Parley's vision for Utah
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Parley is seeking re-election to provide a secure future for Utah's children--and their families. As a state senator, he has a vision for Utah that is comprehensive. That vision involves twelve vital areas of concern:
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1. EDUCATION
Focus on restoring choice, personal responsibility, and sensible curriculum to Utah education.
 ducation has always been fundamentally a family affair. Parents have the God-given right to choose the kind of education their children receive--from among public, private, and home-based alternatives--and they also have a responsibility to lead out in teaching their children. Children themselves are responsible for their own learning, from among the opportunities they encounter at home, at school, at church, in the community. With that common-sense foundation, families should assume the primary role in the education of their children, and not rely on government to bear the primary burden, no matter where a child attends school.
 he single most important need in Utah education is for parents and children to accept their God-given obligations to educate themselves and share that learning.
hat said, Utah's schools need to focus on teaching sensible truths, attitudes, and skills that will help
our children become intelligent, responsible citizens. Every Utah child deserves an education that is useful to his future, not just quickly obsolescent--or worse yet, damaging to his character or future growth. The most important academic skill is literacy, and the most important knowledge is knowing how to learn for a lifetime. Our schools need to get back to basics--while teaching the latest technology. Above all, every Utah public school should effectively teach the true heritage and history of our country.
Plan:
- Work to ensure that school attendance requirements adequately protect the right of parents to oversee their children's education in any reasonable and lawful way that parents choose.
- Foster sensible competition both within the public schools and between the public schools and the private sector, through encouraging charter schools, tuition tax credit programs, broad-based school choice options, and other innovations.
- Encourage adoption of a state curriculum law emphasizing thorough study of the Declaration of Independence throughout elementary and middle school, and intensive study of the Constitution in high school.
- Seek to require all school history and civics texts to accurately teach the conditions and facts of America's founding, with no "revisionism" that takes God, free enterprise, or self-sacrificing individualism out of the equation.
- Undertake to ensure that meaningful reading and writing are the core of every area of study, even in technical and artistic courses, and that students are challenged to become increasingly literate in all their learning.
- Support the creation of a challengeable diploma program that encourages bright students to complete high school whenever they are ready--and that provides a positive benchmark for basic competency in core skills for all interested students and their parents.
- Emphasize innovating with distance learning, computer technology, flexible tutorials, resource-based individualization, and other inexpensive, student-minded models that help students learn at their own pace and that teach them to take responsibility for their own education.
"The philosophy of the school room in
one generation will be the philosophy
of government in the next."
--Abraham Lincoln
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Advocate policies that foster strong, independent families, and seek to rein in any state agencies that overzealously intrude on family rights and prerogatives.
he primary care-giver of children, by divine duty, is parents, not the state--and the child is not simply a "creature of the state," as some appear to feel. Families need to be insulated from government policies that interfere with the happiness, growth, and security of families, while the state undertakes reasonable measures to protect families from harmful influences.
 o state agency should be guilty--as occasionally occurs--of disrupting the rightful prerogatives of law-abiding parents in the rearing of their children. Nor should any state agency engage in activities that can be shown to overburden families or undermine traditional family values.
 t the same time, state government needs to aggressively protect families from illegal, dangerous, or intrusive threats from all sources.
Plan:
- Sponsor legislation that protects families from government interference with reasonable and lawful parental authority in all basic child-rearing issues, including discipline, home environment, sex education, health choices, parental consent for abortion, etc.
- Work to change laws that currently permit children to be removed from their homes without reasonable due process.
- Insist that all areas of state government be intentionally "family-friendly"--officially recognizing the importance of the traditional family unit.
- Undertake to alleviate taxes and other government-imposed burdens that can be shown to be detrimental to the strength and stability of families.
- Support measures that would strengthen the state's abortion laws and protect the life of the unborn.
- Promote measures to decrease crime, divorce, drug dependency, pornography, destructive entertainment, etc.
- Encourage religion-based morality in all areas of public and private life.
- Aggressively seek to strengthen state and local public safety agencies, in the face of the growing threat of terrorism.
