REFLECTIONS OF A FRESHMAN LEGISLATOR
Rep. Mike Morley
The 2003 Utah Legislative Session has just ended and, as anticipated, it was an interesting and educational experience for me. It has been a pleasure serving in the House of Representatives on behalf of the great citizens of southern Utah County. I can honestly say it has been one of the most challenging, but also one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I wanted to share some of the highlights of the session.
During my campaign, I pledged to serve on the principles of 1) smaller government, 2) fiscal responsibility, and 3) strengthening the family. As I evaluated some key legislation this year, I did so in view of these important principles and tried to align my voting with them.
Smaller Government and Fiscal Responsibility
As we are reminded almost daily through media coverage and personal experience, we as a nation and as a state are experiencing an economically difficult time. From my first day in office, it was my intent to hold government spending to a minimum. We started the legislative session with instructions to reduce government spending by 2%. Recommendations for these cuts were given to executive appropriations. But, when the fiscal analysts reported that projections showed stronger than anticipated growth for next year, all budgets were restored to original levels.
However, in the remaining days of the session, gaps were found in the state budget. The favored solution was to use one-time money, increase some fees, and to implement a sales tax on cable and satellite TV. I resisted these proposals and spoke passionately in favor of budget cuts to reach structural balance. During the debate, one legislator indicated that all needed to “feel the pain”. My rebuttal was that all tax payers are currently feeling the pain, but that by restoring budgets to previous levels, those who administrate and use state funds were not feeling the pain at a proportionate level. Ultimately, the budget passed with the one-time money, fee increases, and a new tax.
I remain firm in my commitment to the principles of smaller government and fiscal responsibility. I expressed strong support for Rep. Jim Ferron’s new appropriations model HJR001 which was designed to change how we budget and make projections for future years. His bill proposes that we limit our spending to either the previous fiscal year’s ending appropriation plus government-mandated increases or to the fiscal analysts’ projections, whichever is less, thus ensuring that we would not over-commit and end up in special session dealing with shortfalls as has been the norm in the past couple of years.
Based on the principles of smaller government and fiscal responsibility, I voted to hold the line on spending and to not implement any new governmental programs by voting against programs with fiscal impact or expansionist tendencies.
Strengthen the Family
I voted and spoke strongly against removing the child income tax deduction, indicating that we provide tax incentives to encourage things that we value. Let me give an example. Society values home ownership and thus gives tax benefits in the form of tax deductions for mortgage interest and discounts on property taxes for primary residents. Additional tax advantages are given to promote charitable contributions. In Utah, we value the family. By removing the child income tax deduction, we create a tax burden that devalues families.
I believe children are our greatest asset. They assure the long-term economic growth and prosperity of our great state, providing an educated work force and ultimately providing for retirement and economic growth. Larger families pay a disproportionate amount of sales tax to clothe, feed, and care for children. Larger homes and cars are often necessary which increase sales, gas, and property taxes. Large families contribute a great deal to our state. I believe that the attempt to remove the child income tax reduction is nothing more than a tax increase that devalues an already overtaxed and embattled family structure. Due to the efforts of myself and like-minded legislators, this bill failed.
The principles on which I based my campaign served as a compass as I sought to navigate through my first session. I appreciate input and support from my constituents. Over the next few weeks, I will review some of the more high-profile bills which were presented, debated, and acted on during session. As always, I am happy to take questions and comments at mikemorley@utah.gov.
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