Platform

Building Utah's Future

"Inflation is the greatest enemy of all the people and of our hopes for economic growth. It is at the bottom of the problems that we're trying to solve." —President Ronald Reagan

+ Economy and Inflation

Strengthen Economy

  • Streamline regulations to encourage entrepreneurship, investment and business expansion, eliminate unnecessary barriers, and promote regulatory predictability.
  • Support small businesses as significant drivers of job creation and innovation. Facilitate access to capital, resources, and technical issues.
  • Workforce development: A skilled workforce is crucial for attracting businesses and fostering innovation. We need to invest in education, vocational training, and lifelong-learning opportunities.

Reduce Inflation

  • Tax cuts and incentives which can lead to increased disposable income for households and lower production costs for businesses to help mitigate inflation.
  • Regulatory reform to enhance productivity, innovation, and efficiency in markets and help reduce compliance costs, enabling economic growth and help alleviate inflation.
  • Promote energy independence through energy source development, production, and infrastructure development to stabilize energy prices, reduce reliance on energy imports, and enhance energy price stability.

+ No Gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon

  • The construction of a $1.4B taxpayer-funded gondola is incongruent with conservative fiscal policy, overlapping the role of government with the private sector. This is not the correct solution to solve the congestion problem happening, on average, a handful of days per year. It would only serve two private businesses and benefit a couple of land developers. There are numerous more deserving projects across the state that would serve many more Uthans.
  • Preferred Solution: Implement less invasive, cost-effective measures, such as more frequent (electric) bus services with multiple routes, implement highway parking restrictions, incentivise ride share and transit use (e.g. resort parking reservations and/or canyon tolling), and enforce traction laws.
  • Require private businesses to play larger roles in solving their own business problem(s).

+ Housing Affordability

  • Increase supply through regulatory reform: Streamline the permitting process and reduce barrier to house development, encouraging construction activity and increasing the supply of housing, helping to lower and moderate prices.
  • Incentives for affordable housing development: Offer financial incentives, such as tax breaks, grants, or low-interest loans to developers and assistance with infrastructure development, supporting affordable housing construction.
  • Preservation of affordable housing through market-based approaches: Preserve existing and future affordable housing stock through marked-based approaches, such as incentives for property owners to maintain affordability and long-term over short-term use.

+ Transportation, Infrastructure and Increased Traffic Congestion 

  • More accountability of UTA through service performance, rider experience feedback, and performance metrics publishing.
  • More reliance on mass transit solution implementation and less widening of roadways.

+ Water Conservation and Management

Living in a high desert, water availability and consumption impacts Utah’s quality of life and growth potential. We need a strategy for managing existing water sources:

  • Protect water sources from contamination and disruption.
  • Use water (free) markets and allocation systems to facilitate the transfer of water rights between users.
  • Encourage private sector participation and innovation in water-resource management, i.e., possible contracting with private companies to operate water utilities, invest in water infrastructure, and/or provide water-related services.
  • Consider state-led regulation and management: Empower state agencies to establish water policies and management plans tailored to the unique needs and conditions of Utah, minimizing federal intervention.

+ Securing the Border

Constitutional scholars recognize the primary responsibility for comprehensive immigration reform lies with Congress. But Utah can and should:

  • Speak loudly to the Federal government on its poor performance with this responsibility.
  • Publicly call on our four Congress members and Senators to pass bipartisan legislation to solve the problem. Do not let the search for a “perfect” solution become the enemy of a “good” solution that can be agreed to and implemented.

+ Education

Education is a cornerstone of a sustainable democracy and a driving force in a healthy economy.

  • Ensure funding of a balanced, diverse curriculum covering academics, STEM, arts, physical health, foreign languages, analytical thinking/problem solving, extracurriculars, and technology integration to prepare students for the future.
  • Prioritize classroom effort over administrative overhead.
  • Consider focused vocational and technical curriculums as alternatives to traditional settings.
  • Measure education performance against agreed metrics.

Paid for by Friends of Mike Marker for House District 42