Immigrant Family Justice
A Rough Legislative Session for Utah Kids (Again)
The 2024 Utah Legislative Session ended at midnight on Friday, March 1. For the Voices for Utah Children team, this session included supporting a lot of community engagement, working hard to protect the programs that protect Utah kids, and trying not to get distracted by outlandish efforts to "solve" problems that don't actually exist in Utah.
As usual, there were many, many missed opportunities for state leaders to improve the lives of Utah kids. Nonetheless, we managed to pull off some great victories - as always, in partnership with many supportive community members, our great partner organizations and supportive public servants.
We hosted six different public engagement events at the Capitol over seven weeks. Working closely with our community partners, we stopped some truly terrible legislation that literally threatened the lives of Utah kids who rely on Medicaid and CHIP. Thanks to many supportive child care professionals and working parents, we kept Utah's child care crisis in the media spotlight throughout the session.
For a deeper dive into our efforts in various policy areas, as well as a recap of what happened to the many different bills we were tracking, check out the virtual booklet below!
Our 2024 Legislative Agenda
At Voices for Utah Children, we always start with this guiding question: "Is it good for all kids?" That remains our north star at the outset of the 2024 legislative session, and is reflected in our top legislative priorities.
So, what’s good for all kids in 2024?
A Healthy Start!
A healthy start in life ensures a child's immediate well-being while laying a foundation for future success. We are steadfast in our commitment to championing policies that prioritize every child's physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Central to this commitment is our focus on improving Utah’s popular Medicaid and CHIP programs, which are pivotal in the lives of many Utah children and families.
This legislative session, a healthy start for kids looks like:
- Empowering Expectant Mothers: We support a proposal from Rep. Ray Ward (R-Bountiful) to increase access to health coverage for low-income and immigrant mothers-to-be.
- Increasing Access to Health Care: We support bills that aim to improve access to the vital healthcare services children and parents need, especially for those on Medicaid and CHIP.
- Protecting Health Coverage: We oppose any effort to defund, and exclude deserving children from, the Medicaid and CHIP programs that help thousands of Utah kids every year.
Early Learning and Care Opportunities!
The formative years of a child's life lay the foundation for their future, shaping their cognitive abilities, socio-emotional skills, and passion for learning. We will support efforts to increase access to home visiting programs and paid family leave, but ensuring consistent, quality, and affordable child care is our top priority.
This legislative session, early learning and care opportunities for kids looks like:
- Bolstering Access to Quality Child Care: We support the efforts of both Rep. Andrew Stoddard (D-Sandy) and Rep. Ashlee Matthews (D-Kearns) to extend the successful Office of Child Care stabilization grant program that has supported licensed child care programs statewide.
- Investing in High-Quality Preschool: We support an anticipated legislative proposal to streamline Utah’s existing high-quality school-readiness program and to make it available to more preschoolers statewide.
- Recruiting and Retaining Child Care Professionals: We support Rep. Matthews’ proposal to expand access to the Child Care Assistance Program for anyone working in the child care sector.
- Building New Child Care Businesses: We also support Rep. Matthews’ proposal to continue funding for work to develop and support new child care programs in rural, urban, and suburban areas.
To view a more comprehensive list of our 2024 early care and learning legislative priorities, click here.
Economic Stability for Families with Children!
Economic stability forms the bedrock of thriving families and vibrant communities. To ensure that young families in Utah have the support they need to afford basic necessities, we will advocate for increasing families’ access to Utah's earned income and child tax credits.
This legislative session, economic stability for families looks like:
- A Little Extra Help in the Early Years: We support HB 153, Rep. Susan Pulsipher’s (R-South Jordan) bill to expand Utah’s new Child Tax Credit, (currently only for children ages 1 to 3), to apply to children between 1 and 5 years of age. We also strongly recommend helping even more Utah families with young children by making the tax credit available for families with any child between birth and 5, and expanding it to include the thousands of lower- and moderate-income families who are currently excluded.
- Credit for Working Families with Kids: We support HB 149, Rep. Marsha Judkins’ (R-Provo) bill to expand Utah’s Earned Income Tax Credit so that more lower- and middle-income families with children can benefit.
Justice for Youth!
We want to ensure that all youth, including those who come into contact with the juvenile justice system, have access to interventions and supports that work for them and for their families. We are dedicated to advancing policies and recommendations that contribute to a more fair and equitable juvenile justice system for all Utah youth.
This legislative session, justice for youth looks like:
- Prioritizing School Safety: We are monitoring bills from Rep. Wilcox (R-Ogden) and the School Safety Task Force, including: HB 14, “School Threat Penalty Amendments” and HB 84, “School Safety Amendments.” We remain hopeful that these efforts will support a secure learning environment for all students, without contributing further to the School-to-Prison Pipeline.
Be an Advocate!
As we chart the path forward, one thing remains abundantly clear: the well-being, growth, and future of Utah's children rely on the decisions we make today. Each legislative session presents an opportunity—a chance to reaffirm our commitment, reevaluate our priorities, and reimagine a brighter, more inclusive future for all.
Together we can continue to make Utah a place where every child's potential is realized, their dreams are nurtured, and their voices are heard.
Below are some ways you can get involved this session.
Stay Informed with our Bill Tracker
Stay informed about important legislation we are watching and reach out to your local representatives to let them know how you feel about legislation that is important to you. We make it easy for you to subscribe and watch bills that you are most concerned about.
Join us for Legislative Session Days on the Hill
Join us at the Capitol, where we offer attendees the opportunity to engage in the legislative process on a specific issue area (health and/or child care). You'll have the chance to attend bill hearings, lobby your legislators, connect with fellow community advocates, and watch House and Senate floor debates. Click the button below for the dates/times of our meetings and to RSVP.
Celebrate Utah's Immigrant Community
In collaboration with our partners at UT With All Immigrants, the Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging, and I Stand with Immigrants, we are organizing Immigrant Day on the Hill. Join us to discover ways to engage in Utah's civic life. Enjoy food, explore resource tables, participate in interactive activities, and entertainment. Everyone is invited to attend this free event!
Event Details: February 13, 2024, 3:30pm-5:30pm at the Capitol Rotunda, 350 State St, Salt Lake City, UT 84103
New State CHIP Program: A Win for Utah Children and Families
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Voices for Utah Children is proud to have co-hosted the momentous unveiling of the new State CHIP Program during our morning press conference. We are grateful to have worked with Senator Luz Escamilla (D-Salt Lake City) and Representative Jim Dunnigan (R-Taylorsville) to support the passage of SB217: ChIldren’s Health Coverage Amendments that led to the creation of this program.
Voices for Utah Children's goal for every child in Utah to have health insurance and access to high-quality health care.
