Another session is in the books! Foxley & Pignanelli is proud to have completed another legislative session. 2019 was a unique year of new faces and unprecedented issues. As your designated Utah politicos, we are pleased to provide you an end of session summary, complete with color commentary

We can affirm that most Utahns are sane, commonsense people who are exhausted by the Mueller investigation. They’re also tired of the never-ending fight over SB54 and Count My Vote. We contribute to the fatigue by exploring, one more time, the impact of these issues on our state.

Politicos love nothing more than to politically triage officials, candidates and elections. We look at three recent events and the extent of hurt and injury.

A very grueling, contentious legislative session adjourned last week. We know it was a rough session because events on our Capitol Hill even overshadowed the circus in Washington D.C. — a rarity. We know it’s hard to follow the nuances of legislative action because of all the political mumbo-jumbo. So, to clarify what really happened, we offer our traditional annual feature: “What they say … and what they mean.”

After pushing hard for the most significant reform to Utah taxes since the Great Depression, and being confident of passage, Gov. Gary Herbert and lawmakers scuttled the bill, opting for further study and a possible spring or summer special session. We explore some of the questions.

Our country’s founders provided a Constitution designed to protect against tyranny by providing checks and balances — dividing power among branches and levels of government. The rivalries among executive, legislative and judicial branches, and also between state and federal levels, continue to foster emotional debate. Utah politicos are in the middle of these ongoing disputes.

As always, Renae Cowley has impressive political insight. This time it just happens to be on the national scale.

(Humble brag)

January marks the beginning of the Foxley & Pignanelli hibernation season. Here is some useful information.