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Work to remove government barriers to the free exercise of individual rights protected by the U.S. and Utah Constitutions.
he Declaration of Independence establishes the truth that our basic rights come from God, not from government. We need no "permission" from government to exercise these rights. Government's role is to ensure that our rights are protected, through reasonable regulation, in the interest of ensuring that everyone has equal opportunity to exercise their rights.
We've strayed far from this philosophy, the very philosophy upon which our nation was founded. We need to take corrective action at every level to remove unnecessary obstacles and free up the citizenry to succeed in their rightful pursuits--not just for the good of today's citizens, but tomorrow's: our children.
Plan:
- As an expression of the solemn oath to "uphold the Constitutions of the State of Utah and the United States," seek to bring Utah government into line with the legal documents from which state government draws its authority--the state and federal Constitutions.
- Encourage a thorough audit of every state law, state agency, and state administrative policy in search of anything that exceeds its constitutional authority--with an eye to systematically and aggressively eliminating those provisions that could reasonably be deemed unconstitutional, no matter whether such provisions have ever been challenged in court.
- In other words, be proactive in repairing state government, rather than wait for lawyers or litigation to make piecemeal improvements.
- Give special attention to guaranteeing (1) the right to keep and bear arms; (2) the right to life; (3) private property rights; (4) freedom of religious expression; (5) parental choice in education; (6) consumer choice in health care; (7) equal protection under the law; (8) equal opportunity in the workplace; and (9) competitive free enterprise in the marketplace.
- Insist that all new state initiatives and policies be based on the principles of our "founding documents," especially the most important founding document of all--the Declaration of Independence, which defines the ideals upon which our state and federal Constitutions are grounded.
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Seek to remove all unjustifiable state taxes, for the sake of our children.
 f children are not the creatures of the state, then the state has no business taxing families exorbitantly to fund ill-conceived programs, mandates, and entitlements that pretend to help our children through government
solutions; that impose heavy burdens on struggling families in a state that already has the 9th highest tax burden in the nation; or that create a legacy of overbearing taxation that our children will inherit from us because of our unwise dependency on government. We not only must hold the line on any proposed tax increases--no matter the pretext or temptation for raising them--but we must, in fact, substantially reduce the tax burden that our children will assume when they become adults.
Plan:
- Pursue an audit of all current tax measures on the books at the state level and determine which taxes are unnecessary.
- Encourage a similar audit of all areas of state government and assess not just which functions could be more "efficient," but which functions could be eliminated altogether.
- Try to phase out, over time, any taxes or functions that could reasonably be discontinued--primarily through attrition--taking care not to disrupt the normal operation of state government.
- At the same time, seek to stimulate private-sector jobs for government employees through privatizing as many government functions as reasonably possible. Of course, dramatic--not merely token--tax reductions will naturally, of themselves, stimulate the state's economy and open up a wide variety of new businesses, professional opportunities, and private-sector jobs throughout the economy, benefiting all members of the workforce, public or private.
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5. ECONOMY
Undertake to ease government out of the business of competing with the private sector--in other words, eliminate socialism at every opportunity--and also seek to eliminate all state regulations that unreasonably hinder free enterprise.
healthy economy is as much a product of what the government doesn't do as what it does. The notion that government can directly take the economy to greater growth and stability is called "centralized planning," an idea
that was soundly discredited by the collapse of the former Soviet Union. But government can create conditions that indirectly foster a healthy economy--through eliminating any disincentives that interfere with the development of a free market.
he Constitution directs government to provide for the general welfare of the United States. The best way for government to do that, according to the time-tested principles implied by the Declaration of Independence, is to nurture competitive free enterprise in a market economy that allows maximum private initiative and personal choice--in other words, revive the American Dream. Every unnecessary law passed by the Legislature, of any kind, becomes just one more impediment to personal success and, in turn, financial growth. As our children enter the world of work, they need better opportunities than now exist, if our economy is to sustain itself.
Plan:
- Focus on turning back to the private sector anything government does that competes unfairly or improperly with private initiative. This will give the economy more of a boost than the biggest tax cut ever devised.
- At the same time, encourage a no-holds-barred inventory of state statutes in search of provisions that predictably discourage free enterprise, and then seek their removal or modification.