In our state, an estimated 7.9% of children in Utah do not have health insurance, with greater disparities amongst rural children and Latino children, placing Utah as 37th in the nation for insured children.
The State CHIP program will play a crucial role in bridging this gap by providing comprehensive healthcare coverage, so that children can access the medical care they need when they need to lead a healthier and more secure life.
This State CHIP Program is one piece of that puzzle.
The State CHIP program provides newly eligible children with comprehensive healthcare coverage, including well-child exams, immunizations, doctor visits, prescriptions, mental health services, and more, supporting more kids to have the opportunity to grow and thrive because of the access to coverage.
We are excited to continue working with Senator Escamilla, Rep. Jim Dunnnigan, and our 100% Kids Coverage Coalition, community and faith leaders, healthcare systems and providers, and more to outreach to all of our Utah families throughout the state so children get the health coverage and care they need. We know that this program will make a positive impact on many Utah families statewide and will get us closer to the goal of having all Utah kids covered.
Let’s get all Utah kiddos covered!
For more information about State CHIP for non-US citizens starting January 1, 2024 click here.
For more information about the new State CHIP program visit: https://chip.health.utah.gov/.
For more information about our 100% Kids Coverage Coalition visit: https://www.100percentkids.health/.
Invest in Utah's Future Coalition: $5.6b of unmet needs should be prioritized over tax cuts
BROAD COALITION CALLS FOR INVESTMENT IN UTAH’S FUTURE RATHER THAN TAX CUTS, DOCUMENTS $5.6 BILLION IN URGENT UNMET NEEDS
Salt Lake City – On Monday, January 23, 2023 at the Utah State Capitol, a broad and diverse coalition of advocates for the poor, for disabled Utahns, for education, health care, clean air, the Great Salt Lake, transportation investment, and a variety of other popular Utah priorities held a press conference calling on the Utah Legislature to prioritize addressing Utah’s long and growing list of unmet needs over permanent tax cuts that undermine our long-term capacity to invest in Utah’s future.
Utah’s strong economy and rapid recovery from the pandemic, combined with the ongoing impact of federal spending, have generated unexpected state revenues amounting to a reported $3.3 billion available for FY2024. These revenues put Utah in a position to address chronic revenue shortages that have plagued numerous areas of state responsibility. Instead, state leaders have proposed roughly half a billion dollars in permanent tax cuts, tilted unfairly toward the high end of the income scale, as well as additional hundreds of billions in one-time tax breaks.
These new proposed permanent tax cuts would be over and above the roughly $4 billion that the Legislature has already cut from annual revenues in recent decades, leaving Utah’s taxes at their lowest level in half a century, relative to incomes.
In response, today the Invest in Utah’s Future coalition presented a list of urgent unmet needs amounting to $5.6 billion, over $2 billion more than the amount of the “surplus” revenues.
The advocates also pointed out that, according to data from the Utah State Tax Commission and the Utah Foundation, taxes in Utah are the lowest that they have been in decades, following repeated rounds of tax cutting. “Of course we all like paying lower taxes, but at a certain point we have to ask ourselves: Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? Are we, as the current generation of Utahns, meeting our responsibility, as earlier generations did, to set aside sufficient resources every year to invest in our children, in our future, in the foundations of the next generation’s prosperity and quality of life?” said Matthew Weinstein of Voices for Utah Children.
Speakers also referenced public opinion surveys by the Deseret News and Hinckley Institute that found that only 25% of Utahns support tax cutting over investing in Utah’s future, consistent with other polls done in recent years by the same organizations as well as by Envision Utah and the Utah Foundation.
Here is the list of urgent unmet needs that Utah has not been able to address due to the state’s chronic revenue shortages:
| Budget Area | Amount | Details | Contacts |
| K-12: Reduce class sizes from 29 to 15 | $1.1 billion ($612m K-6 only) |
Reduce class sizes/improve student/teacher ratio below the current Utah average of 29 (vs national average of 24) to optimum class size of 15. |
Utah Education Association Director of Policy and Research Jay Blain |
| K-12: Paraeducators | $312 million |
Expand paraeducators to all Utah elementary classrooms. |
Utah Education Association Director of Policy and Research Jay Blain |
| K-12: Increase school counselors | $130 million | Increase school counselors per student to the national standard optimum of 1:250. Utah’s current ratio is 1:648, compared to the national average of 1:455. | Utah Education Association Director of Policy and Research Jay Blain |
| K-12: school psychologists, social workers and special ed teachers | $285 million | Increase student access to school psychologists, social workers and special ed teachers.
Current and optimal ratios are: School psychologists: Now 1:1950/Optimal 1:500 Social workers: Now 1:3000/Optimal 1:250 Special ed teachers: Now 1:35/Optimal 1:25 |
Utah Education Association Director of Policy and Research Jay Blain |
| K-12 Education: reduce teacher attrition and shortages | $500-600 million | Envision Utah estimates that we need to invest an additional $500-600 million each year just to reduce teacher turnover, where we rank among the worst in the nation. Our leaders’ unwillingness to solve our education underinvestment problem is why the majority-minority gaps in Utah’s high school graduation rates are worse than nationally and our younger generation of adults (age 25-34) have fallen behind their counterparts nationally for educational attainment at the college level (BA/BS+). | |
| K-12 School Nurses | $78.5 million | The Utah Dept of Health annual report “Nursing Services in Utah Public Schools 2021-22” found that it would cost $78.5m to hire an additional 785 nurses so as to have one nurse in every public school building. There are currently only 261 nurse FTEs in Utah’s public schools, a ratio of 1 nurse for every 2,583 students. One nurse in every building would improve that ratio to 1:644, which would still be worse than the national average. https://heal.health.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2022-Nursing-services-in-Utah-Public-schools-8-22-22-ADA.pdf |
Dr. William Cosgrove, Past-President, American Academy of Pediatrics – Utah |
| Full Day Kindergarten | $70 million | Gov. Cox is proposing $70 million in the FY24 budget to make full-day Kindergarten available to all Utah families who would choose to opt in to it. | Voices for Utah Children Anna Thomas |
| Child Care | $236 million |
$236 million is needed to continue stabilizing the child care industry as federal funds are depleted. This funding will allow for the continuation of child care stabilization grants, retention incentives for early childhood professionals, the coverage of licensing-related fees in order to lessen the barriers to expanding, maintaining, and opening new child care programs, and regional child care outreach grants for rural and urban child care deserts. Source: www.utahcareforkids.org/get-involved/2023-legislation |
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| Pre-K and Child Care | $1 billion | Well over $1 billion is one estimate for a much needed comprehensive system of early childhood care and education (pre-k) in Utah. | |
| Afterschool Programs | $3.6 million | Utah’s 303 afterschool programs serve 43,000 kids but still leave 99,000 unsupervised every day after school. During the 2021 “21st Century Community Learning Center” grant competition in Utah, $1,062,816 was available and there was $4.6 million in requests, indicating a $3.6 million funding gap. | Utah Afterschool Network Director Ben Trentelman |
