Lawmakers could be heading toward a face-off over Medicaid expansion. “Count My Vote” organizers say they’ve already collected 100,000 signatures. Legislators meet with members of the LGBT community.
Countdown:
- 14 days until the final day of the 2014 Legislature
- 15 days until the Utah candidate filing period opens
- 19 days until the Utah Democratic Party caucus meetings
- 19 days until the Utah candidate filing period closes
- 21 days until the Utah GOP caucus meetings
- 58 days until the Utah State Republican and Democratic conventions
- 117 days until Utah’s 2014 primary elections
- 250 days to the 2014 midterm elections
- 613 days to the 2015 elections
- 678 days until the 2016 Iowa Caucuses
- 984 days to the 2016 presidential election
Today’s Utah political news highlights:
- A showdown may be brewing between House and Senate Republicans over whether Utah will accept federal Medicaid expansion money [Deseret News].
- The group behind “Count My Vote” announce they’ve already collected 100,000 signatures [Daily Herald, Standard Examiner].
- SB 54, which would make “Count My Vote” moot, is not going to pass in time to force Gov. Herbert’s hand on a veto before the end of the 2014 session [Utah Policy].
- A proposed Constitutional amendment to give political parties complete control in how they choose their nominees advances [Tribune, Standard Examiner].
- Lawmakers meet with members of the LGBT community [Tribune, KSL].
- Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the Amendment 3 case file a brief with the court claiming Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage treats those couples as “legal strangers’ [Deseret News].
- House Speaker Becky Lockhart’s plan to expand technology in Utah’s schools passed out of a House committee, but there are still questions on how Utah is going to pay for the bill’s massive price tag [Deseret News, Tribune].
- A number of bills designed to strengthen Utah’s control over federal lands within the state move ahead on the Hill [Tribune].
- Lawmakers take the first step toward approving a sales tax hike to fund mass transit [Tribune].
- A proposed bill would impose harsher penalties for texting while behind the wheel [Utah Policy, Deseret News].
- Sen. Ralph Okerlund is backing a bill to help protect farmers and ranchers from environmental regulators [Tribune].
- A bill would allow judges to consider a parent intentionally exposing children to pornography as a factor in child custody cases [Tribune].
On this day in history:
- The District of Columbia was placed under the jurisdiction of Congress in 1801.
- The Reichstag caught fire in Berlin in 1933. The ruling Nazi party blamed the fire on Communists, which they used to suspend civil liberties in that country.
- The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which limited a president to two terms, was ratified in 1951.
- President George H.W. Bush announced the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
- Legislation banning most handguns in Britain went into effect in 1997.
- Fred Rogers, host of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, died in 2003.
- Conservative author William F. Buckley died in 2008.
