Derek Monson
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How does tax reform repeal impact state funding for public schools?
With December’s tax reform law now repealed by the passage and signing of HB 185, the Legislature is currently working to determine state funding for public schools for the upcoming fiscal year. We may not know exactly how much public…
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A new funding system may be best for Utah’s schools
If the tax reform package jump-starts a change in Utah’s public school funding policy, years down the road we may look back and find it to be the most powerful outcome of tax reform. We may see December 2019 as…
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Pressure grows for healthcare to get on the price transparency train
If enacted, these rules would mean that for the first time, families across America will be able to conveniently compare prices for healthcare services from different providers. In addition to considering which provider they are most comfortable with, patients will…
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Helping Utahns afford healthcare starts with finding common ground
Finding consensus on policy can and should become the rule, not the exception.
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Guns and suicide: Utah needs honest search for solutions
Originally published in Deseret News. Suicide rates in the United States are at record highs, according to a recent federal study. Sadly, Utah’s suicide rates have been even higher. A major factor in Utah’s high suicide rate is gun-related suicide,…
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Utah families need transparent pricing of health care, prescriptions
Originally published in The Salt Lake Tribune. Democratic presidential candidates are aspiring to replace private health coverage with Medicare. Utah’s Republican-controlled state Legislature recently passed some 26 new health care laws, reforming things ranging from health insurance and Medicaid to…
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Thoughts about the future of Utah’s Medicaid program
Remarks as prepared by Derek Monson, vice president of policy at Sutherland Institute, for a panel on “Charting the Future of Utah Medicaid” at the 2019 Utah State of Reform Health Policy Conference in Salt Lake City on April 24.…
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How to bridge the partisan divide
Originally published in The Hill. As a conservative policy thinker and a lesbian pastor, we share a friendship blessed by difference. After nearly a half-decade of conversing, writing and speaking together about the controversies around LGBTQ equality and religious freedom,…
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Help former criminals expunge records and move on with Clean Slate Initiative
Originally published in Utah Policy. Every day, thousands of Utahns are burdened by nonviolent criminal records that torpedo good job prospects, deny them homes, and even prevent them from getting driver’s licenses – even though they have fully served their…
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‘Will of the voters’ goes deeper than one ballot initiative
Medicaid expansion proponents characterize the Utah Legislature’s approval of a modified Medicaid expansion, referred to as SB 96, as defying the will of the voters on Proposition 3. The truth is, Utah legislators did exactly what voters elected them to…