How to Sound Smart About Utah Politics – February 20, 2014

Gov. Herbert may veto bill to derail Count My Vote. Herbert also hits House GOP leadership over Medicaid expansion. Google Fiber may be coming to Salt Lake City.

 

Countdown:

  • 21 days until the final day of the 2014 Legislature
  • 22 days until the Utah candidate filing period opens
  • 26 days until the Utah Democratic Party caucus meetings
  • 26 days until the Utah candidate filing period closes
  • 28 days until the Utah GOP caucus meetings
  • 65 days until the Utah State Republican and Democratic conventions
  • 124 days until Utah’s 2014 primary elections
  • 257 days to the 2014 midterm elections
  • 620 days to the 2015 elections
  • 685 days until the 2016 Iowa Caucuses
  • 991 days to the 2016 presidential election

Today’s Utah political news highlights:

  • Gov. Gary Herbert is warning he may veto Sen. Curt Bramble’s bill to head off Count My Vote [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • The timing of that bill moving through the legislature could set up a showdown between Herbert and lawmakers [Utah Policy].
  • Herbert says the stance by Republican leadership in the House against Medicaid expansion is “illogical” [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • House Speaker Becky Lockhart’s plan to pump millions into technology in schools is meeting skepticism in the Senate and governor’s office [Tribune].
  • Rep. Stephen Handy introduces a bill laying out the framework for how Utah would manage public lands if they ever won control of them from the federal government [Utah Policy].
  • Google’s ultra high-speed fiber optic internet service may be coming to Salt Lake City [Deseret News].
  • Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams wants to freeze the boundaries of unincorporated areas of the county until 2015 [Tribune].
  • The Salt Lake School District looks to hire some PR help in the wake of bad press in the school-lunch tossing incident [Tribune].
  • Sen. Mike Lee visits Utah’s Capitol Hill to discuss issues with lawmakers [Standard-Examiner, Deseret News, Tribune].
  • Rep. Kay Christofferson wants to privatize four golf courses owned by the state [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • Lawmakers advance a measure to bring more accountability and transparency for USTAR [Tribune].
  • A proposal would push back Utah’s guest worker program until 2017 [Daily Herald, Tribune].

On this day in history:

  • President George Washington signed an act creating the Post Office in 1792.
  • The Supreme Court ruled the power of the federal government is greater than any individual state in 1809.
  • Abolitionist Frederick Douglass died in 1895.
  • Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962.