- In addition, push for positive incentives--such as tax breaks, favorable publicity, or similar no-cost measures--that reward entrepreneurs, inventors, speculators, high-tech manufacturers, businessmen, and corporations for investing in vital elements of the state's economy and job market.
- Just as important, use the bully pulpit of public office to encourage thrift, personal savings, sound investments, wise retirement accounts, sensible use of credit, and a "Golden Rule" policy that will inspire productivity and boost morale in the workplace.
- Above all, work to put an end to the notion that we can continue to meet Utah's unique growth needs by raising taxes. Such a costly approach has already weakened Utah's economy, placing unnecessary burdens on those who can least afford the hardship. That includes the children of needy families who suffer the most anytime the economy declines. We need creative, free-market solutions to Utah growth--not only in education, but in all areas of the economy.
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6. GROWTH
Help prepare the state to handle ever-increasing growth--and with it the challenge of creating extensive new infrastructure and widespread new housing--without diminishing the quality of life for existing residents of Utah.
wo-thirds of the current high growth rate in Utah is our own children. They will need homes. They will need transportation. They will need goods and services (increasingly from the private--not public--sector, if we plan well). We can let this growth take its own willy-nilly course--through a maze of obsolete, counterproductive, and oppressive zoning traditions--or we can attempt to guide growth in positive ways, using state-of-the-art flexible planning principles.
In ways that fully respect the right of property and the demands of a free market, we need to carefully nudge new development in directions that will absorb large numbers of additional residents without shifting the burden for growth to longtime residents and taxpayers. That will require updating state land-use policies--to encourage a free-market approach to good planning in the development of property.
Plan:
- Try to ensure that all measures undertaken to guide positive growth are consistently premised on the sanctity of private property rights.
- Protect property rights by aggressively seeking to ensure that no property is "taken or damaged for public use"--by any governmental action, including regulation--without "just compensation" as required by our federal and state Constitutions.
- Focus on the importance of free-market incentives, rather than heavy-handed central planning, to guide growth and land development in ways that take into account the best interests of society. In other words, encourage "density bonuses" and other financial incentives that reward developers who are willing to incorporate good design and efficient planning into their developments.
- Work to overhaul obsolete provisions in the state development code that tend to encourage poorly-designed "sprawl" and replace them with state-of-the-art development principles such as "mixed uses," "performance standards" (instead of arbitrary requirements), "clustering," "conservation easements," "walkable communities," and similar options that offer a win-win approach to both developers and the public, and which vastly improve the livability and economic stability of new residential areas.
- Push for reinstating Utah's original pioneer development plan--which took the burden off existing communities by emphasizing the creation of new independent "seed communities" in outlying areas--and thereby naturally preserve open space and livability, instead of promote increasingly dense sprawl. Let's give our children pleasant new communities, rather than force them to fight over postage-stamp-size lots in already-crowded cities. To encourage such visionary development, state agencies need to work with local governments and developers in devising workable plans that apply proven rural planning models.
- Protect open space by seeking to include it in large-scale new development. Rather than attempt to prevent development of green areas through unfair moratoriums and wholesale "regulatory takings" of property rights--misguided tactics that only delay inevitable development--it is better to preserve open space by encouraging its voluntary inclusion in planned clusters and communities. The greater the proportion of open space in a planned development, of course, the greater the financial benefit that should be made available to developers as an incentive.
- Seek to implement policies that require new development to "pay its own way," so that existing residents are not required to subsidize growth through increased taxes or user fees. New residents, not long-time ones, should pay for new streets, sewers, water lines, and other infrastructure needed for new housing.
- With the cooperation of the State Growth Commission, work to ensure that local municipal councils and citizen planning boards are educated in the above modern planning methods and that they receive guidance in creating general plans that effectively implement them.
- Encourage Utah's counties to adopt the above approach to handling growth outside cities, rather than rely on arbitrary, traditional large-acreage requirements that unlawfully deprive landowners of the normal right of property.
- Advocate fully utilizing the state's property rights ombudsman to protect private citizens from unfair or arbitrary usurpation of their property rights by state or local government.
