Keeping House

by Representative Kraig Powell

August 24, 2009

The once-a-month interim committee meetings of the Utah Legislature were held on August 19th. There were no interim meetings held in July so that legislative leaders could attend national legislative conventions.

The most pressing issue leading up to the August interim meetings was the status of the New Century scholarship program for Utah high school students. The New Century scholarship was created by the Utah Legislature in 1999 to encourage outstanding high school students to accelerate their education.

The scholarship is available to students who maintain a 3.0 GPA while earning a two-year associate’s degree from a Utah state college by the time they graduate from high school. This is usually done by taking Concurrent Enrollment and Advanced Placement courses. Students who complete the requirements are awarded a scholarship for 75 percent of their tuition for their remaining two years of study at a four-year college in Utah.

When the New Century Scholarship was created, it was anticipated that only a few dozen students would complete the requirements each year. Over time, the number of students qualifying for the scholarship steadily increased, and this year ballooned to a total of nearly 1,500 students participating.

All areas of the state budget suffered severe cuts this year due to the statewide economic downturn. To cope with the funding shortfalls, the Utah State Board of Regents, which administers the New Century scholarship, made a decision to reduce the tuition award to 40 percent for 2009-2010 and 25 percent for 2010-2011. The Regents notified students and parents of the change by letters mailed throughout the summer.

The announcement caused a firestorm of controversy with students and parents due to the fact that most students’ financial aid packages for the coming school year have already been set. Many of these families had no way to make up for the shortfall, meaning their students would be unable to attend school this fall.

Hundreds of emails and phone calls poured in to legislators and state officials. After hastily-called meetings and negotiations, the Legislature’s Executive Appropriations Committee announced on the day before August interim that full funding for the scholarships would be restored for this year.

I believe this episode illustrates the important influence that citizens can have when they contact their elected leaders. It was wrong to break the promises made to these students and they deserved to have the funding restored. I am glad their voices were heard.

Another lesson this experience teaches, however, is that it is not easy to cut government programs, even when revenues are down. Although the announcement was that the scholarship funding has officially been restored, we still do not know where the funds will come from, and other education programs will likely have to be cut to pay for this decision.

Turning to other issues, I sit on the Transportation Interim Committee. This week we heard testimony from United We Ride, an interagency planning body that coordinates public transportation options for elderly, disabled and low-income citizens. The presenters used the Uintah Basin Public Transportation Business Plan to demonstrate how interagency coordination should take place. The officials hoped that other rural areas in Utah would follow the Basin’s efficient public transportation model.

Finally, prior to our August interim committee meetings, I had been helping the Heber Valley Railroad plan an event to which all legislators and their families were invited. The Heber Valley Historic Railroad Authority had hoped to educate current lawmakers about how this efficient, self-funded state agency, chartered by the Legislature in 1992, serves as a dynamic economic and tourism engine for Utah.

Further research, however, raised the possibility that the invitation to legislators and their families might violate the new gift restrictions enacted this year. Rather than risk any impropriety, I advised the Railroad against holding the event.

Informational visits such as this are important, and the best way to avoid any violations is for legislators to pay for their own tickets to all such events, which is my own practice. But until this habit catches on with other legislators, the new gift giving laws will have to be watched very closely.

Many citizens have contacted me with dozens of good ideas for legislation, which I am working on now. Please do not hesitate to send me an email at kraigpowell [at] utah.gov or give me a call at 435-654-1550 if there is anything you wish to discuss.