There were profiles in political courage during this year’s session of the Utah Legislature, including some surprises.
I joined hundreds of other Utahns at state Capitol rallies and testified at a dozen committee hearings, where I spoke on public education, the Great Salt Lake and Colorado River, housing unaffordability, public lands and gun violence.
While Utahns have a new state flag (I like it), far too many residents believe their votes do not matter because of egregious gerrymandering. Our new official banner might just as well have at least a third of it scissored out — that’s the approximate size of the damaging D/democratic deficit, a widening one, in fast-growing Utah.
Early on in the session, it was educators along with transgender kids and women fighting for their health care decisions whose courage stood out. Republican legislators ultimately decided they knew better — knew better than parents and physicians. Lawmakers never belonged in clinics or hospital rooms, or our bedrooms, and still don’t.
Sens. Luz Escamilla, Kathleen Riebe and Jen Plumb offered moving statements in opposition to a bill that targeted transgender youth. Utah’s stalwart public education community, dressed in apple red, showed up repeatedly in marbled hallways. Teachers will receive a pay raise but with strings attached.
Frontline educators also objected to a deceptively titled bill, “Individual Freedom in Public Education.” One from American Fork said her 4th grade school students benefited from reading “Journey to Topaz.” A high school history teacher living in Vineyard pressed legislators to trust good teaching, not undermine it.
Rep. Brian King spoke powerfully about checks and balances in defense of Utah’s well-regarded judicial selection process. Rep. Cheryl Acton, no liberal, initially agreed with King in a tie vote that the matter should be studied further, before joining her GOP colleagues in a subsequent party-line vote, advancing the bill.
Reps. Gay Lynn Bennion and Doug Owens pushed hard for wise water policies. Rep. Ashlee Matthews got more resources for a popular bee pollination program, part of the $29 billion total state budget. Rep. Andrew Stoddard rallied others behind clean air legislation. Sen. Nate Blouin addressed environmental concerns during floor debates. Sen. Stephanie Pitcher moved legislation on restitution procedures in juvenile court.
Reps. Angela Romero and Carol Moss defended workers, teachers and students to the very end, as did Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost on behalf of public employees. Rep. Sahara Hayes highlighted the importance of discussing in educational settings the relationship between guns and suicide. Rep. Rosemary Lesser, M.D., and veteran, of Ogden — the only elected Democrat outside Salt Lake County — authoritatively weighed in on maternal health and persuasively on the importance of brine shrimp to interlinked ecosystems.
Rural Republicans Rep. Carl Albrecht and Sen. David Hinkins backed Utah teachers – no need for anti-public ed vouchers where they live. Freshman GOP Rep. Tyler Clancy moved a bill that better protects our state’s public lands from criminals. Senate President Stuart Adams took the lead on housing legislation that will help first-time homebuyers with down payments. I encouraged him in the next session to advocate that SITLA (school trust land) parcels be prioritized for affordable housing via public-private partnerships.
House Speaker Brad Wilson proposed that elected officials across the state gather annually – a good idea. I urged this top Utah Republican not to forget all the Utahns “most gerrymandered.” That is: a lot.
I pressed House Majority Leader Mike Schultz about the national and hemispheric importance of an increasingly salty Great Salt Lake. An American president, I said, would need to put a “microscope” on the map of our shrinking lake if we in Utah fail – implying, yes, the important presidential prerogative embedded in the Antiquities Act, even as extremist Attorney General Sean Reyes sues to weaken or overturn America’s iconic and longstanding natural preservation act.
Sen. Kathleen Riebe tried to get a waiting period for the purchase of “assault weapons” discussed beyond a single committee hearing. Instead, Republicans shut down debate in under 30 minutes. The day after a local mass casualty event will be a day too late to start legislating seriously on guns.
It was Black women, however, who showed the most memorable political courage as they testified against efforts to strip Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives from Utah’s higher education institutions. As Rep. Sandra Hollins of Salt Lake’s west side said, “It seems like we keep taking two steps forward and going five steps back … I don’t know what to tell my community anymore. I don’t know how to make them feel safe anymore.”
It was these voices, their stories, that will stay with me most. Courageous Black women, after all, have long been a formidable and formative part of the collective conscience of our nation – thankfully, now in Utah as well.
Kael Weston
Kael Weston, Salt Lake City, was the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2022 and the Democratic candidate in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District in 2020.