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Guest: Lowell Nelson – CampaignForLiberty.org.
Are You Really Pro Life?
General conferences are the semiannual worldwide gatherings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! – lds.org.
Church members gather to receive guidance and encouragement from Church leaders about gospel living based on the teachings of Jesus Christ!
Utah Grassroots Report 2016 Published at utahgrassroots.org.
Of the 26 bills which GrassRoots included in its report 12 increased the intrusiveness of government; while only 5 of our covered bills which protected Constitutional rights or limited government passed. Four other good bills passed one chamber but did not pass in the other chamber!
Of the good bills passed this year, one protected second amendment rights (H.B. 67) and another will encourage individuals to become more self-reliant (S.B.153).
On the other hand, legislators voted to expand the role of government in health care (H.B. 437), housing (H.B. 431 and H.B. 436), cab-driving (S.B. 12), water pricing (S.B. 28) and California seaport construction (S.B. 246).
Fortunately, some intrusive ideas failed: A bill requiring parents opting out of having their child immunized to complete an “education module” (H.B. 221 (Sub 9)), passed the House, but not the Senate. A bill which would have levied a 10 cent tax on all plastic bags taken from a store (S.B. 196) actually passed out of committee, but never came to a floor vote.
Legislators introduced 819 bills this year (which was the second highest total in state history). Of these bills 177 were introduced in the session’s final three weeks.
Governor Herbert received a 24% compared to his lifetime average of 47%. Herbert’s previous scores were: 71% (2010); 73% (2011); 75% (2012); 28% (2013); 29% (2014); 41% (2015).
The House received an average score of 36% compared to its lifetime average of 47%. The Senate averaged a 53% which is the lifetime average of the Senate.
GrassRoots has been issuing an annual legislative report card since 1992. The Constitutions of the nation and state are the guides which GrassRoots uses in picking issues for its legislative report card. Bills are picked without regard to any particular individual. GrassRoots has no paid staff.
If you do not have a group scoring legislators in your state, I recommend that you begin one. Gather a dozen of your liberty-minded friends, identify a couple dozen bills (both good and bad), and score your legislators against them. Publish your report, and you will find your legislators will become a little more accountable to the citizenry for their votes during the legislative session.
Last Friday night, about 250 people gathered in Orem to hear Jeanette Finicum speak about her husband’s demise at the hands of the FBI and the Oregon state police!
Shawna Cox was under a gag order, so couldn’t make any comments regarding her case!