Hello friends,

By 1895, a precedent had been set that states wanting to be admitted to the Union should hold a Constitutional Convention. When the Salt Lake Convention met in 1895, it was their eighth attempt to write a Constitution. This convention contained 107 delegates from 41 counties. There were over 30 committees created to discuss the familiar questions of private property, public provision for education, labor and employment rights, debt provisions, water and agricultural rights, and taxation. One of the Convention’s most controversial decisions was granting women the right to vote and hold office. The final Constitution proposed had broad support and helped Utah to become a state in1896. Although it now has 100 amendments, it still reflects the work and spirit of those original Framers (source: UVU Constitutional Studies).

When I started serving in the Legislature, I took the oath of office, saying, "I do solemnly swear that I will support, obey, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Utah, and that I will discharge the duties of my office with fidelity."

Every day during the Legislative Session, as we continue to address the same issues our state founders did, it has been an honor to strive with all my strength to fulfill my oath and carry on the legacy of our great Framers. It is a privilege to serve and work with you.

As the 2025 Legislative Session comes to an end, I’m grateful for the hundreds and hundreds of residents of our House District 63 who came to the Capitol to personally visit with me. I’ve loved being with you in person and listening to what is on your mind. The word TEAM stands for ‘Together Everyone Achieves More.’ I’m grateful for our House District TEAM and for your involvement. As we continue to work together, we can and will achieve more to help our area and state remain the best place to live, work, learn, and play.

You are invited to my post-legislative session community information meeting where I will provide a review of the session and be accountable to you. I’m looking forward to being with you.

With your input and seeing Utah’s present and future needs, the Legislature and I have focused on a comprehensive strategy to ensure our state continues to be the best place to live, work, learn and play.

You may be wondering or asking, what did you do in this legislative session? What are the big issues that were addressed? What have you done to help our state?

Here are a few of my favorite things we’ve accomplished using fiscal prudence, conservative, common sense solutions and long-term planning.

1. We’ve once again created a balanced budget with bipartisan support.
2. We’ve worked to make life more affordable by cutting taxes for the sixth straight year in a row.
3. We increased funding for public education by 5.9%. This additional $580+ million is focused on helping students succeed in the classroom.
4. We’ve aligned policies to support marriage and family stability and to cultivate a culture that encourages and makes it easier to raise children.
5. We’ve also doubled down on protecting our kids’ mental health, privacy, and safety with regards to social media, addictive technology and AI.
6. We’ve challenged all levels of government to take a hard look at their budgets and have cut areas that are not benefiting Utahns.
7. We’ve invested in statewide transportation projects to keep Utahns moving forward.
8. We’ve also strengthened transparency and improved accountability across government, including judicial transparency to increase access to court records so Utahns can hold their judges accountable.
9. We’ve prioritized public safety and planning for the future, ensuring we have adequate criminal justice resources, including prison capacity to hold dangerous criminals.
10. We’ve expanded water conservation measures to protect the Great Salt Lake and have invested in infrastructure, and storage and maintaining the systems that keep water running in our taps for generations to come.

The number one priority of the legislature is the state’s budget. Because of the foresight of our state’s founding fathers, our state constitution requires us to have a balanced budget, from which all Utahns benefit.

This year’s budget was difficult to determine due to limited funds. As a result, many of the requested items could not be funded. As part of the budgeting process, we cut expenditures that were not performing ($275 million) and reallocated some of these funds ($123 million) to other needs. Using fiscally conservative principles and approaches, we have passed a budget that is balanced, fiscally prudent, with long-term thinking.

Utah has been awarded and recognized throughout the country as the best managed state in the nation. This is in vast contrast to our federal government and surrounding states. For example, Arizona is facing a nearly $1.7 billion deficit in their budget. California’s budget deficit is $3 billion. Through careful analysis, disciplined decisions, and thinking to the future, Utah has a $0 budget deficit. You can learn more about the budget (including seeing every tax dollar the state receives and how every tax dollar is spent) here.

