My Experience at the Utah State Legislature: Week One, Initiatives

Utah State Capitol
My first week at the Legislature was enlightening and eventful. Mind you, I am not a novice to the process (at least on paper) and I have been teaching law making, Roberts Rules, participating and running nearly a 100 simulations, etc. for years, but I have never actually been in the trenches day after day, so this is a great adventure.

My schedule has stabilized to rising at 5am, at the capitol by 6:30am and back to my temporary residence (the home of the Malmstrom’s, thank goodness for good friends) anywhere from 7-10pm.  Let the games begin!

Intern David May Office of Representative Brad Galvez

I was able to arrange a legislative assistant position in the office of my long time friend Rep. Brad Galvez. Everyone should be so fortunate to see valor, conviction, and principled determination at work.

While Rep. Galvez was immediately thrust into the machinery of legislating, my guide for the first couple of days was his wonderful wife Lisa.

It seemed that it took us an hour to walk what should have taken a mere 5 minutes, She knows everybody, and she went right to work introducing me to representatives and senators, pages and interns, green coats (security and hosts) and even janitorial and kitchen staff.  I give her an A+ for networking–which is a very real part to success on the hill.

The Capitol Rotunda

I wasn’t there a day before it became clear what I would be spending most of my time on: Article V, Public Lands and Legal Tender (more on these later).  Aside from my daily duties of briefing upcoming bills, attending committees and House floor debates, partaking in the numerous lobbyist meals and lectures, contributing to speech writing and prepping for my own lectures for constituents, I have already been involved in a number of meetings getting up to speed on where these three initiatives are headed and how I can contribute.

 

It is important to realize that while here, I am doing little to earn a living.  Julia and I spent significant time discussing this path and we finally determined that if I was going to grow and continue to fulfill my mission, we needed to make this sacrifice.  I am confident that it will prove being worth the effort and missed income.

 

26 Responses

  2. Very exciting….the experience will be priceless I’m sure. Eevn better to be working with a principled representative (those are rare here in NY)

  4. Thanks for being at the Legislature!

    Daniel and I each took one entire session when we lived in Provo (including months of preparation and meetings)(I went with a 6-month-old in tow, who was a great ice breaker). We helped Eagle Forum (a pro-family group) by attending meetings, taking notes, reading bills, talking with Representatives and others… that was 8 and 10 years ago! It’s high time we make a way to do that again.

    I’d recommend the experience to anyone. It’s amazing to be there and learn about it all first hand. The education is worth the sacrifice, especially when you can help great people make great things happen (or, in more cases, help prevent terrible things from passing!).

    We’re doing a bit from home to be involved, hoping others do the same, and hoping you have a great session!!

  5. Thank you for the update and the sacrifice. I wish I could be there to. We’ll try to be worthy of the freedoms you help legislate and unlegislate for us.

    I wonder what the limitations are on setting up homestead options using Utah public lands.

    What is the next step on the Utah legal tender battle front? What are our specific Federal limitations for Utah? Where are the most strategic frontiers for change?

  6. Looking forward to hearing your take on if the actual legislative process is anywhere near what we’ve been studying it is supposed to be. Thanks for sharing this experience with us all!

  7. You are an inspiration to us all. Will continue to read your updates of your adventures.

  10. The fouding father has finally come home!! (or hell). Good luck up there. I eager to hear about your odissey. Keep us posted!

  11. Shanon, I have no doubt that since you are following God’s will in your life, He will supply you with what you (and your family) need. What a great testimony to step out in faith like that!

    Go, God bless you, learn a lot, and update us at FOL in March!

  12. Pingback: My Experience At The Utah State Legislature: Part Two, State Sovereignty | Shanon Brooks

  13. WOW! You have come along way Shannon since those meetings in my home in Cottonwood, Az. You have and continue to make a positive move in educating others towards a greater understanding of the constitution and what America is all about. You have always been a mover and a shaker. Give my love to that sweet wife of yours.

    1. Kind words will get you everywhere. Nice to hear from you. Bill and I are in communication.

  14. Pingback: My Experience At The Utah State Legislature: Part Three, Teaching the People | Shanon Brooks
  15. Pingback: My Experience At The Utah State Legislature: Part Four, Legislation | Shanon Brooks
  16. Pingback: My Experience At The Utah State Legislature: Part 6, Can We Improve Utah Government? | Shanon Brooks

Krislyn Elliott & Lauren Swanepoel

Krislyn Elliott and Lauren Swanepoel act more like sisters than moms as they take really slow walks through the woods together, looking at and taking pictures of every plant they see & wishing they could remember their names and uses more thoroughly. They also like concocting herbal teas, salves, tinctures and strange drinks.

