Herbert vetoes bill getting rid of bipartisan appointments to state boards

Herbert vetoes bill getting rid of bipartisan appointments to state boards

(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News, File)


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SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Gary Herbert vetoed a bill that removed from state law a requirement that some Utah boards and commissions have bipartisan representation.

Herbert in his veto letter wrote that the final version of HB11 broke an agreement struck with sponsor Rep. Norm Thurston, R-Provo, and other interested parties that the Air Quality Board, the Water Quality Board, the Public Service Commission and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission would be excluded.

The Senate, however, amended the agreed upon legislation to include those entities before returning it the House, where it passed again, though by a smaller margin.

Herbert said some boards and commissions make decision that may be partisan and wants to make sure the public has confidence in those decisions. The bill would have ended the requirement that Democrats be appointed to 28 state boards and commissions.

"Whether or not the perception is accurate, I believe that public confidence in these select boards and commissions may be increased through symbolic partisan makeup," the Republican governor wrote.

Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, said he wasn't really aware of any deal with the governor's office.

"I don’t recall ever hearing from the governor on it or much from the House," he said.

Niederhauser said GOP senators wanted to take politics out of the appointments all together and didn't see a reason to exclude any of the boards or commissions. He said the Senate thought it was good policy to not even consider if a person is Republican or Democrat.

House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake, hailed the veto, saying Democrats fought hard against the bill during the legislative session. Republicans already have supermajorities in the House and Senate. He said the law was one more step toward more GOP control in the state.

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"That's just not something we need in Utah," King said on KSL Newsradio's “The Doug Wright Show.”

Decisions are better made when people weigh in with perspectives and attitudes from both sides and a compromise is reached, he said.

Thurston said he suggested the bill be placed on the agenda for special legislative session that the governor has said he intends to call to tweak at least one other bill.

"If this is just a quibble over which version passed, that seems like an obvious thing to put on a special session call," he said.

Thurston said the bill is about getting the best people appointed to state boards and commissions regardless of what party they belong to. He said he believes there is broad support for making those entities nonpartisan and taking partisanship out of the executive branch's daily work.

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