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Panguitch • Panguitch Lake • Hatch • Bryce • Tropic • Antimony • Henrieville • Cannonville • Escalante • Boulder • Fremont • Loa • Lyman
Thursday, February 2, 2012 • Issue # 926
Bicknell • Teasdale • Torrey • Grover • Fruita • Caineville • Hanksville
DECEMBER 2011 COUNTY-LEVEL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE ESTIMATES RELEASED The Utah Department of Workforce Services has just released county-level unemployment rate estimates for December. Most counties are following the statewide trend of declining joblessness. Between December 2010 and December 2011, the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate decreased by 1.5 percentage points. Eight counties--Juab, Beaver, Duchesne, Uintah, Daggett, Box Elder, Wasatch, and Sanpete--experienced rate declines of 2.0 points or better. Only two counties showed increasing levels of unemployment-Wayne and Garfield counties. Wayne County’s cur-
rent unemployment woes can be traced primarily to the closure of the county’s largest employer--Aspen Education Group. Currently, the areas with the highest jobless rates include San Juan, Wayne, Garfield, Grand, and Washington counties-all located in the southern part of the state. Counties with the lowest unemployment rates include Unitah, Cache, Daggett, Millard, and Rich counties--nearly all of which are located either in the Uintah Basin or in the northern part of the state. As you can see from the map, with a few exceptions this geographic unemployment divide holds true.
PANGUITCH WEATHER
LOA WEATHER
Garfield County depends more on tourism and recreation for employment than any other county in Utah. With Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, state parks, and scenic beauties, the county attracts many, many visitors each year. Garfield County exhibits one of the highest unemployment rates in the state due to the seasonal nature of the tourist economy. Almost 40 percent of Garfield County’s nonfarm employment can be categorized in the leisure/hospitality industry-in vivid contrast to the statewide figure of only 9 percent. Wayne County has recently moved away from its totally agrarian image, although there are still more cows than people in the county. Because of Capitol Reef National Park and many scenic beauties, tourism plays an important role in the economy. Almost one-fifth of Wayne County’s nonfarm employment can be categorized in the leisure/hospitality industry, compared to less than 10 percent in Utah as a whole. Governor Herbert has outlined an action plan for 2012 which is as follows: 1. Reduce the tax burden on Utah’s employers and spur new hiring by reducing the unemployment insurance rate. 2. Assist the growth of companies in rural Utah by extending the Business Expansion and Retention program to all rural counties. 3. Double exports over the next five years by increasing outreach and technical assistance to Utah companies to expand international markets. 4. Align public sector job training and placement efforts with private sector demands and workforce needs. 5. Increase the number of Utah start-up companies by improving access to seed funding. 6. Develop a world-class, one-stop-shop for business resources by revamping the structure, collaboration and service delivery statewide. 7. Continue to recruit new companies to the state and market Utah as the “best place for business.” 8. Ensure a vibrant business environment and maintain Utah’s AAA bond-rating through continuous regulatory reform and fiscally prudent management of state government.
GRAMA WATCH
Review of legislative bills produces two Bright Lights, one Pale Light and one Lights Out
The Utah Media Coalition’s GRAMA WATCH has issued its first four notes of the 2012 legislative session to rate proposed bills on their adherence to open-government principles. The coalition found that two of the bills would improve citizens’ access to their government, one would have little effect and the fourth would be a setback to open government. SB18 -- Government Records Access and Management Act -- Voter Registration Records This bill would make voter email addresses private, and the motivation is to keep outside entities from delivering unwanted messages (spam) to voters. The addresses by themselves are not crucial to the public’s right to know that an election process has been carried out legitimately. As written, the bill earns a Pale Light from GRAMA Watch, indicating it would have little effect either way on open government. Senators in committee raised the idea of also closing off voter birth dates from public scrutiny on the belief it would prevent identity theft. That further step would be detrimental to public oversight. The commonness of many names makes it impossible to legitimately audit the voting process without birth dates. And while it is often raised, there are no examples where identity theft has been traced to names and birth dates alone -- from voter records or any other source. Closing birth dates would earn the legislation a Lights Out from GRAMA Watch, meaning it would be bad for open government. SB 45 —Open and Public Meetings — Political Caucuses This bill would open political party caucuses at the legislature. Currently legislators are allowed to meet in closed party caucuses to discuss state business. This bill would require those caucuses to be open if a majority of the party’s legislators are meeting to discuss state business during the legislative session. This bill earns a Bright Light for its positive effect on open government. HB 89 —Open Political Caucus Meetings This bill also would open political party caucuses of legislators. It differs from SB 45 in that it requires any meeting of a quorum of legislators to be open to the public if legislation is being discussed. This requirement would apply even when the legislature is not in session. This bill earns a Bright Light for its positive effect on open government. HB 304 — Access to Voter Date of Birth Records HB 304 would make a voter’s month and day of birth, but not the year of birth, a private record. Current law makes the complete birth date (day, month and year) of a registered voter a public record so that the public can use the information to verify that an election process has been carried out legitimately. That verification process is weakened if only one of those three birth fields (day, month, year) is public. WIth common names, birth year alone is not enough to verify that specific individuals appear only once in a list of voters. The common motivation for closing voter birth dates is fear of identify theft, but there are no examples of such theft happening from names and birth dates alone. This bill earns a Lights Out designation from GRAMA Watch because it would work against open government.
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THE WAYNE & GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER is owned and operated by Snapshot Multimedia and is distributed weekly to all of Garfield County. Its purpose is to inform residents about local issues and events. Articles submitted from independent writers are not necessarily the opinion of Snapshot Multimedia. We sincerely hope you enjoy the paper and encourage input on ideas and/or suggestions for the paper. Thank you for your support.
My theory of evolution is that Darwin was adopted. Steven Wright
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