senate sponsor, John Valentine

SR 1: Crushing Resistance in Monarch Niederhauser’s Senate
by statutator John Valentine, senate district 14, "Republican".

Summary: This farcical “procedural reform” expands Niederhauser's domination of the entire process, by de facto eliminating one of the only mechanisms for senate statutators to act independently.

Status: This bill unanimoulsy passed Monarch Niederhauser's hand-picked senate rules committee (8-0-0), and unanimously passed its final senate floor vote (26-0-3).  UT Gun Rights opposes this resolution.  See its status page.  To contact your statutators, click here.

"REFRESH" this page ("F-5" on most browsers) to see latest version.  Last updated: 1/29/14 at 5:00 PM.

The Devilish Details

Niederhauser's lackey (putting it mildly), John Valentine, who chairs Niederhauser's all powerful senate rules committee, wants to require senate standing committee approval before any bill or resolution could be enacted by the senate body.

From lines 24-30 of SR 1 (deleted language has strikethrough and new proposed language is underlined and italicized):

(1) The Senate may not pass a bill, joint resolution, or concurrent resolution during the annual general session [that has not been reviewed by] unless:
(a) a Senate standing committee[;] has reviewed the legislation; and
[(b) the Senate Rules Committee; or]
[(c) the Legislative Management Committee.]
(b) the Senate standing committee has given a favorable recommendation to the legislation.

The insidious effect of this initially apparent benign change is to prevent the entire senate body from overriding the will of its monarch.  Presently, a bill that has been tabled by one of the monarch's committees may be brought to the senate floor nonetheless with a two-thirds vote of senators present.

The change proposed by chief minion Valentine effectively repeals that capability.  Cynically, SR 1 explicitly removes the Rules Committee from authority, even though the Rules Committee is one of the listed standing committees and would be unaffected by Valentine's rules amendment.

SR 1 is another farcical "procedural reform".  It expands Niederhauser's domination of the entire process, by de facto eliminating one of the only mechanisms for senate statutators to act independently.  SR 1 further reinforces that your statutators must know their place, line up like good little serfs, and kiss the ring of Niederhauser's hand-picked committee cronies if they ever hope to pass a bill.

Note 1: Valentine might argue that he's surrendering power because his rules committee is no longer listed.  But, according to SR3-2-201, Valentine's senate rules committee is already a standing committee and would see no reduction of its existing power to brutally control the flow or demise of all bills through the senate.

Note 2: SR 1 also continues to exempt fundamentally important appropriations bills lorded over by Niederhauser's executive appropriations committee (lines 35-43), which is where billions of dollars are shuffled around.  This is where the real power is exercised and the lobbyist domination of government is made clear.

Note 3: Also, according to SR1-1-101(2), Valentine's new rule could, at any time, be repealed or amended by a majority.  However, by proposing such a motion a senate statutator would be effectively challenging the entire political process and its associated mechanisms of "discipline", making the benefits of such a challenge unlikely to outweigh its risks.

Your house and senate statutators foolishly wish you to believe they have power and represent you.  In fact, they merely occupy seats, are offered free lunches, and receive an occasional pat on the head for empowering these monarchs to exercise their grossly disproportionate power to impose statutes that subvert your natural rights.

See the 2013 Utah Government Corruption Report covering last year's session, wherein this monarchial tyranny was further exposed.

Appropriate Action: Contact The Two People Who Own the Statutarium ("legislature")

As the 2013 Utah Government Corruption Report amply demonstrates, two monarchs abuse and dominate the house and senate and work together to destroy your rights: house speaker Rebecca Lockhart and senate president Wayne Niederhauser. Contrary to what you learned in civics class, your house and senate statutators merely serve their gun control agenda.

How can two people possibly exercise such control? As one example, the house speaker and senate president alone appoint and remove EVERY member of EVERY committee. Lockhart and Niederhauser are empowered to do this without any review or confirmation process.
Sources: “The general duties of the Speaker are to:... appoint the members of committees…” (House Rules 1-3-102. Duties of the speaker) and “The general duties of the president are to:… appoint the members of committees…” (SR1-3-102. Duties of the president)

Consider the vast implications of this incredible power! No bill may be voted on in the house or senate without going through a committee. As a result, bills live or die almost entirely upon the calculated orders of these two monarchs.

Their powers are so extreme, no provision exists in the house or senate rules to fire the monarchs before their two-year terms are over. They lord over each body, trade favors, and sell your rights; all while pretending that decisions are made by the will of the majority instead of their monarchial authority.

The political buck stops with Lockhart and Niederhauser for failing to advance positive gun owner bills, and for every gun control bill enacted. Until more statutators are motivated to oppose the iron fists of the monarchs’ near absolute power, your rights will continue to be undermined.

For House Monarchess Rebecca Lockhart's contact information (and the rest of the house statutators), click here.  For Senate Monarch Wayne Niederhauser's contact information (and the rest of the senate statutators), click here. 

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