| I apologize in advance for the length of this email. Once I get going, it is difficult to stop. But stop I did…eventually. 🙂 Interim–the sort of calm after the storm The session is definitely an all day and all night whirlwind of meetings, reading, debating, emails, calling, listening, and voting. However, it seems like life doesn’t slow down that much after the session. I am still catching up on emails, working with constituents to solve issues, meeting with stakeholders on potential bills, following through on bills and funding items, attending events, and catching up on being a wife, grandma, and mom. I hope this doesn’t sound like complaining, because I love it! Committee Meetings Interim is the time between sessions–from the middle of March through the middle of January. During these months, interim committees will meet about five times and appropriations committees about four (except Social Services Appropriations, which meets twice as often). Click here to see the Interim Schedule for committees. Legislators submit items to study during interim, and Chairs and Vice-chairs review these ideas and choose an approved interim study item list. Because these are public meetings, they will be noticed, recorded, and published on le.utah.gov. You can attend the meetings or watch online. During interim, all appropriations committees do a deep dive on 1/5 of their assigned budget. So every five years, the entire budget has been reviewed. Social Services Appropriations often holds our meetings at various locations throughout the state so that we can see what is happening first hand with our funding. Our first interim meetings are in June. Helping Constituents Part of being a representative is helping constituents find answers to questions and working to help them resolve issues. Remember that you can reach out to me, and I will do my best to help you. If I miss your email the first time around, please email me again. Sometimes I will flag an email and still lose track of it in the hundreds of emails I receive each week, so don’t give up! Working on future bills Yes, I’m working on bills already. I have a few bills that got started late late session and didn’t get through the process–these shouldn’t require much additional effort (famous last words). However, I have also started working on a several new bills. Starting early gives me an opportunity to meet with all stakeholders and to address any potential conflicts. I firmly believe that the more people, perspectives, and ideas that I can include in the discussion, the better the end product will be. I will keep you posted on my progress. Meetings, meetings, and more meetings Thank goodness I am one of those people that likes a good meeting; however, there can be too much of a good thing. I don’t have time to go to every meeting that I am invited to and that sounds interesting, so I have to pick and choose. One of my favorite things is to talk to students or groups about government, policy, and how to be involved. In addition to these opportunities, I have recently attended conferences/meetings that have addressed juvenile justice, housing, homelessness, substance abuse prevention, domestic violence, water and lake conservation, and intergenerational poverty. Flood PreventionWith increased rainfall comes an increased chance of flooding. Monitoring local risk of flooding can help minimize damage in the event of a worst-case scenario. Click here to check your risk level and find some helpful flood preparedness resources. For Provo specific flooding information, click here. For Orem, you can contact the public works department. Water Conservation It seems crazy to talk about flood prevention and water conservation in the same email. However, even though we have received (and are still receiving) abundant precipitation and snowfall this winter, we are not to a point where we don’t have to conserve. With our growing population, increasing development, and uncertain weather patterns, it is imperative that we are good stewards of our water. During this past session, my colleagues and I passed quite a few bills to aid in the conservation effort. Not only does conservation saves water, but it can save you money! For more information about how you can conserve at home, click here. Legislative Accomplishments Legislative staff put together an infographic that illustrates the bills that were passed on a variety of issues in the 2023 session. You can view that infographic here. Utah County’s Republican and Democratic Party Conventions Saturday, April 15th, both the Utah County Republican and Democratic parties held their organizing conventions. To find out more information on the Democratic convention, please click HERE. I attended the Republican Party organizing convention and enjoyed the opportunity to see old friends and have some great discussions with some of my constituents. The reason for the convention was to elect leadership; here are the results. Cristy Henshaw for Party ChairCharles Wood for Party Vice-ChairKirby Glad for SecretaryMark Hailstone for TreasurerWe also met in Senate Districts and elected who would represent us in the State Central Committee. I really appreciate when people are willing to step forward and run for any office. We had some very dedicated and qualified candidates to choose from. I have constituents who are in both Senator Grover’s (District 23) and Senator Bramble’s (District 24) districts. Here are the results for these two areas. Senate District 23 1. Lisa Shepherd 2. Brandon Beckham 3. Lyndon Brittner Alternate. Mark Magnesen Alternate. Kraig Thorne Alternate. Mark Allen Senate District 24 1. Stan Jensen 2. Kirby Glad 3. Russ Rampton Alternate. Leif Ernst Alternate. Jason ChristensenIf you have ideas or concerns you would like to express to help our party, these are people who can make a difference on the local and state level. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please let me know |