| Health Insurance: Children: Cover All Kids | $5 million | It would cost Utah about $5 million to remove barriers to health insurance coverage so that all Utah kids can access health insurance. Utah currently ranks last in the nation for covering the one-in-six Utah kids who are Latinx and in the bottom 5 states for all children. Source: Voices for Utah Children and www.100percentkids.health | Voices for Utah Children Ciriac Alvarez Valle |
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Health Insurance: New parents |
$10 million |
HB 84 would cost $3m to extend post-partum Medicaid coverage for new parents from the current 60 days to one year. HB 85 would cost $7m to extend Medicaid coverage to pregnant women with household incomes up to 200% of poverty level. |
Voices for Utah Children Ciriac Alvarez Valle |
| Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder Treatment | Uncertain |
Utah ranks last in the nation for mental health treatment access, according to a 2019 report from the Gardner Policy Institute. A 2020 report from the Legislative Auditor General found that Utah’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative had failed to achieve its goal to reduce recidivism -- and actually saw recidivism rise -- in part because “both the availability and the quality of the drug addiction and mental health treatment are still inadequate.” (pg 51) Amounts not determined to address large gaps in workforce capacity, but two bills this year are: HB 66: $11m for additional Mobile Crisis Outreach Teams and 2 additional Receiving Centers in rural parts of Utah HB 248: $5m for additional Assertive Community Treatment Teams |
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| Disability Services | $31 million |
The DSPD disability services waiting list has more than doubled in the last decade from 1,825 people with disabilities in 2011 to 4,427 in 2021. The FY20 $1 million one-time appropriation made it possible to provide services to 143 people from the waiting list, implying that it could cost $31 million to eliminate the waiting list entirely. In the 2022 session, the Legislature added $6 million in ongoing and $3 million in one-time money to shorten the disabilities waiting list. This year, Rep. Ward is sponsoring HB 242 to dedicate additional base budget funding to reduce the waitlist by 200 people each year. |
Legislative Coalition for People with Disabilities – Jan Ferre |
| Rural Utah Economic Development | $20 million | Rural Utahns should not feel that they need to abandon their home communities and add to the growth pressures along the Wasatch Front in order to provide for their families. Rural economic development would benefit all Utahns and reduce disparities between the Wasatch Front and other areas of the state. $20 million was one estimate for funding for economic development projects like the San Rafael Energy Research Center (Emery County) and renewable energy projects around Beaver County, both serving areas where primary jobs such as Smithfield Foods have left recently, and renewable energy projects have the potential to stabilize county economies. | Community Action Partnership of Utah - Stefanie Jones and Clint Cottam – |
| Reduce/Eliminate Benefits Cliffs | Uncertain | The existing benefits cliffs in many public anti-poverty programs – where public assistance disappears suddenly rather than phasing out gradually when someone gets a raise or takes a new, higher-paying job – act as an unintended obstacle to the efforts of low-income people to work their way out of poverty. | Circles Salt Lake – Kelli Parker |
| Sexual and Domestic Violence Victim Services |
$310 million OR $68 million |
Our economy incurs steep economic costs as a result of sexual and domestic violence. The Center for Disease Control estimates that over a lifetime the costs for a female survivor are $103,762 and for a male survivor $23,414. These include medical costs, loss of employment or interruption of paid work, criminal justice system costs, among others. A coalition of victim service providers and state agencies estimates the annual funding needed as $310 million ongoing to meet standard of care for all victims of domestic and sexual violence OR $68 million ongoing to fund the most basic level of services at only the current level of demand for services. |
Erin Jemison, Director of Public Policy, Utah Domestic Violence Coalition (UDVC) |
| Housing | $346 million per year for 10 years |
Among extremely low-income renter households, 71% pay more than 50% of their income for housing, which is considered a severe housing burden. $346 million per year of state funding over the next decade will make it possible to build affordable housing statewide for people earning less than 50% AMI, based on a state cost share of $80,000 per unit, and Utah is short 43,253 units. For more information on the current and ongoing needs visit https://nlihc.org/gap/state/ut |
Utah Housing Coalition Tara Rollins |
| Housing for Seniors | $67.5 million |
$37.5 million a year for 10 years will fund rehabilitation of 500 units per year at a cost of $75,000 per unit. If we don’t fund preservation of affordable housing for seniors we will lose valuable units. $30 million per year will make available rental gap funding of $500 per month for 5,000 units so that seniors can afford to stay in their rented units. https://www.utahhousing.org/preserving-senior-affordable-housing-report.html https://nyuds.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b8318f874017488ea9bdd51a296e59ef for senior housing report |
Utah Housing Coalition Director Tara Rollins |
| Homeless Services | $154 million |
$100m in one-time funds to produce 2,000 units of deeply affordable housing $19m ongoing for tax credits and housing trust fund $5m to the housing trust fund to produce 1,000 new units of affordable housing over the next 10 years $30m one-time for projects to eliminate unsheltered homelessness for families with children: The total number of people needing emergency shelter services in Utah increased by 14% in 2022. For families with children the increase was 33%. This is why, for the first time in over 20 years, families with children were turned away from the family shelter in Midvale during the months of September, October and November of last year because there were not enough beds to meet the need. $30 million would help purchase a motel to convert into a second family shelter and purchase land that can be dedicated to produce mixed income housing developments that include permanent supportive housing for families with children headed by parents with disabling conditions that have been homeless for six or more months. |
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| Air Quality in Schools | $5 million | Funding to continue the successful implementation of this year’s federally-funded program placing air purifiers in every classroom in Utah, which will reduce the risks both from COVID and from Utah’s air pollution and is expected to result in improved school performance, even more than standard interventions such as reducing class size by 30%, or “high dose” tutoring. (Source: Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment) | UPHE Director Jonny Vasic - |
| Air Quality: Promote Transit | $25.5 million |
