| OCR Text |
Show pittion She Salt LakeTribune SUNDAY/August 3, 1997 PUBLIC FORUM Page AA-2 Page AA-1 RUSSIAN VIEW Page AA-3 OUR VIEW The Salt Lake Tribune's Editorial Position Support for Elections Panel Utah needsa state elections commission. Republicans havesaid it, Demo- crats have said it, and now thestate's nonprofit, independent think tank — the Utah Foundation — hassaidit. It’s time for the Legislature to doit. Utah's elections currently come under the purview ofthe lieutenant governor, leaving that officer open to unfair accusations of being partisan on the most basic of decisions. A state elections commission would remedy the problem,andit is noteworthy that both a Republican (Rep. Nancy Lyon in 1993) and a Democrat(Rep. Mary Carlson in 1997) have sponsoredbilis to create one.It is up to both parties to come together andpass sucha bill in 1998. This time, the push for an elections commission would have the forceof the Utah Foundation’s argumentsbehindit. The agency's June-July report examined campaign finance lawsin all 50 states and, after all the comparisons and figures were sifted, suggested that the most important change Utah could makein the wayit conductsits elections is to form anelections commission. The reason is that Utah's limited campaign finance laws are disclosure- oriented. As long as they remain that way, an independent commission, with a staff increase beyond the current three full-timepositions, is the mostviable structure to insure that campaign reports are filed in a more timely and accurate mannerthanthey are now. As the report putit, “It is broadly recog- nized. that thereis virtually no current enforcementofexisting law.” Utah would join the majority of states by forming an elections commission. The Utah Foundation survey reportsthat 30 states have ethics commissions or election boards, and it shows that 20 of them are staffed by 10 people orless, indicating that Utah legislators need not fear that they would be creating some monstrous bureaucracy by shifting the job of monitoring elections outof the lieutenant governor'soffice. In its overview of the individual states’ campaign finance laws, the report foundthat34 states place limits on contributions, either by donoror by office; 21 states prohibit corporate and union contributions from their own coffers to political candidates; 13 states have limits on campaign expenditures, tied to public financing plans; and 30 states have independentelection boards or commissions. Whenall the overlappingis accounted for, 45 states haveat least oneof the above provisionsin their election laws. Utahis oneofthefivestates that do not. If Utah does not want to join the two-thirds majority of states that place limits on , the least it should do is makesureits disclosure laws are enforced. And the way to do that, as the Utah Foundation suggests, is to form an independent elections commission. Thestate’s past, present and future lieutenant governors would appreciate it — not to mention the voters. Just don’t doit. nanimously agreed to make an exception in this case. They bequeathed the longtime teacher three credits toward certification and offered a one-year provisionallicense so she could teach while completing six more credits in education, English or history. Never mind that the nation’s entire political structure, to say nothing of everyday life, is grounded in law. Students do study the U.S. Constitution in high school social studies these days, don't they? And never mind that some courses that do qualify for certification eredit — credit has been granted for short seminars on stress management or computers in the classroom — are anything but challenging or “directly” related to particular classes. Someofthe state’s teachercertification restrictions defy reason. When a degree in law is irrelevant to a social studies course, the rules are awry. They remove public education from the real world and discourage good people from sharing new perspectives and expertise with students. Health Issues Hanging With the balanced-budget agreement reached last week, Congress and the White House gave constituents immediate health-care benefits worth celebrating. Except, outlook for financing federal insurance remains grim. A hefty increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, from the current 24 cents to 39 cents by 2002, will extend health coverage to most uninsured children. The taxwill raise $24 billion — $8 billion more than President Clinton requested — and, despite the president's attempt to specify health benefits, will go to states as block grants. Also underthe budgetdeal, disabled children will qualify for Medicaid, and elderly and disabled Medicare patients will have more insurance options and new benefits. Certain prevention services (like cancer screening) and managed-care plans will be covered, and for thefirst time, 390,000 seniors can open tax-exempt savings accounts for medical expenses. But will federal insurance stay solvent? For now, payments to hospitals and doctors will be restricted and patient premiums raised slightly to keep Medicare operating. Those measures cannot protect the program against the post-2006 baby boom influx. With too JOANNE JACOBS KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS SAN JOSE, Calif. — Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder. Certifiable Nonsense