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Contact: Crystal Young-Otterstrom // [email protected] or 801.652.0737 (text ok)
For Immediate Release: July 26, 2017
2017 Cultural Report Card Shows Support for Arts and Humanities is Nonpartisan
SALT LAKE CITY— The Utah Cultural Advocacy Alliance (UCAA), the statewide advocate for arts and humanities in Utah, has been busy collecting data on state representatives and senators over the past few months. The data they’ve collected shows how much Utah’s state senators and representatives support Utah’s cultural community via legislative that is friendly to the arts and humanities. As a result, UCAA created their very own House and Senate Report Card. This report card assigns letter grades to Utah’s elected officials based on their legislative votes in the 2017 General Session on bills of positive import to the cultural community. Grades and percentages are here: www.utculture.org/scores17
Grading is based on two parts: 1) The elected official’s membership status in the Utah Cultural Caucus and 2) Whether or not elected officials voted yes on bills UCAA deemed to be beneficial to Utah’s arts, humanities and culture sectors. Extra credit opportunities were available so it was possible for elected officials to have received higher than an A. The grading system is as follows:
- Yes on Bills +3 Points
- No on Bills +0 Points
- Absent for Voting +1 Point
- Member of the Cultural Caucus +5 Points (+10 Points if they’re the Cultural Caucus Chair for their Party)
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Extra Credit Opportunities
- Member of an Appropriations Subcommittee +5 Points
- POPS/ISEE +5 Points
- Total: 26 Points
There were seven bills in the 2017 General Session that were supported by the UCAA. Each elected official that voted yes on these bills accrued points that went toward their final grade. Listed below is each bill and why UCAA endorsed them.
HB0211: STATE WORK OF ART
Chief Sponsor: Rebecca P. Edwards
Senate Sponsor: Peter C. Knudson
SB171: UTAH'S STATE WORKS OF ART DESIGNATION
Chief Sponsor: David P. Hinkins
House Sponsor: Christine F. Watkins
These bills designate the Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson as the Utah state work of land art and Native American Rock art as the state works of art. UCAA supports both of these bills because they add the first items of cultural import onto the Utah state symbols list. By including them it sends a message that Utah cares about their cultural heritage.
HB0188: LOCAL HISTORIC DISTRICT AMENDMENTS
Chief Sponsor: Brad R. Wilson
Senate Sponsor: J. Stuart Adams
UCAA supports this bill because it eases regulations from the year prior which originally made it harder to create historic districts in Utah.
HB0069: CAPITAL FACILITIES REVISIONS
Chief Sponsor: Rebecca P. Edwards
Senate Sponsor: Jerry W. Stevenson
UCAA supports this bills because it streamlines government by ending a procedure that the legislature wasn’t utilizing in the appropriations process.
HCR004: CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING 50 YEARS OF PUBLIC TELEVISION
Chief Sponsor: V. Lowry Snow
Senate Sponsor: Todd Weiler
The Utah Cultural Alliance supports public television, especially at a time like this when public broadcasting is under attack at a federal level. This resolution in the Utah Legislature is beneficial to our cultural community. Fun Fact: The inventor of the television, Philo T. Farnsworth, was born right here in Utah.
HCR002: CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE UNITED STATES AND UTAH'S PARTICIPATION IN WORLD WAR I
Chief Sponsor: Stephen G. Handy
Senate Sponsor: Jerry W. Stevenson
History matters and UCAA recognizes that. This bill and the money attached to it helps educate Utahns on their history.
SB137: STATE AUDITOR FISCAL AUDITING AND REPORTING AMENDMENTS
Chief Sponsor: Curtis S. Bramble
House Sponsor: Steve Eliason
UCAA supports this because it eases reporting regulations and requirements attached to nonprofits.
Data Summary
Mariah M. Mellus, the Development Director at the Utah Film Center and board chair of Utah Cultural Advocacy Alliance, had this to say about the data collected by UCAA, “After reviewing this data I'm reminded of how hard our legislators works to safe guard Utah's rich history of arts, culture and humanities. From the Founding Fathers to modern times Utah has prioritized the arts as a meaningful way to elevate one's quality of life. Across the board, you will see that supporting the arts and humanities is not a bipartisan issue. Of course, there are some areas for improvement but overall our legislators are supportive of the arts and we hope they will continue to be for future generations.”
