Utah Legislature bans double duty in local elected office. The governor has final say.

Politicians traditionally vacate their prior seat after being elected to higher office, but a bill that received final passage in the Utah House on Wednesday would require someone to choose between a municipal or county position if elected to simultaneous roles.

SB50 passed unanimously with no debate and now heads to the governor for his signature.

Sen. Evan Vickers, the bill’s sponsor, filed the proposal after a councilman in his hometown of Cedar City who had promised to resign his seat if he won election to the Iron County Commission made the surprising and apparently unprecedented announcement late last year that he planned to hold both seats.

During the bill’s House committee hearing on Tuesday, Cedar City Councilman and Iron County Commissioner Paul Cozzens said an “overwhelming” number of his constituents urged him to retain his municipal seat after winning county office in November.

He described himself as a “strong fiscal conservative” and said he decided to keep his seat because he’d worried about the balance of the Cedar City Council if his position was left vacant or allowed to be filled by an appointed replacement.

“It’s not like I’m running for this office again,” Cozzens told lawmakers. “I’m simply finishing the term that I was elected to serve.”

Vickers, R-Cedar City, said Tuesday that he recognized the “optics” of the bill appeared to be targeted at Cozzens, whose decision to hold two seats is believed to be unprecedented in modern memory. But he said work on the bill began last summer — before Cozzens chose to finish out his term on the City Council — and that it is intended to address potential conflicts of interest rather than react to the experience of one Utah politician.

He has also noted that while his bill is narrowly focused, the conversation around it could expand in the future to look at whether a legislator should be able to hold two elected offices, for example, or whether someone on a school board or special service district should be able to.

The bill would require a county clerk to notify candidates of the prohibition against serving in both a municipal and county seat at the same time when they file to run for the office.



from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/2T4iXWB

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

U.S. nuns demand action to end ‘culture of silence’ on abuse

Vatican City • The largest U.S. association of Roman Catholic nuns urged its members Monday to report any sexual abuse of religious sisters by clergy and demanded that church authorities “take action to end a culture of silence, hold abusers accountable and provide support to those abused.” The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents about 80 percent of Catholic sisters in the U.S., issued a statement Monday in response to an Associated Press report about several sisters coming forward recently to denounce assaults by priests and bishops. The LCWR said it didn’t have data on incidents in the U.S. but thanked the sisters for speaking out. “We understand that reporting abuse requires courage and fortitude. However, bringing this horrific practice to light may be the only way that sexual abuse by those in positions of trust in the church community will be put to an end,” the association’s statement said. The conference has about 1,300 members in 300 orders. LCWR s...
Read more

Latter-day Saint women can ‘remove prejudice’ and improve the world, Eubank says

Image
Highlights from Saturday evening’s women’s session of the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: 6:30 p.m.: Jesus heals our brokenness, says Primary leader (Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Cristina B. Franco, second counselor in the general presidency of the children’s Primary, speaks during the women's meeting Oct. 3, 2020. Cristina B. Franco, second counselor in the general presidency of the children’s Primary, discussed the healing power of Jesus Christ. She told about getting a new piano that fell off a hand truck during delivery and was damaged. The manager offered to give Franco and her husband, Rudy, a new piano, but Rudy would not hear of it. He wanted the broken one back. “Sisters and brothers, aren’t we all like this piano, a little broken, cracked and damaged, feeling like we will never be the same again?” Franco asked. But Jesus Christ can “heal brokenness,” when people have faith, repent and seek...
Read more