Friday, February 12, 2016

2015 HB 220

2015 HB 220. The bill is bad policy. However the video from Peter Coroon included no real reasons and is a waste of time. (Which is why I am not bothering to link it) I am not questioning the sponsor's motives. I believe he is trying to fix something that doesn't make sense to him.
 
The truth is the Legislative staff are paid to be non partisan. Mike Christensen, John Fellows, Jonathan Ball, and John Schaff along with many others, include our drafting attorneys and house clerk, etc. If one of these were to step down, it is the Legislative Management Committee, made up of 16 members, 4 members from each party from each house, and 3 subcommittees that take care of selecting replacements or removing them. The staff do work for the legislature and not the republicans or the democrats. Yes, the selections are voted on by the entire legislature, but staff being non partisan is key and very important. Are there perceived issues with some audit requests, yes, but is that out of funding or some other reason? Certainly there are other ways to fix that if it needs fixing.

While we give some specified power for the LMC to act as an executive legislature in some cases like approving UDOT settlement deals under a certain amount, it is the non partisan staff that are at risk with this bill, and if you don't believe me, ask them. They certainly will not jump into this on their own.