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7. AGRICULTURE
Assist in preserving Utah's family farms through taking steps to stimulate, stabilize, and protect the state's agricultural economy.
 trong family-based agriculture does more than produce food for the state, income for family farmers, and attractive open spaces for tourism. It also produces strong, independent, hard-working families whose influence and
heritage are felt far beyond their own rural communities. We must preserve the family farm for future generations.
 ecause of the difficulty of succeeding at farming--whether farmers are full-time or part-time--the state needs to review its agricultural policies and determine where regulations could be lessened and
burdens lighted for the benefit of both small and major farmers.
Plan:
- Encourage state policies that better protect farmers' property rights in the face of growth. Farmers should not be forced to bear the burden of zoning restrictions that attempt to prevent growth by inhibiting farmers' options with their land. Violations of this principle should require "just compensation," as provided by the state and federal Constitutions.
- Work to ensure that farmers are allowed--even encouraged--to develop less productive areas of their farms into well-planned clustered housing developments of any reasonable size, to give them substantial capital for equipment, to pay off debts, and to permit them to continue farming despite its challenging nature. Development options like "density bonuses" should be available to farmers to encourage land use that is "win / win" for farmers and for new housing.
- Initiate legislation to outlaw arbitrary "cookie cutter" zoning that prohibits the above kinds of creative mixed uses of agricultural land--or that restricts farmers' right to reasonably apply free-market principles to the use of their property.
- Encourage widespread filing of Agricultural Protection Areas throughout the state to insulate farmers from nuisance suits brought against them by new urban neighbors. Make it easier for existing farmers--large or small--to file such protection areas.
- Encourage the creation of "conservation easements" to preserve agriculture--but only on a "willing seller / willing buyer" basis, without pressure or interference from government.
- Seek to give farmers positive incentives to keep their land in agriculture, through offering additional tax breaks, waiving permit fees, and adopting other reasonable measures that do not amount to direct subsidies.
- Try to make it easier for new generations of farmers to get into agriculture, through offering further positive, free-market incentives.
- Encourage the State Engineer, irrigation companies, reservoir management, the C.U.P., and other water agencies to work together to effectively supply Utah agriculture the water it needs--especially in outlying areas. Improving water supplies is essential to creating viable new agricultural land.
- In all other needful ways, focus on proven principles of free enterprise, rather than restrictive land-use regulations, to preserve, protect, and stimulate the state's agriculture.
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8. WATER
Pursue development of a state water policy that encourages wise use of Utah's limited water resources, with an eye to future generations.
o one really knows how much water lies beneath our soil in the aquifers, or what the precipitation patterns will be in the years ahead
as our population continues to rise dramatically. But one thing is certain: we must learn to conserve water if we are to handle projected growth, most of which will come from our own children. Some estimates say that our state wastes as much as ten times the water of other Western States. We don't need to imitate cities like Phoenix, of course, but we do live in a desert, and our water is a precious commodity that we ought to use more carefully.
t the same time, we need to aggressively develop reliable new water sources, storage facilities, and delivery systems. We need to make arid areas of the state capable of supporting successful new agriculture and independent new communities.
Plan:
- Encourage the state to assess the water policies of all communities, counties, and agencies in the state and develop guidelines for water use that offer non-punitive incentives for effective water conservation by these entities, especially in public parks, public facilities, government offices, etc.
- Seek to persuade communities to devise voluntary water conservation programs that offer residents tax breaks or other incentives for demonstrating significant reductions in water consumption. This can include high-tech plumbing devices and fixtures, innovative landscaping, effective water reclamation methods, etc.
- Advocate requiring new housing to utilize water conserving products.
- Favor a statewide campaign encouraging citizens to plant hardy, water-conserving trees, shrubs, and vegetation around their homes and throughout their yards, not only to reduce water consumption, but to save water due to the additional shade. The long-term effects will benefit all future inhabitants of the state.
- Support the State Division of Water Resources' policy of encouraging the transfer of pre-existing, but currently unused, water rights to productive use before the general granting of new water rights.
- At the same time, seek to protect existing legitimate water rights from encroachment as development occurs in high-growth areas, especially near agriculture.
