One of several themes could have defined this year’s legislative session, according to Hinckley Institute of Politics Director Ted Wilson as he opened Thursday’s Legislative Wrap Up. Two Democrat and two Republican leaders attended.
Fresh from a late night of law making, the legislative leaders present agreed that crafting a budget in the face of a $250 million shortfall was the 2002 session’s defining act.
But the appearance of multiple pieces of vindictive legislation was also a theme cited in an article in The Salt Lake Tribune the same morning, and a point of some contention.
House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, disagreed with the assessment.
“I didn’t see much of the vindictiveness and partisan ness mentioned in the newspaper article,” he said.
He objected to characterizing as “vindictive” a Senate bill to enable drastic salary cuts for administrators of state entities not in compliance with state law.
“When you say ‘vindictive,’ it sounds like it’s something that’s bad,” Stephens told The Chronicle. State entities must obey state law, if enforcing laws makes the Legislature ‘vindictive,’ so be it, he said.
The bill, sponsored by a gun rights advocate, failed to pass the House Wednesday night. If it had become law, U President Bernie Machen’s salary could have been sliced in half in response to his adamant defense of a campus policy prohibiting concealed weapons, which runs counter to state law.
House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake City, disagreed with Stephens’ take on what he referred to as “retribution politics,” which included the bill to punish state entities.
“The tone of this session was different,” he told The Chronicle.
When setting policy, the best interests of the state should always be paramount, he said. Legislation targeting Mayor Rocky Anderson for his role in a lawsuit against the Legacy Highway, or Machen, springs from certain legislators’ desire for revenge.
“It’s a tendency that’s difficult for me to watch,” he said.
Becker referred to a bill to recover damages from anybody who sued the state over a construction project, i.e. Legacy Highway.
“I don’t argue with their right to file a lawsuit,” Stephens said. But because of Anderson and other activists’ suit, the state will be out millions of dollars.
There needs to be consequences for actions, he said.
The panel, which also included Senate Majority Leader Steven Poulton, R-Salt Lake City, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Dmitrich, D-Price, went on to discuss the role of open caucus meetings, ethics reform, a racial profiling legislation and funding priorities.
With elections on the way for state Representatives and some Senators, the Legislature’s composition may shift to the disadvantage of Democrats, a by-product of redistricting.
Several seats may change party hands, but this is because of high population growth in Republican areas and low growth in traditionally Democratic areas, according to Stephens. However, he admitted that lines in Summit County were drawn for political reasons, not population growth. Democrats have charged that lines were drawn with the intent of cutting them out of certain seats.