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Utah House opens 2014 session; Speaker calls for education ‘renaissance’ and cleaner air
Summary
Speaker Rebecca Lockhart opened the Utah House 2014 General Session with a lengthy address urging renewed investment in teachers and classroom technology, new approaches to transportation funding and voluntary steps to improve air quality while warning against unfunded federal mandates.
Speaker Rebecca Lockhart opened the 2014 General Session of the Utah House of Representatives, framing the session as a time for ambition and change and urging the Legislature to pursue a ‘‘renewal’’ in education, transportation and air‑quality policy.
In remarks the House subsequently moved to print in the Journal, the Speaker told members the state should not settle for the status quo and called for “nothing less than an education renaissance,” including reinvesting in teachers, expanding professional development and integrating classroom technology such as e‑readers and Wi‑Fi to better prepare students for a technology‑driven economy. “Let’s ensure every K‑12 student has access and the understanding of technological devices…to ensure their success in the tech economy of tomorrow,” the Speaker said.
On transportation, the Speaker said the state needs fresh ideas and opposed a blanket gas‑tax increase as ‘‘neither fresh nor new nor right,’’ urging instead voluntary measures to reduce congestion and pollution — telecommuting, employer transit passes and flexible scheduling on high‑pollution days. She tied travel and infrastructure planning to air quality, urging creative solutions that “work with and not against our business community.”
The Speaker also emphasized state authority in policy decisions and criticized federal mandates that she said impose costs without adequate state control. She described the federal health law in stark terms, calling it ‘‘the most costly and catastrophic federal mandate of all’’ and warned that expanding Medicaid rolls under a federal subsidy could be a ‘‘bait and switch’’ that leaves the state worse off. Those remarks were presented to the House for printing in the Journal by Representative Deaton and approved by voice vote.
The speech mixed policy prescriptions with calls for integrity and fiscal prudence. The Speaker acknowledged recent costly investigations involving a former attorney general but defended the expenditure as necessary to preserve public trust and said lawmakers should prize honesty in government.
What’s next: the House approved several routine procedural motions and recessed for the afternoon; members will return for further consideration of bills placed on calendars by standing committees.