Krislyn is from Utah and has loved learning about plants since an unusually cool high school biology teacher took his classes on neighborhood botany walks. She has always been fascinated and constantly amazed at the power and beauty of plants.

Lauren is from South Africa, she and her family emigrated to Utah almost 10 years ago. They have fallen in love with the area and know more about this state & the great places to explore here than most Utah natives.

We both feel strongly about taking care of our families with natural methods and the abundant medicine we have growing right around us. We are trying to learn as much as we can about our magical local plants and are looking forward to sharing some of our favorites with you.

William DeMille

Director of Georgic Develeopment

William DeMille is a lifelong vegetable farmer. He studied Horticulture and Agronomy at Northwest Missouri University, Maryville. He holds a certificate in aquaponic engineering and production from Cornell University, NY, and another from GrowHaus Aquaponics in Denver, CO. He also studied soil regeneration and is a graduate of Dr. Elaine’s Soil Food Web School. He is the Director of Georgic Development for The Center for American Legacy Studies.

William is a farm consultant establishing several agricultural startups since 2005 in Missouri, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada and he currently manages 2500 acres of grassland for the Ruby Mountain Foods Company.

His latest venture is a market gardening school called Georgic Revolution where he teaches a 17-week course onsite in Nevada covering soil health and vegetable production without the use of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, etc. and where he operated a soil lab.

William lives with his wife Vernie in the snow capped mountains of Northern Nevada.

Lloyd Nelson

World Renown BD Expert

Lloyd Nelson has been practicing the art of Biodynamic (BD) Agriculture for over twenty years. He is a BD preparation maker, builder, artist, farmer, arborist, BD educator & consultant. He is co-founder of Biodynamic Source – a Colorado based non-profit specializing in high potency BD preparations – and he owns and operates a Biodynamic spray, fertilizer and consultation service. He has worked with small and large scale farms, vineyards, and orchards to transition to sustainable Biodynamic land management and Demeter BD Certification.

Vern Cox, PhD

Educator

Vern Cox is married to Joyce Christensen and they have 8 children. He has 3 earned degrees, a BA in psychology, and both a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy.

He has had a diverse and interesting career that started with the Bureau of Land Management, followed by a stint as a Learning Disabilities teacher, and finally a marriage and family therapist, working his way up to executive director of the High Country Counseling and Resource Centers that served two counties in Wyoming.

Dr. Cox served for several years on the board of a charter school. Dr. Cox remains heavily involved in his community and the home schooling movement.

He has extensive background in marriage and family counseling, having held a number of administrative positions during his first career. He holds a BA in Psychology and both a Masters and PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy. He lives with his wife and several married children on their multi-generation farm in Southern Utah.

Joseph Lofthouse

Educator

Joseph adopted the principles of landrace gardening in response to the harsh growing conditions in a high-altitude, short-season, desert garden. Instead of relying on expensive poisons, labor, and materials to coddle the plants, he encourages genetic diversity, cross-pollination, and survival of the fittest, allowing the plants to adapt themselves to the current and ever-changing ecosystem, thus simplifying gardening and seed saving. Joseph is the author of Landrace Gardening: Food Security Through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination. Joseph loves eating, farming, swimming, hot-springs, sunbathing, bird-watching, running, yoga, leggings, kilts, playing guitar, singing, and living habitually barefoot.

Dan Brooks

Educator

Dan Brooks was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. During his first career, he spent 20 years working in and managing high-end restaurants and golf courses including extensive banquet/special events services and ice sculptures.

For the past 23 years, Dan has been a successful entrepreneur and family business owner in Las Vegas. He and his wife have 4 children and 11 grandchildren. He serves as a trustee for The Center for American Legacy Studies.

Shanon Brooks, PhD

Director

Shanon Brooks is the director of The Center for American Legacy Studies, an institution dedicated to helping families embrace and incorporate the Five American Ideals; Georgics, Liber, Providence, Public Virtue, and Liberty into their lives and communities. America exists because of Americans. Americans are the beneficiaries of a peculiar culture and way of living.

Over the past 75 years, that culture and way of life have been lost. Restore that culture and Americans will rebuild America to once again be worthy of John Winthrop’s 1630 admonition, “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.”

Brooks has been a leader in alternative higher education for over 30 years, and is the author of two books: AMERICAN: Killing the American Dream and A Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens.

Dr. Brooks is a veteran of military service in the United States Submarine Fleet and holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration, a Master’s degree in education, and a Ph.D. in constitutional law.

He and his wife Julia reside on the 80-acre conference facility of The Center for American Legacy Studies.