Deseret News
By: Amy Joi O’Donoghue
Published: February 27, 2017
SALT LAKE CITY — Representatives from a trio of activist groups are calling on Gov. Gary Herbert to veto a pair of measures they say could have harsh consequences in Utah’s fight against air pollution.
One bill, HB11, proposes to eliminate the political diversity requirement on 28 state boards and commissions, including the Utah Air Quality Board.
“Some of the issues are inherently political,” Denni Cawley, executive director of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, said at a media event Monday. “If you look at health care and the environment especially, such as pollution, views are often from where you stand politically.”
HB11, sponsored by Rep. Norm Thurston, R-Provo, impacts about 28 boards and commissions of the 414 that exist statewide. Of those, Thurston said only 74 have political diversity requirements for appointed members, some which have been in state statute since the mid-1930s.
Thurston said that list was further whittled to 29 boards and commissions that don’t need a political diversity requirement.
… To read the full article, please click here…