Michael Orton

utahpoliticalcapitol.com — THEY SAID THAT!?!! Utah's 4th Congressional seat encounter between Mia Love (R) and Doug Owens (D) at the Utah Taxpayers Assn luncheon.

UtahPoliticalCapitol.com — Senate Majority Leader, Senator Ralph Okerlund (Republican - Monroe), was at the Utah Capitol with other lawmakers Wednesday during an interim session that was filled with committee hearings and discussions about what the legislature should take on next January. One of the hottest topics on Arsenal Hill is what is occurring between Washington, D.C. and the Beehive State's negotiations on the expansion of Medicaid, all through the federal Department of Health and Human Services and Utah's Department of Health. Because the expenditures for any such addition to the state's Healthy Utah program are above a nominal amount, Governor Gary Herbert must obtain approval from his state legislators before making a final health care program available to the 111,000 eligible Utahns.

utahpoliticalcapitol.com — Prior to his most recent trip to Washington, D.C., and then in further discussions with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, Utah's Governor Gary Herbert revealed a significant detail about his negotiations with expanding Medicaid in the Beehive State. For state legislators who must approve the final deal, it is a cultural and political distinction worth noting. Utah policy makers believe that universal health care amounts to being on the public dole. According to the governor, the "stumbling block" to Utah's obtaining the expanded federal funds for Medicaid is a "work requirement" and has alternatively been referred to as a "work effort" that Utah policymakers believe must be a prerequisite to obtaining Healthy Utah (via Medicaid care) coverage.

utahpoliticalcapitol.com — The work of many legislators, activists and involved citizens culminated in the Gold Room of the Utah State Capitol on Tuesday when Governor Gary Herbert signed several bills into law which deal with some of society's most sensitive subjects. From so-called "revenge porn" to childhood education of sexual abuse to human trafficking, Utah now has new legal responses to perpetrators of crimes involving the exploitation of others.

utahpoliticalcapitol.com — Recently, employees of the Salt Lake Tribune received an anonymous note indicating that the hedge fund which owned their paper had revised the existing joint operating agreement with the Tribune's reporting competitor, The Deseret News. Despite having years of greater circulation, the Tribune's owner, Alden Global Capital, is revising their business plans to reflect the new media marketplace and the 21st century economic realities many American newspapers face. Since the announcement of Alden's intentions a petition sprung up, asking signers to Save The Tribune.

medium.com — In December of 2014 and close to the end of her four-year tenure as Utah's Speaker of the House of Representatives, Becky Lockhart, age 46, was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and died within weeks. Her public memorial was organized in the state's capitol rotunda on January 22, 2014 when Utah's legislators and power brokers gathered to pay their respects at a very progressive service reflecting not only the faith that the Lockhart family shared with the state, but Utah's 21st-century diversity as well. An opening song performed by Salt Lake City's Calgary Baptist Choir under the direction of Brian Heselph was followed by an invocation offered by the Most Reverend John C.

utahpoliticalcapitol.com — As quite an athlete in his earlier years, Governor Gary Herbert still has the ability to pitch a fastball to brush back the House leadership and Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes over the issue of Healthy Utah - the Utah Department of Health's effort to recapture Medicaid monies from the federal government. Known as a way to cover some 60,000 plus Utahns who are now not able to qualify for Medicaid, the measure has been discussed for years and has come under scrutiny and debate in closed door meetings by the House majority where the Speaker has recently termed the plan a non-debatable "dead issue."

utahpoliticalcapitol.com — Since Utah has only 45 days to complete their legislative season, they're in the 7th inning of some political hardball now... SALT LAKE CITY -- "As quite an athlete in his earlier years, Governor Gary Herbert still has the ability to pitch a fastball to brush back the House leadership and Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes over the issue of Healthy Utah," - Medicaid expansion for a state where Obamacare is still trying to be repealed by their Washington delegation.