I was reading a Deseret News article this morning and sat down to try and do a little math. I figure SB96 will land on the table of the House Education Committee here before long. (Please correct me in the comments below if you find any of my thinking wrong here.)
The members of that committee are:
Rep. Margaret Dayton, Chair
Rep. LaVar Christensen, ViceChair
Rep. Ron Bigelow
Rep. Duane E. Bourdeaux
Rep. John Dougall
Rep. James A. Ferrin
Rep. James R. Gowans
Rep. David L. Hogue
Rep. Kory M. Holdaway
Rep. Gregory H. Hughes
Rep. Bradley T. Johnson
Rep. Carol Spackman Moss
Rep. Merlynn T. Newbold
Rep. LaWanna Lou Shurtliff
Rep. Stephen H. Urquhart
Of these 15 members, an 8 to 7 ratio is all that’s needed to either send the bill to the House floor or kill the bill in committee. I figure if all the Democrats vote against the bill, as they did in the Senate, and the article notes that both Urquhart and Holdaway of the Republicans are against the bill, then that’s already 6 votes against the bill. Only 2 more are needed to kill the bill in committee.
Now of course Ferrin is for the bill, and the article mentions that Hogue believes we need to have an “open mind”, which can be translated as he is for it to, who does that leave us?
I figure that amongst the following Representatives all it takes is two of them going against the bill to kill it in committee:
Rep. Margaret Dayton, Chair
Rep. LaVar Christensen, ViceChair
Rep. Ron Bigelow
Rep. John Dougall
Rep. Gregory H. Hughes
Rep. Bradley T. Johnson
Rep. Merlynn T. Newbold
Does anyone know where these folks stand on this bill?
1 comment:
I think you are right. The best chance to defeat the bill is in the house committee. The full House really wouldn't have time to analyze the bill (for that matter, they shouldn't waste time on such frivolities.) If it goes to the Full House, I would expect the politicians to do nothing more than sniff the wind. Decide it is an "us v. them" issue (the educated scientific view being the "them") then pass the bill.
BTW, the primary reason to be interested in such frivolous bills is that it gives us an idea of the way the political mind works.
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