Monday, April 19, 2010

Brad Daw: Child Protection Laws and Administrative Subpoenas

Dear Delegate:

One of the lessons I have learned in my time at the legislature is that good legislation is often a very carefully crafted balancing act between two worthy but opposite goals. HB150 is a great example of this. The two goals are: 1) Give law enforcement useful tools to quickly pursue sexual predators and kidnappers; 2) Preserve people’s right to privacy. In its final form, HB150 was able to give investigators a much improved ability to track down sexual predators and significantly increase safeguards against prosecutors overstepping their bounds. Prior to HB150, investigators had to approach a federal prosecutor to obtain a subpoena to get contact information for suspected predators from internet service providers or telephone companies. The time lag involved in getting a subpoena from a federal prosecutor often put abducted children at grave risk. Also, having to use a subpoena from a federal agency prevented the state from having any real oversight on how the su bpoena power was being used or, in some cases, abused. With the passage of HB150 we accomplished three important goals:

1. State investigators now have the ability to issue subpoenas in a timely manner, which in the case of a child abduction may mean the difference between life and death.

2. Since this is now a state granted power we are able to add two specific checks:
a) Anyone using this subpoena power will be required to report to the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice annually detailing how many subpoenas they issued using the state granted authority and how many were issued on their behalf by a federal prosecutor;
b) Any person whose contact information has been obtained via the state granted subpoena power must be notified of this fact within 90 days after the information was obtained.

3. By this being a state granted power it is now subject to oversight and review by the legislature and if further checks are deemed necessary, the state has the ability to implement them.

By moving our prosecutors from using a federal subpoena with no oversight from the state to a state subpoena with specific and implied oversight in place, I believe we have taken a good step forward. But, constant vigilance on the part of the legislature and the citizens in general is vital to maintaining a free society and I openly welcome any reasoned discussion of what can be done to improve this or any other law. As many of you know from experience, I am always ready to listen, to respond to your questions, and bring all interested parties together to try and work towards a better law.

For those of you who are interested, here is the text of HB150 and here is a discussion on what the law does and why it falls within the bounds of the constitution.

Brad Daw

Brad Daw: Federalism, Health Care Reform, and States Rights

Dear Delegate,

Throughout the next few weeks I want to take the opportunity to inform you of several issues that I am involved with and feel are important for the betterment of our district and the state of Utah.

The first issue I would like to address is federalism and health care reform. I am deeply concerned by the federal government’s overreaching role in this matter. It seems to be a federal government power grab in the name of health care reform, a reform that is very personal to all US citizens.

During the past session, I backed legislation which supported states rights as mandated by the United States Constitution and attempts to push back on federal encroachment.

I have also been recently appointed to the Health Reform Task Force for the third year in a row where we will work on an effective consumer driven, market oriented approach. This will serve as a strong counter-point to the federal plan and will be a model that other states can adapt and implement. Thus, it will have the potential to contest and ultimately defeat the federal reform.

Thank you for your support,

Brad Daw
Brad Daw has become a proven leader in the fight for market-driven, consumer-oriented health care.

"Brad Daw is a champion of consumer and private health care solutions. He understands the importance of solving our health system challenges on a state level rather than an undesired federal option. Brad helped launch the idea of defined-contribution health plans which I think will revolutionize the way health insurance is purchased in the state of Utah.

I appreciate his support of consumer driven health plans like health savings accounts and business-friendly solutions like the Utah Health Exchange. Representative Daw has proven to be an integral and effective leader. I support him in his strong legislative work to improve our health system and find solutions to control cost."

S. David Jackson, SPHR
President
FirstWest Benefit Solutions
Brad Daw is a proven champion of states rights.
Brad Daw is a man of integrity, courage and strength. He has consistently fought to make Utah safer with his fight against prescription fraud and addiction, strengthening Utah in many ways and through his work with the Patrick Henry Caucus has worked hard to protect Utah against the ever encroaching federal government. He has always been responsive when approached and helpful in every way. I am more than pleased to publicly endorse Brad Daw as our Legislative District 60 Representative. He has my vote.

Candace Salima
Author, entrepreneur, and publisher

Brad Daw: Post Session Wrapup

Emailed to me 6 April 2010.

Dear Neighbor:

The session is fully over now. All the bills have been signed or vetoed and all the legislators are back to real life. As part of the legislative wrap up, I’ve been asked for an item of information that have just become available: My voting record. Now you have always been able to see how I voted on a specific bill, but this link allows you to see all my votes in one place. Just click here to see every single vote that I took on the floor of the House.

Another part of the end of the session is the preparation for interim. This is when committee assignments are made and we begin to discuss what topics will be on the agendas of each committee. This is a vital step in the legislative process as many major legislative initiatives are first heard in an interim committee. I will be proposing a couple of topics. First, I had the chance to see the latest technology in tamper proof prescription pads and I would like to bring that to a committee to see how this might be used in Utah. Second, I have met with the chair of the education committee to see about devoting a part of a meeting to promoting on line education. I see a wide expanse of knowledge available over the internet and I’d like to find ways to open up this world to more Utah students.

I have also been reappointed to the Health Reform Task Force for the third year in a row. This committee becomes ever more vital as we work hard to find ways to preserve our health care system from federal encroachment and move it more towards a free market, consumer-driven system. We’ve had some good success already, but the effort is far from over and with the passage of a very ill advised national health care bill we are under a tight timeline to show real progress and clearly demonstrate that the national plan is the exact wrong direction to move in.

Finally, I’d like to welcome all of the county delegates to my newsletter and congratulate them for getting out to caucus and being willing to take part in what makes our country free. My hat is off to you and I hope you enjoy this newsletter. I try to send it out around once a month during the interim and once a week while we are in session.

If you prefer not to receive this letter you can hit the unsubscribe link below and your email address will be automatically removed from the list.

Brad Daw

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Utah Senate Debate

Utah Valley University is proud to welcome candidates running for the 2010 United States Senate seat that is being contested this election year. Engaging in debate Friday, April 2 at UVU are willing candidates Senator Bob Bennett (R incumbent), Mike Lee (R), Tim Bridgewater (R), Cherylin Eagar (R), Merrill Cook (R), and Sam Granato (D). The Senatorial debate is sponsored by the UVU Student Association (UVUSA).

“This debate is unique because it has been completely student-driven. We are an engaged University and with that comes immense civic responsibility for the students here,” said Christina Lowe, UVUSA chief justice. “Many clubs and organizations have collaborated with UVUSA to host this debate. UVUSA feels that this collaboration of these organizations is key to helping students become more civically engaged.”

The debate will begin at noon in the Lakeview Room, on the fourth floor of UVU’s Library. In addition to UVUSA, other student group sponsors for the debate include UVU College Republicans and Young Americans for Liberty. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend “and to learn the standpoints of all of the candidates before the upcoming elections,” Lowe said.

UVU Senate Debate
April 2nd: Friday, 12:00-2:00 PM
Utah Valley University
Lakeview Room, 4th floor of Library
800 West University Parkwa
Orem, UT 84058-6703