Lane Beattie, president of the Utah State Senate, is the most powerful person in this state when it comes to creating new laws because he has the final say as to which Senate bills will be voted upon. Shortly after being named Senate president, he quickly eliminated the "Rules Committee" and took over that responsibility, which further cemented his final say as to which bills were even to be discussed as well as voted upon.
Now for a specific example. During recent years, a bill to rectify the inequities in the state retirement system has been introduced by either a senator or a House member. However, due to Beattie's influence, these bills have been snuffed out one way or another.These inequities in the retirement system are difficult to briefly explain, but simply put, they deprive those retirees in the years 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1989 from receiving a comparable monthly benefit to all other years in a system they were instrumental in building up.
Beattie has admitted to me on more than one occasion that the 1990 Legislature made a serious mistake when it passed the present retirement laws. Also, that the system is unfair to certain retirees but that funding cannot be obtained to rectify the situation. What a laugh.
Who is this Lane Beattie? Why does he or any one person deserve this much power? How did the system let him get it? Why not let someone else in the Legislature have a turn at promoting their own selfish interests and ideas? Or is the state of Utah willing to support another demagogue?
Dale Swenson
St. George