Transparency and accountability are at the core of our budgeting process. To see exactly how your tax dollars are being spent, visit our Taxpayer Receipt Tool here. Together, we’re building a better Utah.

Everyone I talk with wants a tax cut. Me too. My desire would be to cut all forms of taxes. The million-dollar question is what tax should be cut. This question has again been debated, and the consensus is that the tax cut that would be most beneficial in both the short and long term, given current economic conditions, is a combination of tax cuts.

Over the last five years, the Legislature has cut taxes by more than $1.4 billion. THIS YEAR we’re continuing to build on the previous years’ savings by:

• Cutting the income tax rate, saving Utahns $101 million.
• Cutting the gas tax rate from .38 to .32, saving Utahns $12 million.
• Expanding tax credits for families with young children, saving Utahns $7.1 million.
• Expanding tax credits for businesses that provider employer-owned child care options, saving $2.9 million.

These incremental, consistent tax cuts build upon each other and, over time, add up to significant savings for Utahns, especially for those living on a budget.

As your representative, my top priority is ensuring that Utah remains the best place in the nation to raise a family. I know that many of you are feeling the pinch of rising costs, and that’s why I’ve fought for a family-first agenda this session that puts more of your hard-earned money back in your pockets. By lowering our state income tax to 4.45%, expanding the Child Tax Credit, and slashing the gas tax by 15%, we’re helping families keep more of what they earn. I’m also proud to support measures that hold big tech and tobacco companies accountable, reinvesting that revenue directly into our communities. We’ve secured $4 million for youth mental health and increased funding for literacy and local parks, ensuring our kids have safe, healthy spaces to grow. Whether it’s easing the burden of daily expenses or safeguarding our children online, I am proud of the common-sense policies we passed that strengthen your home and our community.

I’m excited to announce that the new MyUtah portal is now available at myutah.gov. Utah has consistently ranked among the top of all states for the digital delivery of government services, and this new citizen portal is an investment in the future of government services. MyUtah provides access to many services provided by various government agencies from one convenient hub. Our goal is to make accessing important agency services much easier. Utahns can easily access government services without having to figure out which specific government agency handles each. You can view all the vehicles registered to your household, renew registration, order a new birth certificate, extend hunting and fishing licenses, and much more. Whether you need to apply, order, renew, pay, or just check on the status with a government service, you can do it easily and securely with MyUtah.

Though our 45-day Legislative session may be over, our work is not. As a Legislature, we will spend the next 10 months meeting in our committees, learning about the pressing needs of the state, and preparing for next year’s session. Our first interim meetings of 2026 will take place this May. I am your Representative all year long, not just during our 45-day session, and I would love to continue to hear what issues matter to you. You can follow along with the whole process, in person or online at le.utah.gov.

I thought you would like to see some remarkable stats. Amidst so much negativity and contention we see on social media and in the news, there is so much good that is happening in our local communities and throughout the state because of your service and volunteerism.

• Utah is the most civic-minded state in the nation, consistently ranking #1 in volunteerism.
• On average, the annual economic impact of formal volunteerism in Utah is estimated at $3.3 billion.
• In Utah’s High School Service Program, 7,697 students participated in the first program year. Students recorded 89,286 service hours. 21 high schools participated, including those in our Nebo School District.
• In the first 18 months, the One Utah Service Fellowship generated over 305,000 hours of service through 1,100 fellows and 12,000 volunteers.
• Learn more at userve.utah.gov

In this last week of the Legislative Session, hundreds of issues were debated and voted upon. Here is a sampling of the topics: infrastructure, parental rights, school safety, tobacco, kratom, child care, public education, housing attainability, healthcare, energy, state legal holidays, dog attacks, self-driving vehicles, law schools, cannabis, human trafficking, federalism, early literacy, state holidays, advertising tax, Medicaid, artificial intelligence, homelessness, higher education and many, many more.

