Lawmakers end the 2014 session. Gov. Herbert says he will decide on re-election sometime this summer. Sen. Mike Lee’s name comes up in a criminal probe into former Attorney General John Swallow.
Countdown:
- Today is the first day that candidates can file for office in Utah
- 4 days until the Utah Democratic Party caucus meetings
- 6 days until the Utah candidate filing period closes
- 6 days until the Utah GOP caucus meetings
- 42 days until the Utah State Republican and Democratic conventions
- 102 days until Utah’s 2014 primary elections
- 235 days to the 2014 midterm elections
- 318 days to the start of the 2015 Utah Legislature
- 598 days to the 2015 elections
- 663 days until the 2016 Iowa Caucuses
- 969 days to the 2016 presidential election
Today’s Utah political news highlights:
- Gov. Gary Herbert reflects on the 2014 session which ended Thursday night [Utah Policy].
- Herbert says he will decide whether to run for another term as Governor sometime this summer [Utah Policy].
- Uh oh. Sen. Mike Lee and Nevada Sen. Harry Reid come up in a probe into former Attorney General John Swallow [Tribune].
- In the fight between Herbert and Speaker Lockhart, Herbert came out the clear winner [Tribune].
- Lawmakers leave the hill without coming to an agreement on Medicaid expansion [Tribune].
- Retirements from the legislature are hitting Utah’s Democrats hard [Tribune].
- Voters will get to weigh in on a proposed Constitutional amendment over whether the Utah Tax Commission should have a partisan requirement [Tribune].
- Lawmakers approve a pilot project allowing Utahns to register to vote on election day [Tribune].
- A bill criminalizing “revenge porn” heads to the governor’s desk [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Legislators approve a bill allowing the taking of DNA samples from people booked into jail on felony charges [Deseret News, Tribune].
- A bill restricting the use of drones for spying wins final approval [Tribune].
- Lawmakers want to study whether the state should dump Daylight Saving Time [Daily Herald].
On this day in history:
- 1743 – The first recorded town meeting in America was held in Faneuil Hall in Boston.
- 1794 – Eli Whitney received a patent for the cotton gin.
- 1883 – Karl Marx died at the age of 64.
- 1879 – Physicist Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany.
- 1900 – Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act.
- 1950 – The FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list debuted.
- 1964 – A jury finds Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
- 2005 – A judge in San Francisco ruled California’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.