The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) experienced an increase in ridership during Free Fare February in 2022. Tens of thousands of riders, including many new to public transit, enjoyed the services, and stress on our transportation system and environment was lessened. Governor Cox’s Budget Recommendations for FY24 includes a $25 million, one-year pilot for statewide zero-fare transit. This pilot would include the state’s three transit systems that are not currently zero-fare: Cedar Area Transportation System, SunTran, and the Utah Transit Authority. The governor also recommends $500,000 for a zero fare transit study to analyze the impacts of the pilot. During Free Fare February, 87% of entities that subsidize UTA fares for their users continued paying subsidies to help enable the zero fare period. The Governor’s proposal calls on UTA fare subsidy partners to continue paying subsidies for their users during this one-year pilot period to cover $13.1 million in additional costs. This pilot will provide Utah families price relief to help offset the burden of gasoline prices, gasoline tax indexing, and inflation, while also allowing researchers to analyze factors related to permanent decisions about zero fare transit |
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| Improve UTA transit service | $175.6 million |
$10.9m to match UTA projections to fully supplement free fares for a year. (In all, UTA projected $35.9 in fare revenue for 2023) $3.5 million to address UTA’s driver shortage ($20/hr*2,080 hours*60 operators + 40% for benefits, taxes, etc.) $30,000 to match CATS (Cedar City’s transit system) to fully supplement free fares for a year based on budget projections. $136,000 to match SunTran (St. George’s transit system) to fully supplement free fares for a year based on budget projections. $159 million to clear UTA’s debt to free UTA to expand and improve service. $2 million to fund a matching grant from the federal government to study the feasibility of a passenger rail route connecting Boise to Las Vegas via Salt Lake and points in between. |
Curtis Haring, Utah Transit Riders Union |
| Hunger | $1 million | It is clear that the state needs to do more in providing funding and other resources to help support local community food pantries. | Utahns Against Hunger – Gina Cornia – |
| Utah EITC | $57 million | Last year Utah became the 31st state with our own Earned Income Tax Credit, but we're one of the few who make it non-refundable, even though over 85% of the value of the federal EITC -- and the key to its poverty-reducing and workforce-enhancing power -- is its refundability. In 2022 under Gov. Youngkin, Virginia made their state EITC refundable. ITEP analysis shows 71% goes to the lowest-earning quintile and nearly all to the lower-income half of Utahns. | Voices for Utah Children – Matthew Weinstein – |
| Gov. Cox’s proposed refundable tax credit | $54 million | Utah's Taxpayer Tax Credit shields most low-income workers from the income tax, which is a good thing because it makes our overall tax system less regressive. Now Gov. Cox is proposing to make it even better by making up to $250 of this credit refundable. | Drew Cooper, United Today Stronger Tomorrow |
| Eliminate the sales tax on unprepared food | $200 million | The food tax is the most regressive tax. One-third of it is paid by the lowest-income half of Utah households, who earn less than a sixth of all Utah income. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, low-income families pay 36% of their income on food while higher-income families spend only 8%. This is why 37 states do not charge any sales tax on food. | Drew Cooper, United Today Stronger Tomorrow |
| Save the Great Salt Lake | $333 million | Gov. Cox is proposing $133m in new resources to save the Great Salt Lake and $200 million to help reduce water waste in agriculture. Source: www.sltrib.com/news/2022/12/30/dear-legislature-heres-2023/ | Utah Rivers Council –Matt Berry |
| Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion as it relates to undocumented Utahns | Our public fiscal policies – how we generate and expend public investment dollars – have a direct impact on whether we are widening or narrowing the gaps between different groups in Utah. The Utah Compact on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion must be more than just words on a page. slchamber.com/public-policy/utah-compact In particular, Utah is home to 95,000 undocumented men, women, and children. They work hard and pay taxes and need and deserve access to the same public services as every other Utahn. | Comunidades Unidas – Brianna Puga – | |
| The economic case against tax cuts | Tax cuts are usually enacted to provide additional stimulus to the economy. Given our very low unemployment rate, along with ongoing inflationary pressures, now is not really the right time for new economic stimulus. The future is uncertain – some economists expect we may face a recession in the coming year, though there’s a wide variety of opinions about the likely timing and severity of such a possible event. Additional tax cuts right now won’t do much to affect that. However, investing now in the many unmet needs we face, particularly in the areas of water and climate, education, child-care, and the many other needs listed here this morning, will put us in a better position to thrive whatever the coming years bring us in terms of economic conditions. | Univ. of Utah Economics Prof. Thomas Maloney PhD | |
TOTAL |
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$5.6 billion – over $2b more than the amount of "surplus" revenue for FY2024 |
The press conference was broadcast live on Facebook: https://fb.watch/ieyT_0Zi14/?mibextid=RUbZ1f
Media coverage:
- KJZZ: Local organizations oppose statewide tax cuts, call for investments in Utah's future instead
- Deseret News: Time to invest more in education, housing, water and other areas, group says
- KUTV-2: Local organizers oppose tax cuts, call for investments in Utah's future instead
- KSL: Don't cut taxes, advocacy groups urge Utah lawmakers. Here's why.
- UtahPolicy.com
Additional one-pagers distributed by some of the coalition members:
- Circles Salt Lake: Background about Circles and one-pager about benefits cliffs
- Transit: Utah Transit Riders Union info and one-pager about free-fare transit
- Community Action Partnership of Utah one-pager about rural Utah's needs
- Child care one-pager from UtahCareforKids.org
- Housing affordability one-pager from Utah Housing Coalition
Voices Urges Utah’s Congressional Members To Take Action After The 5th Circuit’s Decision On DACA
Statement on the Fifth Circuit Court Decision in Texas v. United States
Voices for Utah Children is disappointed with the ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling largely upheld the lower courts’ decision that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) 2012 memo is unlawful. The case has been sent back to the lower court to consider the Biden Administrations new DACA rule that will go into effect on October 31st.
While we are glad to know that DACA renewals will temporarily continue, we know this is no solution. We are frustrated with the inaction of Congress, including Utah’s Congressional members. Now more than ever, Congress MUST act. DACA recipients should not have to live their lives in limbo, waiting to hear from court decision after court decision.
There is a false sense of security because despite the litigations, DACA has continued. However, for those with DACA the rollercoaster has been far from peaceful and secure. It has been heartbreaking for the hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth who qualify that cannot obtain their permits because new applications are not being accepted.
Nine years of this program working should be enough for Congress to finally take action and stop playing with the lives of immigrant youth. Our Congressional members can be champions for immigrants in our state. We urge them to be leaders in this crucial moment. Let’s not wait until the program ends to finally provide permanent protection to immigrant youth – it’s time to pass reform for immigrant youth now.
History:
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program began in 2012 under President Obama to allow immigrants who came to the country as children under 16 the opportunity to apply to a legal working permit and deferred deportation. It was a temporary fix to the inaction of Congress on immigration reform. Currently more than 600,000 Dreamers benefit from the program, including more than 9,000 Utahns.
