Time to Hamstring the Give-Away Artists

The Utah legislature is about to have a corrective bill before it. Its sponsor is Rep. Neil Hansen (D-Ogden). It's an important bill, methinks:

What it will do is require local Utah entities, like the Ogden RDA, to rigorously 'check out" prospective lessees who are designated to pay down lease revenue bond debt, under formal auspices of generally-recognized accounting principles.

We have a class of "annointed" but inexperienced and financially-reckless "rogue lay clergymen" still thinking they're running Ogden because they believe "God" "ordained" them.

What we need, I think, is a bill like Neil Hansen has on the table.
Here's the prefacatory text to Rep. Hansen's bill:

This bill modifies the Local Government Bonding Act to require certain contract clauses related to the financial condition of a private entity that is making principal or interest payments on lease for revenue bonds. Highlighted Provisions: to this is bill:

Requires any pledge, contract, or agreement between a local political subdivision and a private entity to include provisions that allow the local political subdivision to: independently assess the ability of the private entity to meet its financial obligations if the pledge, contract, or agreement involves lease payments for the repayment of a revenue bond; and rescind or amend the pledge, contract, or agreement if the assessment finds that the private entity is unable to meet its financial obligations and the local political subdivision determines it is necessary to protect its financial interests;

Requires the local political subdivision to ensure the independent assessment is complete prior to entering into a pledge, contract, or agreement and at least annually;

Requires independent assessment to be performed using audited financial statements provided by the private entity;

Requires the audited financial statements to include an opinion by an independent certified public accountant indicating the financial statements are fairly stated in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America;

And requires that the independent assessment shall determine whether there are adequate available net assets or a reasonable expectation of sufficient future cash flows and revenues in excess of expenses to provide for the lease payments during the next reporting period.

And here's a full link to the text of the bill on the Utah State Legislative site.

Rep. Hansen needs concerned Ogden citizens' active support on this.

E-mail your legislator now.

This should be a bi-partisan effort, BTW. Everybody who knows anybody knows Rep. Hansen and I usually work the opposite sides of the political-party-partisan aisle.

Nevertheless, I throw my whole-hearted support to Neil Hansen on this.

This is just another way to hamstring the local neoCON giveaway artists, and require them to behave as conscient adults.

TIME IS SHORT ON THIS. The House committee votes on this tomorrow,January 23, 2006, at around 2:30 p.m.

We need to inundadate them with emails. Better yet... get thee down to the Capitol Building.