- Encourage farmers to voluntarily conserve irrigation water, especially from wells, to minimize waste. Suggest that tax breaks be offered farmers who invest in efficient, state-of-the-art irrigation systems.
- Encourage livestock ranchers to employ wise grazing methods that stimulate water retention by improving grasslands.
- Push for a statewide examination of all existing well-heads--public and private--and seek to ensure that all entrances to the aquifers are properly sealed using up-to-date methods.
- Promote policies that utilize special service districts to effectively monitor water use, well installations, well maintenance, and general conservation measures in every area of the state.
- Seek to institute plans for environmentally-sensitive new reservoirs, dams, and other water reclamation projects in targeted regions of the state, to take full advantage of Utah's seasonal snow pack in meeting future needs of housing and agriculture in arid regions.
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Seek to facilitate future transportation needs through emphasizing careful planning, state-of-the-art design and maintenance, and wise use of public funds.
o accommodate future growth, Utah needs a comprehensive transportation plan that better meets current transportation needs and also encourages the "colonization" of outlying areas of the state--complete with new agriculture, new communities, and new industry. This requires upgrading substandard roadways and creating new ones where needed. The Legacy Highway is a prime example of the kind of road construction needed to handle future generations. Without such new or improved roads, much-needed development cannot occur in outlying areas--and the result is ever-increasing congestion on the roadways of existing cities and resultant loss of work-force productivity, along with diminished quality of life.
Plan:
- If necessary, seek to modify the state's long-range transportation plan to ensure that growth needs in outlying areas of the state are adequately considered.
- Insist on a uniformly-fair state policy of "just compensation" in the exercise of eminent domain in acquiring rights-of-way for any new or expanded roads.
- Seek to ensure that properties or existing businesses that are temporarily damaged by construction projects are properly compensated--through tax breaks, market-based incentives, or (in serious cases) direct payment for damages.
- Where practical, insist that property for new roads is acquired through no-net-loss land swaps, rather than through eminent domain.
- Explore the feasibility of tolls or similar user fees for at least temporarily funding the initial cost of new roads that cannot be justified from public monies.
- As much as possible, try to involve local jurisdictions and landowners in the planning phase of new road construction, to create cost-effective and damage-mitigating plans and designs.
- Demand that all road construction be environmentally-sensitive, within reasonable guidelines.
- In urban areas, seek to coordinate with cities to make use of the latest designs and technology for improving traffic flow.
- Beyond main corridor roads and highways, try to ensure that the cost of minor road construction is borne by developers and new homeowners, rather than taxpayers generally, in coordination with local jurisdictions.
- Assist high-growth regions like St. George and Utah County in developing and implementing plans for adequate regional airports.
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Approach all environmental issues with reason and balance, with highest priority for what is ultimately best for our children.
 tah needs a wise environmental policy--one that allows, even encourages growth and free enterprise, yet responsibly considers the environmental impact of new development, industry, public works, infrastructure, etc., on the long-range future of the state. The key is balance. Any extreme position on either side of environmental issues will fail to provide for the real needs of current and future residents.
o achieve reasonable balance, we must rely on free-market incentives that produce winners on all sides of controversial environmental disputes. All of us are both "preservationists" and "developers" who want to see the beauty of our state preserved, while at the same time energy and resources are put to good use.
Plan:
- Take the lead in planning carefully for the environment, on a basis that is friendly to property rights and free enterprise, to avoid unnecessary conflicts as public and private projects are carried forward.
- Meet periodically with environmentalists, industries, and consumers to discuss the advantages of property rights in defense of their own interests, and hammer out acceptable policies that incorporate free-market solutions to environmental management.
- Pursue legislation that would prevent state environmental policy from unfairly or improperly encroaching on the right of property--and ensure that any significant loss of property right due to environmental restrictions is justly compensated. In principle, if society insists on strict environmental regulations, it should be prepared to pay for them, as required by the Fifth Amendment.
- Help expedite the review process for state and local public projects, so that substantial time is not lost in resolving valid environmental concerns.
- Insist that all arguments and assertions in environmental controversies be supported by sound evidence. Emotional, romantic, speculative, or agenda-driven positions should be rejected in favor of verifiable facts and sensible balance.
