Robert Axson, a representative from Senator Mike Lee’s office came to the Willard City Office Building to hold an information meeting on 12 December. Mr. Axson shared Senator Lee’s agenda on the Family Fairness and Opportunity Tax Reform Act, Higher Education Reform and Opportunity Act, Working Families Flexibility Act and the Transportation and Empowerment Act. Each of these items is designed to help strengthen families and their opportunities in society with less government interference.
According to the representative the FFOTR Act would replace today’s current tax system with a simple tax structure. It would establish a 15% rate on all incomes up to $87,850 and twice that amount for married couples and 35% on all income above that level. The Senator believes this will restore opportunities to working parents and their families.
With the HERO Act, Mr. Axson explained, “Right now the only way you can receive federally-backed student loans is through accredited institutions.” He elaborated that this act would put the accrediting process of determining what institutions would receive accreditation on the state level instead at the federal level. By doing this states can allow students to receive the loans to attend colleges or trade schools if they so desire. “Right now we are forcing students that don’t have the means to pay for a trade school immediately to attend four colleges in order to receive student loans,” stated the gentleman, “If a student wants to become a mechanic and that is, say, a twelve-month school they should be able to choose that focus and receive funding to do that.” With this act a void in employment could be filled where there are thousands of jobs that require trade school certification.
The next subject discussed was the WFF Act, which would help families balance their time between the demands of home and work. Employers would have the ability to offer choices of comp time or overtime pay both accrued at 1.5 times the overtime worked. It would allow employees to accrue up to 160 hours of comp time annually. The act would also guarantee the employee protections of the 40-hour work week, overtime accrual and provide safeguards to guarantee comp time is voluntary.
Then Mr. Axson explained the Transportation Empowerment Act as a solution that builds a transit infrastructure that would make transportation between home and the job more affordable and give the individual an opportunity to seek more affordable housing closer to the job. Senator Lee believes the government subsidized mortgages and housing programs are not the answer for helping families to accomplish their goals for work and home when families need less time in transit and more time with their families. This act would use transportation funding to build better infrastructure that meets the needs of the communities and not the special interests of Washington, D.C. It would lower the federal gasoline tax from 18.4 Cents per gallon to 3.7 cents per gallon. This would put more money back into the local economy and would allow states to control current gas taxes. It would also eliminate costly and time consuming mandates that drive up project costs.
There was some Q & A after Mr. Axson’s presentation where he addressed the concerns of citizens and wrote down names and contact information to give to the senator to address. Some folks just wanted to let the senator know they appreciate his efforts on their behalf. A few folks said that they felt he has exhibited statesmanship in his efforts and they found it refreshing.
The senator has a website that he and his staff update weekly with the latest information concerning what is happening on Capitol Hill. That link is: www.lee.senate.gov. Once on the site a person can sign up for email updates. You can also contact him through the website. Mr. Axson said they are very good at getting back to folks in a timely manner.