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Invest in Utah's Future, Not Tax Cuts
BROAD COALITION CALLS FOR INVESTMENT IN UTAH’S FUTURE, NOT TAX CUTS, DOCUMENTS $5.2 BILLION IN URGENT UNMET NEEDS
Salt Lake City – On Monday, November 8, 2021 on the steps of the Utah Capitol, a broad and diverse coalition of advocates for the poor, for disabled Utahns, for education, health care, clean air, and a variety of other popular Utah priorities held a press conference calling on the Utah Legislature to avoid cutting taxes until it has developed a comprehensive plan to address Utahns’ top concerns by investing in Utah’s future.
Following nearly two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, Utah is fortunate to have achieved a more rapid economic recovery than nearly every other state. Utah has also received billions in federal assistance that have padded state revenues – but only temporarily. It is expected that the Governor and Legislature will have at least $2.5 billion in new revenues to appropriate in the 2022 General Session of the Utah Legislature.
This has led some to say that Utah is “swimming in money” and should cut the state income tax rate from 4.95 to 4.5%, a tax break of $600 million (that mostly benefits upper income families rather than Utahns in need). This tax break would be over and above the roughly $3.5 billion that the Legislature has already cut from annual revenues in recent decades (seehttps://le.utah.gov/interim/2021/pdf/00003683.pdf slide #3).
In response, today the Invest in Utah’s Future coalition presented a list of urgent unmet needs amounting to $5.2 billion, more than double the amount of the expected new revenues.
The advocates also pointed out that, according to recent reports from the Utah State Tax Commission and the Utah Foundation, taxes in Utah are the lowest that they have been in decades, following repeated rounds of tax cutting. “We understand that tax cuts are popular, but we’ve reached the point where we must ask ourselves: Are we, as the current generation of Utahns, meeting our responsibility, as earlier generations did, to set aside sufficient resources every year to invest in our children, in our future, in the foundations of the next generation’s prosperity and quality of life?” said Matthew Weinstein of Voices for Utah Children.
Speakers also referenced the recent public opinion survey by the Deseret News and Hinckley Institute that found that only 27% of Utahns support tax cutting over investing in Utah’s future, consistent with other polls done in recent years by the same organizations as well as by Envision Utah and the Utah Foundation.
Here is the list of urgent unmet needs that Utah has not been able to address due to the state’s chronic revenue shortages, adding up to a total of $5.2 billion:
| Budget Area | Amount | Details | Contacts |
| K-12: Reduce class sizes from 29 to 15 |
$1.1 billion ($612m K-6 only) |
Reduce class sizes/improve student/teacher ratio below the current Utah average of 29 (vs national average of 24) to optimum class size of 15. (Source: UEA) |
Utah Education Association Director of Policy and Research Jay Blain |
| K-12: Paraeducators | $312 million |
Expand paraeducators to all Utah elementary classrooms. (Source: UEA) |
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K-12: Increase school counselors |
$130 million |
Increase school counselors per student to the national standard optimum of 1:250. Utah’s current ratio is 1:648, compared to the national average of 1:455. (Source: UEA) |
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| K-12: school psychologists, social workers and special ed teachers | $285 million |
Increase student access to school psychologists, social workers and special ed teachers. (Source: UEA) Current and optimal ratios are: School psychologists: Now 1:1950/Optimal 1:500 Social workers: Now 1:3000/Optimal 1:250 Special ed teachers: Now 1:35/Optimal 1:25 |
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| K-12 Education: reduce teacher attrition and shortages | $500-600 million | Envision Utah estimates that we need to invest an additional $500-600 million each year just to reduce teacher turnover, where we rank among the worst in the nation. Our leaders’ unwillingness to solve our education underinvestment problem is why the majority-minority gaps in Utah’s high school graduation rates are worse than nationally and our younger generation of adults (age 25-34) have fallen behind their counterparts nationally for educational attainment at the college level (BA/BS+). | |
| K-12 School Nurses | $84.4 million |
The Utah Department of Health annual report “Nursing Services in Utah Public Schools 2020-21” found that it would cost $84.4m to hire an additional 844 nurses so as to have one nurse in every public school building. There are currently only 224 nurse FTEs in Utah’s public schools, a ratio of 1 nurse for every 2,617 students. One nurse in every building would improve that ratio to 1:623, which would still be worse than the national average. Sources: www.utahschoolnurses.org/, www.nasn.org, www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2021/10/01/diane-nicoll-utah-schools/ |
Dr. Jennifer Brinton, MD, President, American Academy of Pediatrics – Utah and Dr. William Cosgrove, Past-President - |
|
K-12: Homeless Students |
$105.8 million |
HUD vouchers do not cover students and their families who are homeless under McKinney Vento Dept. of Education definition. For the 2019-2020 school year, Utah had a little over 13,500 K-12 homeless students. Some of them are duplicates as students move from one district to another. Also the same household has multiple children. If we assume we have:
Source: Utah Housing Coalition |
Utah Housing Coalition Advocacy & Outreach Coordinator Francisca Blanc – |
| Full Day Kindergarten |
$52.5 million |
Voices for Utah Children estimates that it will cost $52.5 million to make full-day Kindergarten available to all Utah families who would choose to opt in to it. | Voices for Utah Children Sr. Policy Analyst Anna Thomas and Pastor Brigette Weier, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church |
| Pre-K and Child Care |
$1 billion |
Well over $1 billion is one estimate for a much needed comprehensive system of early childhood care and education (pre-k) in Utah. | |
| Afterschool Programs |
$3.6 million |
Utah’s 303 afterschool programs serve 43,000 kids but still leave 99,000 unsupervised every day after school. During this past year’s 21st Century Community Learning Center grant competition in Utah, $1,062,816 was available and there was $4.6 million in requests, indicating a $3.6 million funding gap. (Source: Utah Afterschool Network) | Utah Afterschool Network Director Ben Trentelman – |
| Health Insurance: Children | $5 million | It would cost Utah about $5 million to pay for SB158 to remove barriers to health insurance coverage so that all Utah kids can access health insurance, including 12-month continuous eligibility. Utah currently ranks last in the nation for covering the one-in-six Utah kids who are Latinx and in the bottom 5 states for all children. Source: Voices for Utah Children | Voices for Utah Children Deputy Director Jessie Mandle |
|
Health Insurance: New parents |
$5 million | Extending Post-Partum Medicaid Coverage for new parents up to one year (now just 60 days) Source: Voices for Utah Children | |
| Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder Treatment | Uncertain |
Utah ranks last in the nation for mental health treatment access, according to a 2019 report from the Gardner Policy Institute. A 2020 report from the Legislative Auditor General found that Utah’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative had failed to achieve its goal to reduce recidivism -- and actually saw recidivism rise -- in part because “both the availability and the quality of the drug addiction and mental health treatment are still inadequate.” (page 51) Stakeholders identify the highest priority items as: housing and workforce capacity. There is a need to expand student enrollment slots in universities for MSWs (Masters in Social Work), MFTs (Marriage & Family Therapists) and MHCs (Mental Health Counselors), and to provide scholarships at these institutions to attract students. |
|
| Disability Services | $30 million |
The DSPD disability services waiting list has doubled in the last decade from 1,953 people with disabilities in 2010 to 3,911 in 2020. The FY20 $1 million one-time appropriation made it possible to provide services to 143 people from the waiting list, implying that it could cost $30 million to eliminate the waiting list entirely. |
Legislative Coalition for People with Disabilities – Jan Ferre |
|
Rural Utah Economic Development |
