Situational Analysis | March 23, 2022

It's Wednesday and National Puppy Day. I'm allergic to dogs, but boy, puppies are just sooo cute! 🐶 

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1. Governor Spencer Cox has vetoed one bill: the last-minute substitution bill that bans all transgender high school athletes, with a 5-page veto letter of explanation. He explains the numbers that have most impacted his decision: 75,000, 4, 1 86 and 56. 75,000 Utah teens play high school sports, 4 transgender kids are playing high school sports in Utah, 1 transgender student is playing girls sports, 86% of trans youth have considered suicide and 56% have attempted suicide. "Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports. That’s what all of this is about. Four kids
   who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don't understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live." The Utah legislature will be in special session on Friday to override his veto. 

2. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson heads into her third day of questioning today. When hearings began on Monday, she was introduced by former BYU general counsel and a recently-retired member of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia: Judge Thomas Griffith. Griffith described Judge Jackson as an "independent jurist who adjudicates based on the facts and the law, and not as a partisan." “Some think it noteworthy that a former judge appointed by a Republican president would enthusiastically endorse a nomination to the Supreme Court by a Democratic president,” Griffith said. “That reaction is a measure of the dangerous hyperpartisanship that has seeped into every nook and cranny of our nation’s life and against which the framers of the Constitution warned us. There should be nothing unusual about my support for a highly qualified nominee." 

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Utah Headlines

General

• Daryl Austin: Misinformation was contagious during the pandemic. Sometimes, it also turned deadly (Deseret News)
• ‘Loss of civility’ appalls airport police in Utah following 2 recent, random attacks (Deseret News)Gas prices have an outsized impact on inflation and will likely ease, says BYU economist (Fox13)

Politics

• Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signs 67 bills, including some meant to save Great Salt Lake (Deseret News)
• Utah governor vetoes transgender girls sports ban. Lawmakers are ready to override (Deseret News)
• Utah lawmakers to meet Friday to override Gov. Cox’s veto on bill to ban transgender girls in female school sports (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Groups plan to sue after expected override of transgender bill veto (KSL TV)
• Editorial Board: It’s not about sports. It’s about harming the most vulnerable among us. Why Cox’s veto should stand (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah Democrats meet for caucus night (KUTV)
• Lawmaker to scrutinize Park City School District over failure to report abuse accusations (Fox13)
• Salt Lake County Council approves purchase of 94 acres in Butterfield Canyon (Gephardt Daily)

Environment

• Are golf courses worth all the water they use? (Deseret News)
• Smoke plume visible for miles near Duchesne caused by oil well fire (KUTV)
  
• Climate change could mean longer and more intense allergy seasons, new study finds (Fox13)

Legal

• Davis County jail staff couldn’t have known man was overdosing before death, appeals court rules (Salt Lake Tribune)
• 46 more women say Provo OB-GYN inappropriately touched them. There now are 50 former patients suing Dr. David H. Broadbent, claiming he hurt them over the past four decades. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Police find abducted Utah teenage girl in Texas (ABC4)
  
• Sandy man arrested for stabbing his children during ‘punishment’ (ABC4)

Utah/Ukraine Connection

• Do you support Ukraine? Then learn its history. We can stand with them in solidarity the more we know of their long-standing aspirations for democracy. (Deseret News)
  
• 'We are not alone': Salt Lake City receives sobering update from sister city in Ukraine (KSL)

COVID Corner

• 109 new cases, 38 new deaths
• Exactly 2 years after Utah’s first COVID-19 death, 38 more deaths are reported. Thirty-one of the deaths happened a month or more ago, but were recently confirmed, according to the Utah Department of Health.
  (Salt Lake Tribune)
• One year since vaccines were made widely available, majority of Utahns are fully vaccinated (KUER)

National Headlines

General

• At least one dead following New Orleans-area tornado that left path of destruction; thousands without power (Washington Post)
• Black box found from Boeing passenger jet that crashed in China, state media says (CNBC)

Politics

• Meet the conservative jurist and former BYU general counsel who endorsed Biden’s Supreme Court nominee (Deseret News)
• What BYU’s former general counsel said at Ketanji Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing (Deseret News)
• What Sen. Mike Lee asked Ketanji Brown Jackson about child porn sentencing (Deseret News)
• During confirmation hearing, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson tells Sen. Mike Lee that “law and facts” determine cases (Salt Lake Tribune)
• ‘How faithful would you say you are?’ and other religion-related questions Ketanji Brown Jackson has faced (Deseret News)
• The GOP’s airing of grievances at Ketanji Brown Jackson’s hearing (Washington Post)
• Republican Sen. Mike Braun says Supreme Court should leave decisions on interracial marriage, abortion to the states (Washington Post)
• Cruz and Jackson spar over antiracism curriculum at a private school. (New York Times)
• How Russia and right-wing Americans converged on war in Ukraine (New York Times)
• Evan Neumann: US Capitol riot suspect gets asylum in Belarus (BBC)

Ukraine

• Russia says sending international peacekeepers to Ukraine would be 'very reckless' (Reuters)
• Historic synagogue in Kyiv has spent $2 million evacuating Ukrainians from war’s hot spots (Washington Post)
• Ukraine claims it has retaken key town outside Kyiv, as defenses hold against fierce Russian onslaught (Washington Post)
• For journalists, Ukraine is a WhatsApp War (CJR)
• 20 days in Mariupol: The team that documented the city's agony (AP)

News Releases

Governor signs 21 bills, vetoes one bill of the 2022 General Legislative Session

Today, Gov. Spencer J. Cox signed 21 bills. The governor also vetoed one bill. This brings the total number of signed or vetoed pieces of legislation from the 2022 General Legislative Session to 143. Information on these bills can be found here.