- In seeking balance in environmental issues, take care to ensure that the needs of Utah's families always come first. Human beings are divinely-appointed stewards of the environment, not mere elements of it. We must pursue wholistic harmony with nature in a way that helps to ensure our children's free and prosperous future.
- Demand an acre-for-acre exchange rate in the purchase of private land by public entities for wetland mitigation--and implement similar policies in other environmental areas.
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Aggressively fight to protect the constitutional powers "reserved to the states and to the people" from encroachment by the federal government.
he issue of states' rights is vital to the future of our nation. The Founders delegated only a relatively short list of powers to the national government and reserved all others to the states and to the citizenry. (Note that such "reserving" of powers to the states and to the people is an acknowledgement of the natural rights possessed by each individual citizen. Such rights are inherent and God-given, not "bestowed" by government at any level--and the primary purpose of government is to protect and secure them.)
tah's elected leaders must effectively defend the state's powers under the Constitution and prevent the ever-expanding imposition of federal regulations, mandates, and interference that limit the state's authority to act in its own internal affairs.
Plan:
- Seek to improve alliances with other states--particularly those in the West--for the purpose of unitedly opposing unwarranted federal intrusion into state and local concerns.
- Use my influence to ensure that Utah's congressional delegation is united on matters that affect Utah and other states.
- Work tenaciously to reduce existing federal control of the state, especially in the use of federal lands, but also in environmental, economic, religious, educational, and transportation areas.
- Aggressively lobby Congress to rein in the federal courts under Article 3, Section 2, of the Constitution--to curtail judicial encroachment on the power of states guaranteed under the First and Tenth Amendments.
- Effectively educate the state's citizens--through the unique opportunities available to high-profile state officials--about the critical issues involved in states' rights, and enlist the public's help in lobbying for the interests of the state at every opportunity. Build patriotic pride, and public awareness, among Utahns.
- Look into reviving Utah's presidential primary and moving it to an earlier time during the election season, so the state will have more influence on national politics.
- Work with others to guide Utah to national leadership. Increasingly seek to expand the state's influence on our country's public policy and culture.
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12. PUBLIC LANDS
Work toward achieving sensible federal and state policies in the management of public lands within Utah.
early 65% of Utah is federal land. This handicaps the state in countless ways and makes the state a step-child of the federal bureaucracy, especially the Department of the Interior. It is essential that Utah seek to restore its original control over the lands within its borders--control that pre-dated Utah's entrance into the Union. In the least, the state needs solutions to the seemingly arbitrary exercise of power that the federal government wields over these vast regions.
esides the huge proportion of federal property in Utah, the state is also covered with a sizable array of state parks and wilderness areas. Like federally-controlled lands, these need to be managed in ways that protect longstanding industrial interests, as well as the state's growing population of sportsmen, fishermen, hunters, recreationists, and wildlife aficionados.
Plan:
- Work to ensure there is no net loss of privately owned or controlled property in Utah as a result of federal land policies.
- Band together with other state leaders to prevent future land grabs like the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument--in which the federal government usurped control of vast open space in violation of federal guidelines--and seek to return most of this important region to productive use.
- Aggressively protect multiple use of federal lands on behalf of the state's mining, livestock, timber, and related industries.
- Lobby for simplification and improvement of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements that hinder reasonable land-management practices.
- Insist that management policies of federal lands be based on verifiable data, not pressure from environmental interests, and demand compensation to current permit holders if their rights of access or use become diminished by changes in policy.
- Vigorously protect the interests of sportsmen, fishermen, hunters, and other responsible users of public lands, and work to ensure that Utah's open areas remain accessible to all who wish to enjoy them.
- Seek to apply all of the above policies, in principle, to the management of state-owned lands.
- Work to carefully maintain Utah's state-controlled open spaces, wilderness areas, wildlife habitats, and breeding practices to improve the quality and variety of animal life indigenous to Utah.
- Cooperate with other like-minded state leaders to persuade Congress to relinquish federal land and water to the states for management.
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Paid for by Parley Hellewell for State Senate
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