Uncertain | Rural Utahns should not feel that they need to abandon their home communities and add to the growth pressures along the Wasatch Front in order to provide for their families. Rural economic development would benefit all Utahns and reduce disparities between the Wasatch Front and other areas of the state. | Community Action Partnership of Utah - Stefanie Jones and Clint Cottam – |
| Transportation Access | $300 million |
Increase access to employment and educational opportunities for more people, especially lower-income communities. Provide additional transit connections, including extended evening and weekend service. Establish more ‘active transportation‘ (bike and pedestrian) connections to increase equity of access. Source: Wasatch Front Regional Council |
|
| Left Behind Workers and Families | $154 million |
Last year’s report “Left Out: Adding Up the Cost of Excluding Undocumented Utahns from State and Federal COVID-19 Relief” showed how undocumented Utahns and their families (comprising 39,000 households with over 100,000 individuals) work hard and pay taxes but were excluded from $154 million of federal COVID and unemployment relief. |
Comunidades Unidas – Brianna Puga – |
| Sexual and Domestic Violence | $85 million |
Our economy incurs steep economic costs as a result of sexual and domestic violence. The Center for Disease Control estimates that over a lifetime the costs for a female survivor are $103,762 and for a male survivor $23,414. These include medical costs, loss of employment or interruption of paid work, criminal justice system costs, among others. The Utah Domestic Violence Coalition 2017 Needs Assessment identified insufficient funding for shelters, affordable housing, child care, legal representation, and mental health and substance abuse treatment services as major obstacles to protecting women from domestic violence. In the 2021 Utah Legislative Session, fourteen private non-profit domestic violence service providers submitted an appropriations request of $3.4 million in ongoing state funds. However, only $1.7 million was funded through federal TANF funds. No ongoing state funds were approved. Unfortunately, only two domestic violence service providers were able to accept and utilize the TANF funds. The remaining twelve domestic violence service providers were unable to accept those funds because TANF eligibility requirements conflict with Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) confidentiality provisions. The actual cost to meet the needs of Utahns experiencing sexual and domestic violence is much higher than is reflected in the 2021 appropriations request and has been estimated to total $85 million. (Source: Utah Domestic Violence Coalition, Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Restoring Ancestral Winds) |
Gabriella Archuleta, Director of Public Policy, YWCA Utah and Yolanda Francisco-Nez, Executive Director of Restoring Ancestral Winds |
| Housing | $415 million |
Funding to build affordable housing state-wide for people earning less than 50% AMI. In Salt Lake County alone, the current need is $1 billion. Affordable housing units fall 41,266 units short of meeting the need for the 64,797 households earning less than $24,600. Among extremely low-income renter households, 71% pay more than 50% of their income for housing, which is considered a severe housing burden. For more information on the current and ongoing needs visit https://endutahhomelessness.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/HousingNow-Deck-12.pdf |
|
| Homeless Services | $55 million | Case manager positions have been underfunded for the past several years and most do not make a living wage. The homeless resource centers in Salt Lake County also maintain a perpetual gap in state funding of at least $3 million per year. In 2019, homeless service providers across the state sought $41 million in funding for ongoing programs, including case management. At that time, the state provided $12 million. The following year, the state provided $9 million. Covering even the basic needs of providers would be a huge step forward in our efforts to reduce homelessness across the state. | |
| Housing for Seniors |
$30 million/ year for 10 years |
If we don’t fund preservation of affordable housing for seniors we will lose valuable units. A very general estimate would be $50,000 per unit for perhaps 5,000 units. This equates to $250 million in rehab costs. What is more realistic is subsidizing 5,000 at say $500 per month or $30 million per year which would allow these projects to Borrow the money for rehab. Over 10 years the total is $300 million but the state would pay this over 10 years. The $250 million up front to rehab the units would likely keep them going for 10 years, then more rehab would be required. https://www.utahhousing.org/preserving-senior-affordable-housing-report.html https://nyuds.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b8318f874017488ea9bdd51a296e59ef for senior housing report |
Utah Housing Coalition Director Tara Rollins |
| Air Quality | $100 million | In 2018 Gov. Gary Herbert proposed $100 million for clean air initiatives but the Legislature did not fully fund this goal.
The Wasatch Front ranks as the 11th worst air quality in the nation for ozone and 7th worst for short-term particle pollution. Investments should align with the principles in Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute Road Map, and have fallen short in previous years. |
|
| Air Quality in Schools |
$35 million |
Funding for air purifiers in every classroom in Utah, which would reduce the risks both from COVID and from Utah’s air pollution and could be expected to result in improved school performance, even more than standard interventions such as reducing class size by 30%, or “high dose” tutoring. (Source: Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment) | UPHE Director Jonny Vasic - |
| Air Quality: Promote Transit | $60 million | Funding for UTA to eliminate fares entirely on all UTA conveyances as has been done already in dozens of cities to varying degrees, including in the SLC Free Fare Zone. (Source: Steve Erickson fiscal estimate, https://freepublictransport.info/city/ ) | Steve Erickson - |
| Hunger | Uncertain | It is clear that the state needs to do more in providing funding and other resources to help support local community food pantries. Earlier this year, Utahns Against Hunger conducted a community food pantry survey and found that in 2020, a quarter of pantry respondents had a funding gap, with 15% of respondents having a gap of $10,000 or more. | Utahns Against Hunger – Gina Cornia – and Alex Cragun |
| Utah EITC |
$100 million |
Utah should become the 31st state to offer a 20% state match to this highly popular federal tax break. This refundable tax cut targeted to low- and moderate-income working families has been proven to reduce poverty by drawing lower-skilled persons into the workforce, moving them toward independence and self-sufficiency. Most of this tax cut goes to the lowest income fifth of Utahns, those earning under $28,000, and the rest goes to the second fifth of the income scale, those earning under $50,000. | Voices for Utah Children – Matthew Weinstein – |
| Eliminate the sales tax on unprepared food | $130 million |
The food tax is the most regressive tax. One-third of it is paid by the lowest-income half of Utah households, who earn less than a sixth of all Utah income. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, low-income families pay 36% of their income on food while higher-income families spend only 8%. This is why 37 states do not charge any sales tax on food. |
Rev Libby Hunter, Cathedral Church of St. Mark, speaking on behalf of the Coalition of Religious Communities (Bill Tibbitts – ) |
| About those water project boondoggles… | Federal rules permit the use of ARPA funds for water infrastructure projects, but Utah would save billions of dollars and millions of gallons by investing in conservation first to reduce usage in one of the most water-wasteful states in the nation. Those ARPA dollars would be better used addressing the urgent unmet human needs of our fellow Utahns. | Utah Rivers Council – Zach Frankel – and Lindsey Hutchison | |
| Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion |
Our public fiscal policies – how we generate and expend public investment dollars – have a direct impact on whether we are widening or narrowing the gaps between different groups in Utah. The new Utah Compact on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion must be more than just words on a page. https://slchamber.com/public-policy/utah-compact/ |
Angel Castillo, Ogden NAACP | |
TOTAL |
$5.177 billion – more than double the amount of “surplus” revenue that the Legislature expects to have |
||
Live recording of the Invest in Utah's Future press conference 11/8/21: https://fb.watch/99bpgYEAqp/
Printable version of this document is here.
