AARP Utah Lends Support to Two Statewide Initiatives

AARP Utah is supporting two citizen led initiatives that have recently been launched in Utah in the hopes of being placed on the ballot statewide in the 2010 election.

Fair Boundaries Initiative

Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing district lines to give political advantage to one party over another. Utah is considered one of the most gerrymandered states in the country, meaning that our state and federal legislative districts do not fairly represent natural geographic boundaries. Some towns are split in half, with the same community represented by two or more different legislators.

The Fair Boundaries Initiative, if passed, will create an independent commission to draw district lines for state and federal elections. The Initiative will also set anti-gerrymandering standards, keeping local communities intact, and creating an open process for drawing legislative districts. The Initiative is timed to coincide with the 2010 census when legislative districts will be reconsidered based on population changes.
 
To find out more about the Initiative and how you can lend support, visit FairBoundaries.org.

Utahns for Ethical Government Initiative

Utah is a state in need of improvement regarding ethical standards in our legislature, a situation recognized at the state and federal level. The Center for Public Integrity recently rated one aspect of legislative ethics (legislative financial disclosure) in a nationwide comparison, and Utah was graded “F” and ranked 47th in the country on this measure. This initiative will offer significant improvement in that area and many other areas of legislative ethics.

The initiative includes two basic sections:

• Establishing a non-partisan commission of non-legislators to provide oversight to legislative ethics.
• Identifying a code of conduct for legislators providing ethical standards for lobbying, campaign finances, and legislator behavior.

The intent of the initiative is to ensure that legislators apply high standards of ethical conduct to their behavior and represent the interests of the citizenry rather than catering to narrower special interests. UEG believes that it is time for citizens to help the legislature by creating a fair, non-partisan, and open process for reviewing complaints of ethical violations by legislators.

For more information about this effort please visit UtahEthics.org.

Both efforts are currently in the process of gathering signatures of voters around the state who support these initiatives so that they can be included on the 2010 ballot.

AARP Utah encourages members to get involved in these initiative efforts, both of which, will lead to better practices in the way our state is governed if enacted into law.