Here is my voting record for the last week of the Legislative Session:

HJR 4 Yes
HJR 12 Yes
HJR 30 Yes
HR 7 Yes
HR 8 Yes
HCR 9 Yes
HCR 5 Yes
HB 2 Yes
HB 3 Yes
HB 8 Yes
HB 183 Yes
HB 185 Yes
HB 235 Yes
HB 315 Yes
HB 407 Yes
HB 408 Yes
HB 442 Yes
HB 450 Yes
HB 479 Yes
HB 518 Yes
HB 543 Yes
HB 544 Yes
HB 548 Yes
HB 582 Yes
HB 588 Yes
HB 590 Yes
HB 593 Yes
HB 597 Yes
HB 599 Yes
HB 604 Yes
SCR 1 Yes
SCR 5 Yes
SCR 6 Yes
SCR 9 Yes
SCR 10 Yes
SJR 6 Yes
SJR 8 Yes
SJR 11 Yes
SJR 13 Yes
SJR 16 Yes
SB 2 Yes
SB 3 Yes
SB 8 Yes
SB 12 Yes
SB 21 Yes
SB 31 Yes
SB 34 Yes
SB 45 Yes
SB 47 Yes
SB 54 Yes
SB 58 Yes
SB 60 Yes
SB 62 Yes
SB 72 Yes
SB 73 Yes
SB 74 Yes
SB 82 Yes
SB 90 Yes
SB 91 Yes
SB 92 Yes
SB 93 Yes
SB 100 Yes
SB 101 Yes
SB 110 Yes
SB 111 Yes
SB 119 Yes
SB 122 Yes
SB 123 Yes
SB 128 Yes
SB 130 Yes
SB 135 Yes
SB 139 Yes
SB 142 Yes
SB 147 Yes
SB 148 Yes
SB 149 NV Technical voting glitch
SB 150 Yes
SB 151 Yes
SB 152 Yes
SB 153 Yes
SB 154 Yes
SB 156 Yes
SB 158 Yes
SB 162 Yes
SB 165 Yes
SB 167 Yes
SB 170 Yes
SB 172 Yes
SB 174 Yes
SB 175 Yes
SB 181 Yes
SB 183 Yes
SB 184 Yes
SB 186 Yes
SB 190 Yes
SB 192 Yes
SB 193 Yes
SB 194 Yes
SB 196 Yes
SB 197 Yes
SB 201 No
SB 204 Yes
SB 206 Yes
SB 208 Yes
SB 209 Yes
SB 210 Yes
SB 213 Yes
SB 216 Yes
SB 217 Yes
SB 218 Yes
SB 220 Yes
SB 222 Yes
SB 225 Yes
SB 226 Yes
SB 227 Yes
SB 228 Yes
SB 229 Yes
SB 230 Yes
SB 232 Yes
SB 233 Yes
SB 234 Yes
SB 235 Yes
SB 236 Yes
SB 237 Yes
SB 238 Yes
SB 240 Yes
SB 241 Yes
SB 242 Yes
SB 244 Yes
SB 251 No
SB 252 Yes
SB 254 Yes
SB 256 Yes
SB 257 Yes
SB 261 Yes
SB 268 Yes
SB 270 Yes
SB 275 Yes
SB 276 Yes
SB 278 Yes
SB 281 Yes
SB 283 Yes
SB 284 Yes
SB 286 Yes
SB 287 Yes
SB 288 Yes
SB 290 Yes
SB 292 Yes
SB 295 Yes
SB 296 Yes
SB 298 Yes
SB 304 Yes
SB 305 Yes
SB 307 Yes
SB 310 Yes
SB 311 Yes
SB 312 No
SB 313 Yes
SB 314 Yes
SB 319 Yes
SB 321 Yes
SB 323 Yes
SB 324 Yes
SB 326 Yes

HB 588 Yes

HB 596 Yes

SB 31 Yes

SB 93 Yes

SB 128 Yes

SB 142 Yes

SB 226 Yes

SB 235 Yes

SB 286 No

SB 297

SB 298 Yes

SB 305 Yes

SB 307 Yes

SB 313 Yes

SB 323 Yes

SJR 16 Yes

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