Media coverage is posted at KSL and Deseret News and Fox-13.
ONE PAGERS ABOUT THE VARIOUS UNMET NEEDS:
- K-12 education: UEA data infographic and UEA 2022 budget priorities
- K-12 school nurses info from American Academy of Pediatrics - Utah Chapter
- Rural Utah economic development from CAP-Utah and additional information from Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity
- Disability services information from annual report of the Utah Division for Services to People with Disabilities
- Air quality: Classroom air purifiers from Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment
- Air quality and low-income transportation access: Free Fare UTA one-pager from Crossroads Urban Center
- Sexual and domestic violence one-pager from YWCA-Utah
- Sales tax on food op-ed from Deseret News
- Income tax rate cut vs Utah EITC one-page summary
The Reconciliation Bill is Good for Immigrant Families!
Right now, Congress is in the process of debating and potentially passing a reconciliation bill that includes a number of provisions that are good for immigrant families. During the next couple of weeks and months, we will see several updates and changes but one thing is clear: this bill is good for children and families. Today we will highlight a number of provisions that are good for immigrant families in our state. We know that a path forward that includes economic recovery cannot be done without lifting those who have been hardest hit, that includes immigrant families. Immigrant families have been vital to our state during the pandemic and will continue to be during the recovery.
Child Tax Credit Expansion
The expansion and extension of the CTC through 2025 would mean that more children would be eligible, restoring eligibility to the CTC to about 1 million Little Dreamers with ITINs. In Utah, that is approximately 11,500 children. An equitable recovery would allow for more funding to come directly to our family with a $34,882,800 impact to our state.
Educational Equity
Educational opportunities for all will be key in ensuring everyone can recover after the pandemic. The provisions made would ensure that there are no restrictions to expanded child care and early education programs. This means neither the parents nor the children’s immigration status will be a factor during the eligibility process. Additionally, eligibility for higher education assistance such as Pell Grants, student loans, and work study would expand to those with DACA, TPS, and DED.
Pathway to citizenship
Immigration reform will be essential to the economic recovery of our state and for our immigrant families. While we are disappointed at the Parliamentarian's first ruling to not include a pathway we urge Congress to search every avenue available to provide protection to immigrant families in the U.S. It is estimated that over 34,000 Utah children have an undocumented parent. By providing a pathway to citizenship to essential workers, DACA, TPS, and DED holders, approximately 1,000 children will be lifted out of poverty in our state. Additionally, Utah is home to approximately 100,000 undocumented immigrants, and of those, about 49,500 are essential workers. We understand that immigrants have been critical to keeping Utah moving forward and helping our economy stay afloat during the pandemic and hope we can support them post-pandemic by including such reforms during the reconciliation process.
As we continue to advocate on federal and state level policies, Voices will ask the question: “Is it good for kids?” The provisions we highlighted are ones that we believe are good for immigrant kids in our state. As the House and Senate continue to negotiate what will be included in the final reconciliation bill, we urge them to keep these provisions that will ensure kids and families in Utah will have opportunities to recover economically post-pandemic.
Voices for Utah Children Statement on DACA Ruling
We are disappointed and disheartened by the ruling from U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen no longer allowing new applications to be approved.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has allowed more than 600,000 immigrants, including approximately 10,000 in our state to work legally and live without the looming fear of deportation. We know this program has made a significant impact on the lives of DACA recipients themselves, their families, and our communities and would have made an impact to those who were waiting for their approval.
DACA was enacted in 2002, by President Barack Obama as a temporary solution to a broken immigration system. Today we continue to call upon our federal delegation to act and support the passing of a permanent solution that includes a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients and other “Dreamers” or undocumented youth currently without a status. We will continue to work to support DACA recipients during this difficult time and advocate for permanent protection.
If you are a DACA recipient, please see the mental health resources below.
In the coming week we will have more details on what the decision means and answer questions for DACA recipients.
Resources:
https://homeishere.us/mental-health/undocuhealth-national-mental-health-directory/
Utah Partners for Health:
https://702cc1c3-bbf2-4715-bc30-67f27170c9ea.filesusr.com/ugd/dc957b_5a162caaffaa43db941ade50db5fdcec.pdf
Latino Behavioral Health Services
Multicultural Counseling Center:
University of Utah Counseling Center:
https://counselingcenter.utah.edu/services/individual-counseling.php
SLCC:
2021 Kids Count Data Book is Now Available!
We are pleased to announce that the Annie E. Casey Foundation has released the 2021 Kids Count Data Book.
Access the book today at www.aecf.org/databook
Background
For 15 years it has been the priority of the Utah KIDS COUNT Project to ensure that policymakers, advocates, community service providers, the media, and concerned citizens have quality data on how children are doing in our state. These yearly publications provide county level data on a variety of child well-being indicators.Utah showed strong gains in key indicators of child well-being from 2010 to 2019, according to the 2021 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, a 50-state report on child well-being by the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzing how children are doing in four domains encompassing 16 child well-being indicators.
Summary of the 2021 Utah Kids Count Data
This year’s Data Book shows nearly a decade of progress in all but two of the indicators.
Troublesome indicators appear in the Health domain as low birth-weight babies and child and teen death rates both saw increases over the decade. The percentage of babies born at low birth weight rose from 7.0% in 2010 to 7.4% in 2019, a 6% increase; Utah fell in the national rankings from 12th to13th in this indicator. Similarly, the child and teen death rate rose from 24 deaths per 100,000 children in 2010 to 26 in 2019, an 8% increase. Utah fell in the rankings for this indicator from 14th to 24th.
