We’re passing along the following action alert from the League of Women Voters.

Soon the Transportation, Environmental Quality and National Guard Appropriations Subcommittee will take final testimony and a final vote on the appropriation for Air Quality Planning.

We are asking you to send an email to or call members of the appropriation committee listed at the end of this message.

The Governor has requested $2.21 million for air quality planning, and the Fiscal Analyst recommended $2.21 million.

However, on January 24, in the preliminary vote, the subcommittee approved only $1.5 million.

So far, there has been no indication which amount the subcommittee intends to approve.

It would be timely for the committee to be educated that:

• Citizens think air quality is a critical issue.
• Citizens expect the Legislature to provide the financial and moral support the Department of Environmental Quality needs to do its work and clean up our air.
• We are concerned about transparency and good government.
• We are paying attention.

Please use your own words to explain how important these matters are.

REMEMBER YOU SPEAK ONLY FOR YOURSELF, NOT THE LEAGUE.

Be polite and positive. Use CONTACT INFO below.

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Transportation, Environmental Quality, and National Guard Appropriations Subcommittee members.

Carlene Walker, Co-chair, cwalker@utahsenate.org, 733-4599 R-Cottonwood Heights dist 8
Wayne Harper, Co-chair, wharper@utah.gov, 566-5466 R-West Jordan dist 43
President John Valentine, jvalentine@utahsenate.org, 224-1693 R-Orem dist 14
Sheldon Killpack [Assistant Majority Whip], skillpack@utahsenate.org, 773-5486 R-Syracuse dist 21
Fred Fife, ffife@utahsenate.org, 521-7383 D-SLC dist 1
Glenn A. Donnelson, gdonnelson@utah.gov, 782-2640 R- N Ogden dist 7
Todd E. Kiser, toddkiser@utah.gov, 571-0179 R Sandy dist 41
Becky Lockhart, blockhart@utah.gov, 377-7428 R-Provo dist 64
Patrick Painter, ppainter@utah.gov, 636-0296 R-Nephi R dist 67
Kenneth Sumsion, ksumsion@utah.gov, 368-8299 R-American Fork dist 56
Neil A. Hansen, neilhansen@utah.gov, 393-1514 D- Ogden dist 9
Neal Hendrickson, nhendrickson@utah.gov, 969-8920 D-WVC dist 33

Ann O’Connell,
LWV Utah Legislative Action Director

Today’s League of Women Voters Legislative Update on KPCW asked a question that we’ve been asking ourselves: what happened to air quality in the budget?

Advocates for clean air are puzzling over what happened back on January 24 in the Transportation, Environmental Quality, and National Guard Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the Division of Air Quality. The recommendation of the Legislative Analyst was for $2.21 million for air quality planning, but the preliminary vote was for $1.5 million, significantly less. Members of the committee say this was not actually a vote, and besides $1.5 million is about the right amount. Then why did the analyst recommend $2.21 million? Clean air advocates, which is most of us, would like to know.

You can read the minutes and listen to the audio, but the people to ask are the committee members.

Rep. Wayne A. Harper, Co Chair (R – Dist 43, West Jordan)
Sen. Carlene M. Walker, Co Chair (R – Dist 8, Cottonwood Heights)
Rep. Glenn A. Donnelson (R – Dist 7, North Ogden)
Sen. Fred J. Fife (D – Dist 1, Salt Lake City)
Rep. Neil A. Hansen (D – Dist 9, Ogden)
Rep. Neal B. Hendrickson (D – Dist 33, West Valley City)
Sen. Sheldon L. Killpack (R – Dist 21, Syracuse)
Rep. Todd E. Kiser (R – Dist 41, Sandy)
Rep. Rebecca D. Lockhart (R – Dist 64, Provo)
Rep. Patrick Painter (R – Dist 67, Nephi)
Rep. Kenneth W. Sumsion (R – Dist 56, American Fork)
Sen. John L. Valentine (R – Dist 14, Orem)

Check the League of Women Voters website for daily Utah Legislature updates or listen to KPCW and KCPW each morning for updates. Listen to the above update.

UPDATE Tuesday, February 5th

Senator Carlene Walker says:

“We take testimony from each department one day and take a PRELIMINARY vote at the next committee meeting. Because the request had changed drastically since we had met with DEQ last summer we approved the previous amount and asked for further backup as to why they needed more money. We had not been told about the federal cuts. We have now met with the head of DEQ â€Â| and they will be speaking to the whole committee to see if they can justify the large increase in request. The final votes should be taken toward the end of the week. I hope that helps in explaining the process.”