Another interesting and sometimes controversial. We saw the number of bills that have dropped well surpassed last year’s numbers. I sometime wonder if bills are dropped looking for a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Many bills already have solutions in state law and are not necessary.
HB 1103—require that annual withdrawal of groundwater from any groundwater source does not exceed the annual recharge—DANR already monitors the aquafers using Geologists and engineers that are experts in the field. They monitor levels as to not allow the level to run low. Why do we have these people in place if we aren’t going to trust their positions that we placed them in. To add more monitoring wells would cost the taxpayers and water systems large amounts of money. I voted NO
HB 1038—Allow the PUC to assess actual costs to data centers –this would allow the PUC to charge for legal research and documentation as it pertains to DATA center formation. I voted YES
HB 1124—crime of trespass at places of worship—would make it a class 5 felony to disrupt a church service- no specific definition of how disrupt would be defined—laws are already in place for trespass, disorderly conduct, assaults and others- last year the house voted to build a new prison but the majority stated that we need to reduce how many people we send to prison—I voted No
HB 1056—submit federal waiver to not allow soft drinks to be purchased with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—(SNAP) I voted yes
SB 85—require an election for an excess tax levy of a school district- this would force a vote on every school opt out no matter how big or small- If we do this then why do we have school boards- school boards are elected by the people of the school district- the state legislature should not be in the position of telling school districts, county or city government how to do their jobs- if this is what the people truly want then why would we even have these people in these positions- let’s just vote on everything from cities to counties and school boards and the state. I voted no.
As I write this, I looked at we currently have 570 bills that have dropped, and I don’t know if this is the last. Last year we had 489 bills in total and that made for some very long days, however that is what we all signed on to do.
We have a short weekend and back to Pierre on Sunday.
As always, Representative Greenfield, Senator Wipf and I will continue to work for District 22.
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