This originally appeared as an op-ed in the Post Register.
The 2024 legislative session might be inching closer to an end, but the bad bills just keep on coming. Unfortunately, some of these bills—many of which are simply bad policies for made-up “problems”—are very similar to what we saw earlier in the session.
After an outcry against earlier library bills, another, HB710, was introduced and has passed the House. As of this writing, it’s sitting in an amending order after being reported out of a Senate committee. Many of our legislators would rather try to find new and creative ways to penalize libraries and librarians than tackle affordable housing (RIP renter protections, BTW, see
HB545). This is a stark reminder that we must practice constant vigilance when it comes to our so-called “representatives.”
After citizens, who according to the annual Public Policy Survey overwhelming trust librarians to choose books, beat back previous attempts, legislators introduced yet another library bill late in the session. And this time it’s making more progress.
Why?
Well, part of it has to do with the fact that we tend to breathe a sigh of relief after our victories early in the session. We let our guard down. But if there’s one thing we can count on during the legislative session, it’s that determined “representatives” will keep pushing, no matter how unpopular or useless or harmful their bills are. They just tweak it a bit, try to wrap it in a slightly less awful package and hope we’re not paying attention this time.
Unfortunately, they aren’t wrong. Legislative session fatigue is very real for many of us. We watch as each year they try to restrict our ability to easily vote (HB667–currently retained on General Orders), try to make the initiative process even harder (SB137aa—ask Governor Little to veto) and attempt to starve public education. We might have convinced them to hold off on the voucher grift for the moment, but
there’s still time in the session—and there’s always next year.
Why should these legislators—some of whom have taken federal dollars in the form of subsidies and PPP loan forgiveness for their businesses—support early childhood education with federal dollars? They’ve got more important things to do, like act as the gender police and fret about
grammar (didn’t they learn about pronouns in grade school?). They’re too busy worrying about DEI statements to consider whether the 2016 property tax exemption mess they created should be fixed.
After all, why should they be concerned that 70% of the property tax burden falls on individual homeowners while commercial interests only shoulder 30%? Who cares if seniors on fixed incomes are struggling because the exemption hasn’t been indexed to home prices for the last eight years? They’ve got to battle “wokeness” or whatever this week’s poorly-defined catch-all grievance word is.
It would be great if we could trust the majority of our legislators to get on with useful policy-making. But that’s not the current environment we’re in. We must pay attention.
Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial wellness expert, writer, speaker and podcaster. She is the chair of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.