Group Think in the Utah State Legislature

The Utah State Legislature decided to override two of Government Hebert's vetos.  As a results, I find myself in agreement with KSL's Ethan Millard.  Anytime I find myself in agreement with Millard, I get scared.

The first veto that was overridden was the highway bill.  This bill dedicates a percentage of sales tax revenue to highway construction and maintenance every single year.  I do not wish to under emphasize the importance of highways and their effect on commerce.  Not only does good highway maintenance make commerce simpler, it also directly and indirectly keep people employed.

Keep in mind that in Utah, we have fuel taxes, and 100% of fuel taxes are, as they should be, dedicated to the construction and maintenance of highways.  The problem is that as fuel costs have sky rocketed in the past five years, people are driving less and purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles.  As a result, less fuel tax money goes into state coffers.  The legislature feels obligated to ensure another source of revenue for highways.

However, budgeting should be a flexible.  Part of the problem that other states have in balancing their state budgets is laws like the one Governor Hebert vetoed.  Some years, the legislature needs to spend less on highways, and some years there needs to be more spend on highways.  This bill shows some legislative short sidedness.  Sure, the bill can be worked around with a simple majority vote of the legislature, but that would become a debate unto itself.  It would take time out of the 45-day legislative session.  Then time needed for the overall legislative session is lost.  The legislature has tied their own hands in forcing this legislation on themselves.

I am certain that in the very near future, education advocates in this state will introduce a petition to repeal this bill at the ballot box.  If or when such a petition is presented, I have already endorsed it.

The legislature has also ended the four-day work week in Utah.  This is a pity.  True, the main reason for implementing a 4-day work week was to spend less on utilities.  Those cost savings never materialized for the state, but there were other benefits which are now gone.  Let me enumerate those.

-State employees get another day to spend with their families.  When the kids are still in school, this is a day to focus on yard work and other dirty details that take away from family time on weekends.  Therefore, the quality of family life that state employees enjoyed is now gone.

-State employees will have to go back to commuting to work 5 days per week.  For those who drive their own vehicles, this means a 25% cost increase in the fuel used to get to work.  In a day when so many perks are being lost, this was a big morale boost to some state employees.

-Citizens will have to return to the days when we had to take time off to take advantage of state services, such as renewing a drivers license or getting a car registered.

-Utah was considered a leader in this regard.  The four-day work week showed some initiative, some creative leadership and some out of the box thinking to many outside the state.

I can understand the logic of both bills, but I can not understand the logic of the veto override.  Especially with the surprise override of the 4-day work-week bill.  Some of the reason why the costs savings did not materialize is because utility costs have, in fact, been increasing during this time.  The legislature was looking at dollars spend and not utility units.

The state may suffer for returning to a 5-day work week.  The state may suffer because of the highway bill.  Especially representatives trying to avoid Tea Party challenges.  The legislature looks as if it has been strong armed by Labor Unions and other special interest groups.  Fiscal conservatives should look at this action with a weary eye.  It will affect how I vote in the next election.