Utah Rep. Lisa Shepherd drew on her vast experience with the Circuit Breaker program to advocate for her constituents and all Utah County seniors. As a member of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, she wisely requested the bill be sent back to the interim committee for more study and revision. While her motion was defeated there, what she requested was exactly what ended up happening with the governor’s veto. Rep. Shepherd also spoke out passionately on the House floor while the bill was up for discussion in the last wee hours of the legislative session before the discussion was abruptly cut off and the bill hurriedly voted on without proper examination.

Another Utah County public servant was instrumental in bringing up details in the bill that illustrated the deficiencies while offering to work with the bill’s sponsor in attempts to fix it. Burt Harvey, division manager of tax administration in Auditor Rod Mann’s office, reviewed the bill before and after passage and found pitfalls, inconsistencies, and obstacles to participation that would really penalize Utah County citizens while creating profound administrative and costly headaches for county offices throughout the entire state trying to implement the program. His experience, professionalism and willingness to work toward a better solution was a real benefit to all Utahns, not just Utah County residents. We can only hope that should there be any discussions about future legislation in this area, Mr. Harvey is intricately involved.

Thank you for letting me tell Utah County residents about some fine work by their public servants.

Jerry Schmidt

Salt Lake City