I say it’s time to stand up and say that these are public lands within our state that we can control. We own the water, we own the roads, let’s protect them and say no to more wilderness in Utah.”
House Minority Whip Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, responded that what to do with federal land is a national issue.
“There are national implications, policy implications that go far beyond Utah,” he said. “I would hate to think that we’re setting some kind of precedence here that would mute the voice of our congressional delegation in other areas that would have implications for us.”
It would set a bad precedent, he added, “to put policy with national implications solely within the decision-making authority of the congressional representation from that particular area of the country.”
After the overwhelming House vote in favor of the resolution, Steven Bloch, staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said, “Bad facts make bad policy.” He added that many of the arguments against wilderness were “just flat-out wrong.” One of the statements he cited was that by Noel concerning the handicapped, Bloch added. “Rep. Noel alleged that wheelchairs are not allowed in wilderness areas — that’s simply not the case.” |
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© 2008 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
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Huntsman signs gay-clubs bill
Protests from ACLU and others fail to prevent OK |
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| By Tiffany Erickson, Deseret Morning News, March 10, 2007 |
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Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed a bill Friday that would require parental consent for students to join non-curricular clubs such as gay-straight alliances and allow schools to deny a club application if leaders thought it necessary to “protect the physical, emotional and moral well-being of students.”
Earlier this week the governor had some concerns about the bill and had been seeking advice from several individuals and groups. The governor’s office also was “getting a number of calls” over the measure.
Because of those concerns Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, the bill’s sponsor, said he wasn’t sure if the bill would be signed or vetoed. But he said he was pleased with the governor’s decision.
“There were prior versions of the bill that he would have vetoed. However, this legislation simply codifies items already in state board rules,” said Mike Mower, the governor’s spokesman. “It also makes clear that it is not targeting any one club or organization.
“The seventh substitute HB236 ensures parents will have the right to approve of any school club or organization their child participates in,” Mower said.
In a letter to Huntsman, the American Civil Liberties Union stated its opposition to the bill because it fears schools will use the law as a way to violate the Federal Equal Access Act, which prohibits schools from discriminating against clubs based on “political, philosophical or other content of the speech” at student meetings.
Margaret Plane, legal counsel for ACLU of Utah, said she was disappointed with Huntsman’s decision.
“The language, it’s ambiguous enough that some schools may view it as permission to ban clubs they or their community find to be controversial. Under the Equal Access Act, that’s not permissible,” she said. “(If a district does that) the state will be responsible for defending a lawsuit for which potentially they shouldn’t have had to.”
There are about a dozen gay-straight alliances in Utah schools. The Senate’s only openly gay member, Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, argued against the bill because he said it was vague and could create different standards for school clubs throughout the state.
The bill had gone through a number of changes during the legislative session, and a conference committee of Senate and House lawmakers ultimately came to an agreement with which both sides were satisfied.
Under the new law, any club needs a faculty sponsor, and if the proposed club cannot find one, the club cannot form.
Non-curricular clubs will also need to file their applications “in a reasonable amount of time.”
Opponents, including the state Board of Education, called the bill unnecessary since school districts had their own policies regarding non-curricular clubs. And some said the Legislature was micromanaging districts.
But Tilton said the law will highlight parental rights. “We now have a statement — not just in policy but in statute — saying parents’ rights are paramount.” |
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Contributing: Brock Vergakis, Associated Press
© 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
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| Bill would help retailers cover up magazines |
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| Deseret Morning News, February 20, 2007 |
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A bill, giving retailers that cover up provocative magazines an affirmative defense against legal action, passed out of the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee on Monday.
HB333, sponsored by Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, passed out with unanimous support and little discussion. The bill encourages stores to cover up racy magazine photos and keep them out of minors’ eyeshot.
The affirmative defense would be a demonstration that steps were taken to comply with state law. It, potentially, would help lessen any charges a merchant might be accused of as a result of exposing minors to harmful material.
Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, presented the bill to the committee on Tilton’s behalf. It has already passed through the House and now goes to the Senate floor. |
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© 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved
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Tilton Leads House Scores
Dayton Receives Top Score in Senate |
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| GrassRoots, April 2007 |
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House Summary: Aaron Tilton (R-UT) received the top score from GrassRoots in the House with a 91%, while Mike Morley (R-UT) followed close behind with a 90% . This year House members’ scores averaged 45%, slightly below the House lifetime score of 47%.
Overall 11 representatives scored above 70 on the report. In addition to Tilton and Morley they were: Craig Frank, John Dougall, Curt Oda, Carl Wimmer, Becky Lockhart, Glen Donnellson, Christopher Herrod, Kenneth Summison and Bradley Daw. All members receiving above 70 were Republicans.
Senate Summary: In her first year in the Senate, Margaret Dayton (R-UT) received the top score in the Senate with a 76%. Last year’s top senator, Howard Stephenson (R-SL) received a 72%. Also scoring above 70 was Scott Jenkins (R-WB). This year the Senate received a 46%, which tops its lifetime score of 45%.
Governor: Governor Huntsman received a 38% on this year’s report card, below his lifetime score of 39%. |
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| GrassRoots is a long-standing local nonprofit volunteer organization that analyzes the voting records of Utah state representatives and senators and the governor's signing or vetoing of bills, and rates them according to their adherence to principles of limited government, the Constitution, representative government, participatory democracy, free-market economics, and family-friendliness. Visit www.utahgrassroots.org for their detailed annual ratings. |
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