If another example of nonsensical barriers to the teaching profession is needed, Utah's State Office of Education can provideit. A teachercertified by the State of Utah in English, American history and Spanish taught two decades in publie secondary schools before taking time outfor the intense, graduate-level studies necessary for a law degree. Meantime, her teaching license, renewable every five years, lapsed. Assuming herlaw classes, including constitutional law, public policy negotiation and administrative law,fit nicely with social studies, the veteran teacher asked that they apply toward the nine course credits normally required for recertification. Reality check. The study of law, according to state bureaucrats, has no direct relationship to what goes on in the classroom. Besides, constitutional law was taken before the five-yearcertification clock began to tick. Nonetheless, the bureaucrats mag- A Federally-Funded Mandate With Flawed Aim many payment reductions, Medicare patients will havedifficultyfinding doctors and hospitals to serve them House Republicans refused to support structural Medicare reform this ian Proposals to raise Medicareeligiility to age 67, to charge a $5 copaymentfor homehealth care, andto raise premiums on doctor care for upper-incomerecipients were dumped, even after Clinton endorsed the concept of means-testing To get past the assumption that Americans areentitled to government insurance in old age, Congress and the White House must cooperatively develop a reasonable alternative thatis seen as imperative. The Senate proposal tried to go too far too fast. If medical savings accounts (MSAs) prove effective in cutting Medicare expenses without undermining insurance programs, they someday might provide the kind of financial Medicare reform the nation needs. Butit is far too early to predict success, since MSAs areexpected to appealto healthy, wealthy patients, leaving Medicare with the most expensive cases. A bipartisan commission is supne to find Medicare solutions this ‘ongress could not. Better luck to it Be afraid. Be very afraid. I'm testing out slogansfor the new antisex campaigns that the states will be mounting with $50 million a yearin federal funds designated to persuade teenagers that premarital sex is no fun. Conservatives believe that teen-agers have sex becausetheir sex ed teacher told them to go right ahead, and gaveout the condoms. So they've boosted funding for programs teaching that sex outside marriage is “likely to have harmful psycho- logical and physical effects.” To qualify, programs must preach abstinence until marriage and may nottell students how to protect themselves from pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease. There is no published scientific research showing that abstinence-only programs lead to more i We're about to spend $250 million over five years, matched by $187 million in state funds, without allocating a pennyto eval- uate what works. Sex educators believe the most effec- tive programs encourage teen-agers to wait but also tell them about pregnancy prevention and “safer sex." “Abstinence aloneis not enough,”says John Hutchins, communications manager of the National Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy and unwise sex among teen-agers.) States can use other fundsto offer com- prehensive sex education for teen-agers, most of whom will be sexually active by their senior year. So promoting absti- nence should do no harm, unless coming up with state matching funds drains the family planning budget. But will abstinence ed do any good? California tried Postponing Sexual In- volvement, abstinence-only classes for 12- to 14-year-olds, from 1992 to 1994. It searchreview for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kids whotake sex ed don’t start having sex earlier, research shows. They are morelikely to use contraception and condomsif they start having sex. Overall, the positive effect is small, but some programs produce significant results. Effective programs send a clear mes- age pregnancy. Abst claimF Sexual Involvement’s success in Atlanta sage geared to students’ age and sexual experience, provide accurate information, focus on a few specific goals and let students practice communications and negotiation skills. They try to instill knowledge (howto avoid sex or use protection), motivation (why to do it) and confidence (you can doit). Students discuss social pressures to have sex, including TV, commercials and “lines teens may hear. They learn — perhaps from slightly older teen-agers proves that abstinence ed works. In that study, middle school students were onefifth as likely as similar students to be sexually active by eighth grade. But, in addition to the abstinence-only acting as peer educators — that not everybody’s “doingit” in high school. According to new data, teen-agers are having sex a bit less, using protection a bit more. The pregnancyrate is down. A comprehensive sexual education, including information on contraceptives and That maybe result of more effective sex ed — or something else. Andif the didn't work. There was no effect on students’ attitudes or sexual behavior, concluded Doug Kirby of ETR Associates in Scotts Valley, Calif.. who conducted the study for the state's Office of Family Planning. The state is now funding a-variety of community-based efforts to