May 01, 2020(Benzinga) - The Utah Bar Foundation has released a report addressing the unmet legal needs of lower-income Utahns. The report, entitled “The Justice Gap: Addressing the Unmet Legal Needs of Lower-Income Utahns,” highlights the civil legal needs of the roughly 26% of Utah’s population living at or below the 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. The report’s research will help stakeholders make better informed decisions on future policy making and the allocation of funding. The Utah Bar … Continued
April 22, 2020(KNRS) - Utah Foundation President Peter Reichard joins Rod to discuss the foundation’s new report on the promise and challenges of working from home. Listen to the discussion at about 20 minutes and 30 seconds into the recording.
April 20, 2020(KSL.com) - Teleworking has been praised for helping keep Utah’s air clean during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the jury’s out on that, a new report from the Utah Foundation says teleworking does have benefits for both workers and employers.
April 19, 2020(UtahPolicy.com) - Today, Utah Foundation releases Work Away from Work: The Challenges and Promise of Teleworking. The report examines trends and seeks to assist citizens and public and private sector leaders in addressing the challenges related to teleworking. Later this year, Utah Foundation will issue a follow-up report that addresses remote working in the context of air quality impacts.
April 19, 2020(Wasatch Gazette) - Utah Foundation’s Shawn Teigen speaks with Mike Parsons from Cumulus Media’s Wasatch Gazette about Work Away from Work: The Challenges and Promise of Teleworking. The piece was broadcast on all five of Cumulus Media’s local stations: B98.7, Power 94.9/101.9, K-Bear 101, K-Bull 93 and 860 AM. Listen to an mp3 of the conversation here.
April 12, 2020(UtahPolicy.com) - In this episode of Utah Thrives, Utah Foundation Research Analyst Christopher Collard and President Peter Reichard discuss the new Utah redistricting statute and the challenges of redistricting in our state. The conversation follows Utah Foundation’s release of a new brief on redistricting and an interactive citizen redistricting tool.
April 08, 2020(Deseret News) - Have you run out of table space for your pandemic-therapy jigsaw puzzles? Are Rubik’s Cubes just too easy? Already a whiz on every aspect of the $2 trillion congressional stimulus package? … Then maybe redrawing Utah’s congressional districts is just what you need to while away the hours in isolation.
April 08, 2020(City Weekly) - Sure it’s challenging, but it’s really not that hard to the right thing. And that is what an independent advisory commission has been charged with doing.
April 05, 2020(Deseret News) - Think you can redraw Utah’s four congressional districts to reflect the state’s changing population? It’s harder than it looks, according to Christopher Collard, research analyst at the Utah Foundation who developed a new online tool released Tuesday to give Utahns the chance to try their hand at what state lawmakers will be doing next year based on the latest numbers from the once-in-a-decade federal census.
April 05, 2020(Daily Herald) - Now, the local orthodontist is expanding the program to include teachers. Orthodonic treatments can average at least $6,000, according to the National Association of Dental Plans, and with around 74 million Americans without dental insurance, orthodontic work can be financially draining for families. The Utah Foundation reported the average salary in Utah’s public school is about $47,600, roughly $13,000 less than the national average.
April 03, 2020(Deseret News) - It’s a new decade, and that means it will soon be time to play everyone’s favorite political game, redistricting. This time, however, it comes with a new player in Utah: a redistricting commission armed with a set of principles for redistricting. The commission and principles come compliments of a citizen referendum approved in 2018, with legislative changes in 2020.
April 01, 2020(UtahPolicy.com) - Utah Foundation releases Lines in the Sand: A Primer on Redistricting in Utah, along with an interactive redistricting tool to help voters and policymakers further understand redistricting and the challenges surrounding the process.
March 22, 2020(Salt Lake Tribune) - The reactions to coronavirus range from prudence to panic, and there’s reasonable debate about which reaction fits where. But regardless of your view, and leaving aside the economic issues, the virus will probably change the way we live and operate.
March 20, 2020(KNRS) - Peter Reichard, President of the Utah Foundation, experienced Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans firsthand and joins Rod for a conversation about how Utah can work to recover from the earthquake and the coronavirus.
March 19, 2020(UtahPolicy.com) - The impacts surrounding the coronavirus, coupled with a significant earthquake, have me thinking back to a dark period. In New Orleans in 2005, I watched a piece of American civilization fall into confusion, the city half-destroyed (and my own house looted). But I was lucky, with “only” about $40,000 in damage from floodwaters.
March 05, 2020(UtahPolicy.com) - In this episode of Utah Thrives, we sit down with Utah State Auditor John Dougall to discuss his views on the state’s fiscal challenges, particularly in light of the recent tax reform effort. We also discuss the transportation funding questions that he suggests stand at the heart of the matter. The conversation touches on both of Utah Foundation’s most recent reports, Now What? A Citizen’s Tax Reform Troubleshooting Guide (February) and EDTIF Elevated? Utah’s Evolving … Continued
February 23, 2020(Deseret News) - Writing on tax reform back in December, I quoted Thomas Jefferson: “Politics … holds up the torches of martyrdom to the reformers of error.” Well, apparently state political leaders saw the glow of firelight coming over the hillside, because the tax reform in question was quickly thereafter thrown out. This leaves the issues that motivated reform unresolved. To give Utahns a better idea of what that means, Utah Foundation recently released “Now What? A Citizen’s … Continued
February 22, 2020(Salt Lake Tribune) - For years now, Utah’s legislators and governors have engaged in round after round of tax cuts, to the point that our overall level of taxation, including everything we pay to state and local government in Utah, is lower than it’s been in decades as a percentage of our incomes. This is true at all income levels (though it’s also true that the largest tax cuts in dollar terms have gone to the highest-income Utahns). These … Continued
February 21, 2020(Specialty Pharmacy Continuum) - Employer-sponsored plans have seen an average premium increase of 34% from 2006 to 2016, whereas 62% of the Silver plans of the Affordable Care Act increased in price from 2017 to 2018, she said, citing a Utah Foundation report. “The bottom line is we need to come up with a better way of managing our costs than looking at these high-deductible plans,” Dr. Brixner said.
February 19, 2020(KNRS) - Peter Reichard, President of the Utah Foundation, joins Rod for a conversation about the foundation’s “Tax Reform Troubleshooting Guide” Note: The conversation begins at 95:00 into the program.
February 18, 2020(UtahPolicy.com) - The monumental tax overhaul of 2019 saw a swift demise at the start of the 2020 legislative session, but the issues that motivated reform are left unresolved. The report addresses three basic issues at the center of reform efforts: the adequacy of general fund revenue; the competitiveness of income tax rates; and a large constitutional earmark.
February 09, 2020(UtahPolicy.com) - Utah Foundation bids farewell to Communications Director Dan Bammes, and we reflect on his long career in broadcast. We also discuss the evolution of journalism and what it may mean for engaged citizenship.
February 02, 2020(Salt Lake Tribune) - Utah Foundation’s new report, “EDTIF Elevated? Utah’s Evolving State Incentive Program,” chronicles significant changes in the state’s economic development tax increment financing program since 2014. It also calls attention to questions that still remain.
January 29, 2020(KSL.com) - The bill would have also increased sales tax on a variety of goods, including groceries — which would have seen a sales tax increase from 1.75% to 4.85%. Other services, like Uber and Lyft, would have also been included in sales taxation. KSL Investigates asked Christopher Collard, research analyst with the Utah Foundation, to break down the savings for low-, middle- and high-income families. After announcing the bill’s repeal, Herbert said lawmakers didn’t communicate well … Continued