It’s obvious from the data that elected officials on both sides of the aisle have done their part for Utah’s cultural sector by scoring 100% or more on their final grades. While others haven’t done quite as well, it’s apparent that the arts and humanities are not a partisan issue.
Each senator and representative are listed below under their letter grade along with their party designation. Click on the google doc at the bottom to see the grades broken down further for each elected official.
A+
HOUSE
Patrice M. Arent (D)
Stewart Barlow (R)
Joel K. Briscoe (D)
Walt Brooks (R)
Rebecca Chavez-Houck (D)
Scott H. Chew (R)
LaVar Christensen (R)
Brad M. Daw (R)
Rebecca P. Edwards (R)
Steve Eliason (R)
Adam Gardiner (R)
Francis D. Gibson (R)
Craig Hall (R)
Lynn N. Hemingway (D)
Sandra Hollins (D)
Brian S. King (D)
Karen Kwan (R)
Kelly B. Miles (R)
Carol Spackman Moss (D)
Merrill F. Nelson (R)
Lee B. Perry (R)
Jeremy A. Peterson (R)
Val L. Peterson (R)
Dixon M. Pitcher (R)
Marie H. Poulson (D)
Edward H. Redd (R)
Angela Romero (D)
Scott D. Sandall (R)
Robert M. Spendlove (R)
Christine Watkins (R)
R. Curt Webb (R)
Elizabeth Weight (D)
John R. Westwood (R)
Mark A. Wheatley (D)
Brad R. Wilson (R)
Mike Winder (R)
SENATE
J. Stuart Adams (R)
Jacob L. Anderegg (R)
Curtis S. Bramble (R)
D. Gregg Buxton (R)
Jim Dabakis (D)
Gene Davis (D)
Luz Escamilla (D)
Wayne A. Harper (R)
Deidre M. Henderson (R)
Lyle W. Hillyard (R)
Don L. Ipson (R)
Jani Iwamoto (D)
Karen Mayne (D)
Ann Millner (R)
Brian E. Shiozawa (R)
Jerry W. Stevenson (R)
Daniel Thatcher (R)
Evan J. Vickers (R)
Todd Weiler (R)
A
HOUSE
Marc K. Roberts (R)
A-
HOUSE
Stephen G. Handy (R)
Bradley G. Last (R)
Val K. Potter (R)
Douglas V. Sagers (R)
V. Lowry Snow (R)
Keven J. Stratton (R)
SENATE
Ralph Okerlund (R)
Howard A. Stephenson (R)
B+
HOUSE
Kay J. Christofferson (R)
Kim Coleman (R)
Bruce R. Cutler (R)
Gage Froerer (R)
Timothy D. Hawkers (R)
A. Cory Maloy (R)
Derrin Owens (R)
Susan Pulsipher (R)
Logan Wilde (R)
SENATE
David P. Hinkins (R)
B
HOUSE
Michael E. Noel (R)
SENATE
Lincoln Fillmore (R)
Daniel Hemmert (R)
Peter C. Knudson (R)
Kevin V. Van Tassell (R)
B-
HOUSE
Carl R. Albrecht (R)
James A Dunnigan (R)
Ken Ivory (R)
Dean Sanpei (R)
Raymond P. Ward (R)
C+
HOUSE
Eric K. Hutchings (R)
Jon E. Stanard (R)
Norman K. Thurston
C
HOUSE
Susan Duckworth (D)
Paul Ray (R)
Mike Schultz (R)
SENATE
Allen M. Christensen (R)
C-
D+
HOUSE
Brian M. Greene (R)
Keith Grover (R)
Michael S. Kennedy (R)
Mike K. McKell (R)
Jefferson Moss (R)
SENATE
Margaret Dayton (R)
D
HOUSE
Gregory H. Hughes (R)
D-
HOUSE
Karianne Lisonbee (R)
F
HOUSE
Justin L. Fawson (R)
John Knotwell (R)
Daniel McCay (R)
Tim Quinn (R)
About the Utah Cultural Advocacy Alliance
The Utah Cultural Advocacy Alliance (UCAA) is the 501c4 branch of the Utah Cultural Alliance, the statewide voice for the arts, humanities and cultural sector of Utah. They advocate for and speak on behalf of the entire cultural community to various government entities and elected officials with the hope to effect positive change. Their board and staff tracks, takes positions on and lobbies for and against bills that affect the cultural sector.
To schedule an interview or film shoot, as well as for more information, contact Crystal Young-Otterstrom at [email protected] or 801.652.0737.
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