While Utah showed improvement in most areas of child well-being over the last decade, when comparing 2020 data to 2021 data our rankings from last year fell in all but one category:
- Overall ranking fell from 4th to 5th
- Economic Well-Being fell from 2nd to 5th
- Health ranking fell from 13th to 18th
- Family and Community fell from 1st to 2nd
- Education remained the same at 10th
“The bad news is Utah is not keeping pace with the states that continue to improve,” said Terry Haven, deputy director of Voices for Utah Children, Utah’s member of the KIDS COUNT network.
“The good news is it wouldn’t take much to help our rankings start trending upward again. For example, if Utah wanted to rank number one in percentage of low birth-weight babies, it would only have to reduce the number by 532 babies.”
Impact of the Pandemic on Utah Kids
Sixteen indicators measuring four domains — economic well-being, education, health, and family and community context — are used by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in each year’s Data Book to assess child well-being. The annual KIDS COUNT data and rankings represent the most recent information available but do not capture the impact of the past year:
ECONOMIC WELL-BEING: In 2019, 91,000 children lived in households with an income below the poverty line. Nationally, Utah is praised for its economic success, but Utah families continue to face rapidly increasing housing costs. Utah ranked 10th in 2018 for children living in households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing, and the state dropped to 17th in 2019. With the current housing prices in Utah, it is quite possible this trend will get worse.
EDUCATION: In 2019, Utah education ranking held steady at 10th in the nation. However, Utah’s early education numbers still lag behind much of the country with close to 60% of 3- and 4-year olds not attending school. Utah ranks in the bottom third of states for this indicator.
AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE: In 2019, 82,000 children in Utah did not have health insurance. The state made an effort to provide all children in Utah with health insurance through the passage of legislation. While the bill was enacted, not enough funding was appropriated to cover all kids. Utah continues to rank 41st in the nation for uninsured children.
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY CONTEXT: Utah has consistently ranked first in the category but fell a bit in 2019 to second. Utah did make improvements in the number of children in single-parent families. In 2018, Utah had 174,000 children in single-parent families but in 2019, the number dropped to 168,000 children.
Let's Continue to #InvestInUtahKids
Investing in children, families and communities is a priority to ensure an equitable and expansive recovery. Several of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s suggestions have already been enacted in the American Rescue Plan, and additional recommendations include:
- Congress should make the expansion of the child tax credit permanent. The child tax credit has long had bipartisan support, so lawmakers should find common cause and ensure the largest one-year drop ever in child poverty is not followed by a surge.
- State and local governments should prioritize the recovery of hard-hit communities of color.
- States should expand income support that helps families care for their children. Permanently extending unemployment insurance eligibility to contract, gig and other workers and expanding state tax credits would benefit parents and children.
- States that have not done so should expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The American Rescue Plan offers incentives to do so.
- States should strengthen public schools and pathways to postsecondary education and training.
Release Information
The 2021 KIDS COUNT® Data Book is available at https://www.aecf.org/resources/2021-kids-count-data-book. Journalists interested in creating maps, graphs and rankings in stories about the Data Book can use the KIDS COUNT Data Center at datacenter.kidscount.org.
Happy DACA Anniversary!
Today we are celebrating nine years of DACA by sharing more information about this program and HR6: The Dream and Promise Act.
Who are Dreamers?
Dreamers are immigrant youth, who entered the U.S. before their 18th birthday. This name comes from the original Dream Act 2001 that was introduced by Senator Dick Durban (IL) and Senator Orrin Hatch (UT) and is commonly used when referring to this group of immigrants.
Some Dreamers are Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, the program that began under President Obama under an executive order in 2012. Since 2012, DACA recipients have been able to work legally, have protection against deportation, and given the ability to obtain drivers licenses, credit cards, and more. DACA recipients are everywhere. They are restaurant workers, healthcare workers, sanitation workers, construction workers, and more. They are members of our community who have built lives and families in the U.S. We have seen time and time again that this program has been under attack and It is past time that permanent protection for this group of young people is passed.
DACA recipients in Utah
With over 650,000 DACA recipients in the U.S. Utah has about 8,490 recipients as of March 2020. Studies have shown time and time again that DACA works. Most DACA recipients are either working or going to school, approximately 40% of DACA recipients are in school. Of those in school, 83% are pursuing a bachelor’s degree or higher. Additionally, thanks to DACA 58% reported moving to a job with better pay. While DACA remains an important program, a 2-year renewal process is no way to live or to create a future. A measure that would provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers has continually been supported, a recent poll done by the Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics showed that 55% of Utahns supported a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
What is H.R.6: The Dream and Promise Act 2021?
H.R. 6: The Dream and Promise Act 2021 is a bipartisan measure that would create a three-step pathway to citizenship for an estimated 4.4 million eligible immigrants including: Dreamers, DACA, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients the ability to apply for permanent legal status in the U.S. This important piece of legislation will grant DACA recipients an opportunity for an expedited process to receive Permanent Residency “Green cards” through employment, education, or military service. It also grants a path to citizenship to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) holders, and other eligible Dreamers. If you’d like to learn more, you can also watch our whole explainer on the different federal immigration bills being considered here.
Why we need immigration reform now!
Pushing for comprehensive and humane immigration reform now is crucial. We must create a humane immigration system that prioritizes keeping families safe and together. We must create a system that recognizes the contributions immigrants in our state have made. We are conscious, that DACA recipients represent a small portion of the immigrant community and while we celebrate DACA’s 9th Anniversary we also will continue to advocate for meaningful immigration reform for the rest of our immigrant community in our state.
The pandemic has continued to show us that undocumented immigrants are an essential part of Utah, and ensure they are supported during this public health crisis and beyond. Until then, undocumented, and mixed-status families remain vulnerable to deportation, family separation, detention, and exploitation.
This year we have an opportunity to finally pass immigration reform that creates a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers through HR6 and continue advocating for larger reform for the rest of our immigrant community like the Essential Workers Act or the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021. We believe the Biden administration and Congress can act and finally fully recognize our undocumented immigrant community who are essential workers, family members, colleagues, and neighbors.
We celebrate the impact DACA has had in our state and urge Senator Romney and Senator Lee to vote YES on HR6: The Dream and Promise Act 2021!
Celebrate with us by sharing our social media posts, signing this petition, or contacting Senator Romney and Senator Lee today! And if you are a DACA recipient, visit www.UtahDACA.com to learn about resources available to you in our state!