prevent teen- sessions, Atlanta students also received condoms. California students got abstinenceonly, plus prior teaching on the human “It bothersall governors. It’s bipartisan. It’s not just Republican governors,” TOM RAUM ASSOCIATED PRESS said GOPGov, Christie Whitman of New LAS VEGAS — Lawmakers and the White House worked out the new bal- $24 billion over five years to pay for Jersey. Even the popular provision to spend anced-budget accord, but it will fall on the nation’s governors to carry muchof it out, And governors aren't all that pleased with someof the details “When Washington talks about flexibility, it defines the term differently than we do,” said Nebraska Gov. Benjamin Nelson, a Democrat. Whilg governors in general applauded the new pact, particularly the tax-cut portions, some fumed about not being consulted enough during negotiations. As a result, many governors here for health care for poor children — financed by a 15-cent-a-pack increase in the ciga- rette tax — drew criticism over some of its details, even as it was generally applauded by Democratic and Republican governorsalike, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic Governors’ Associa- tion, complained that the plan unfairly penalizes states such as his that already provide a high level of supportfor finaneing health insurance for children. States without such programs, or with modest ones, would gain the most. the annual summer meeting of the Na- bit. trend continues, will it be because of abstinence ads and abstinence ed? Unless we fund the research, we won't know. “Out of the chute the (children's health-care plan) may mean a whole lot more money for kids ~ which is great,” said Republican Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico. “But five years from now, it could meanthat the state ends up picking up the tab for a federal program that might not work.” “It's again a case of Washington arriving a bit late,” said Michigan Gov. John Engler, a Republican. He said many states, like his own, already have devel. oped plansto cover children not covered by health insurance. Still, he said Michi gan would beglad to take the extra money. Republican governors expressedtheir strong reservations on the welfare-to work language in a morning telephone hookup Tuesday with Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi. Jim Geringer, the Republican governor of Wyoming, said that governors “still tional Governors’ Association spent much of Tuesday on the phone with congressional leaders and White Houseofficials, considerourselves to be a major partner" with the White House and Congress. seeking changes and clarifications. “And ‘partner’ means full participant, full beneficiary of the deals that are made. It doesnt just mean getting updat- Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt was oneof four governors who worked with congressional budget-makers on welfare provisions edas each deal is made." of the final balanced-budget agreement. Leavitt said the governors felt a lot of Hesuggested Congress hadbeen look pressure to reach an agreement Onekey stickin,eer was a provision championed by President Clinton that ing toward thestates for leadership on issues affecting thefederal-state partner ship — until recently, “Now there tends Semis require the minimum wage and other labor laws to apply to those with on the White House, saying ‘what will the TheSalt Lake Tribune UTAH'S INDEPENDENT VOICE SINCE 1871 PUBLISHER PAST PUBLISHERS | Dominic Welch John F. Fitepatrick (1024-1960) EDITOR John W. Gallivan (1960-1983) | James B, 8 velledy EDITORIALP. EDITOR Jerry O'Brien (1989-1904) Harry B. Fuller, Jr KEARNS-TRIBUNE CORPORATION, 143 8. MAIN ST. SALT LAKE CITY, M11 frighten off private companiesin the pro- Many governors suggest that to bea shifting back toward focusing only White Houseexpect?’ ' ‘The governors were mostly quibbling overdetails, For the most part, they wel comed the bold planto balance the feder al budget infive years andto providethe will biggest tax cut since 1981 ram, which was part of last year's wel- fare overhaullaw. States, they fear, could ‘This Florida Gov, Lawton Chiles, a Democrat who was once chairmanof the Senate Budget Committee, objected to the agreement's wording both in person to Clinton whenthe president was here Monday and in a series of phone conversations Tues- day. La is a remarkable accomplish- ment,” said Gov, Bob Miller of Nevada, the Democrat who has been chairman of the National Governors’ Association for get stuck holding the bag. Fm reproductive system. It didn’t work. “The jury is still out” on abstinenceonly programs, says Kirby. But, so far, “The evidence is not encouraging.” What does work? Teaching young people how to say no to sex, and what to do if they say yes, works for some teenagers some of the time, concluded a re- Governors Quibble, But OK Federal Budget Deal subsidized jobs under a welfare-to-work program. a Most states plan to fund media campaigns or classes for younger students with the abstinence money. Otherswill use it for mentoring, self-esteem or antisubstance abuse programs. (Drinking is a major cause of unwanted, unprotected Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt the past year It was a sentiment shared by Republican Gov, George V. Voinovich of Ohio, vho took the reins of the bipartisan orga- ization. " t + ? |