Gov. Spencer Cox calls a Special Legislative Session to address issues associated with House Bill 11

Today Gov. Spencer Cox issued a call for a Special Legislative Session to consider financial and legal issues regarding House Bill 11, Student Eligibility in Interscholastic Activities. The call is set for 2 p.m. on Friday, March 25, 2022 at the Utah State Capitol. 

The proclamation is attached. 

Governor signs 64 bills of the 2022 General Legislative Session

Today, Gov. Spencer J. Cox signed 64 bills. This brings the total number of signed pieces of legislation from the 2022 General Legislative Session to 207. Information on these bills can be found here.

Women business owners to take part in statewide survey

The Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP), in partnership with the Women’s Business Center of Utah (WBCUtah), is conducting a study on women-owned businesses within Utah. Utah women age 18 or older who own businesses are encouraged to participate.

The purpose of this research is to understand the status of women-owned businesses in Utah and the experiences of women who own these businesses. Women who live within the state of Utah and own a business are invited to participate in the research survey. To complete the survey, click here. (Read More)

Romney, colleagues introduce the Employee Rights Act of 2022

U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today joined his colleagues, led by Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), in introducing the Employee Rights Act of 2022. The bill updates and modernizes the Employee Rights Act to protect independent contractors, franchisees, entrepreneurs, and anyone seeking flexible work options.

“American workers are suffering the economic impacts of the highest rates of inflation in decades, and Democrats have responded with a proposal which would force more workers into unions that are more concerned with their own survival than protecting its members,” Senator Romney said. “Our legislation will protect workers, support small businesses, and encourage innovation, which will equip us to compete and succeed in the 21st century global economy.” (Read More)

Sen. Lee introduces resolution to maintain undivided Jerusalem Embassy

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced a concurrent resolution today reaffirming Congress’s position that the United States should be represented by a single diplomatic mission in Jerusalem.  The Biden Administration has previously stated its intent to create a consulate general in Jerusalem dedicated to Palestinian affairs.  The 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, passed into law by Congressional supermajority recognizes that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel and the U.S. embassy to Israel should be in Jerusalem. (Read More)

Senator Lee questions SCOTUS nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) questioned Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s nominee to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States today.  His questions focused on her judicial philosophy, her record on criminal sentencing, and her views on unenumerated constitutional rights. (Read/Watch More

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Upcoming

• Caucus encore, United Utah Party - Mar 23, 7:00 pm
• Building Utah with the Utah Association of Counties â€“ Mar 23-25 Register here
• Inflection Point: US-Asia Relations with the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation â€“ Mar 30, 3:00 pm ET Register here
• Last day for a registered voter to change voter affiliation before the regular primary election â€“ Mar 31
• United Utah Party State Convention - April 16, 10 am, West High, SLC
• 2022 Midyear Conference, Utah League of Cities and Towns - April 20-22, St. George Register here
• Ballots are mailed â€“ June 7
• Primary election day â€“ June 28
• General election â€“ Nov 8

On This Day In History

• 1775 - Patrick Henry gives an impassioned speech wherein he proclaims “Give me liberty or give me death!”
• 1839 - “OK” enters the national vernacular. Boomer comes later.
• 1857 - Elisha Otis installs the first public elevator in New York City
• 1875 - The British survey ship, H.M.S. Challenger discovers the deepest known region of the Earth’s oceans when it made its first sounding of the Mariana Trench.
• 1882 - The Edmunds (Anti-Polygamy) Act is adopted by the US Senate and aimed squarely at the Utah Territory. 1300 men are later imprisoned under the act.
• 1884 - Florence Ellinwood Allen is born. She became the first woman to serve on a state supreme court and one of the first two women to serve as a United States federal judge
• 1981 - The US Supreme Court decides in Kirchberg v Feenstra that Louisiana’s ‘head and master’ law stipulating that marital property was under the control of the husband was, in fact, unconstitutional. In 1981.
• 1983 - 112 days after becoming the world’s first recipient of a permanent artificial heart, Barney Clark dies at the University of Utah Medical Center.
• 2011 - Elizabeth Taylor dies at age 79

Wise Words

"It's so worth-while being a judge, because, if I make good, I can help prove that a woman's place is as much on the bench, in City Council, or in Congress, as in the home."

– Florence Ellinwood Allen

Lighter Side

“Today was the first of two days where senators can ask the nominee direct questions, so Democrats asked things like ‘Why are you so great?’ and Republicans asked things like ‘Why aren’t you Donald Trump?’” 

— JAMES CORDEN

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