The Rod and Greg Show: Utah Lawmakers Ban Cell Phones in Classrooms; Should Utah Small Businesses Use E-Verify?

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I thought about you today when I was coming in,
I thought, I hope Rod is enjoying this fifty plus
degree weather, because if he's not.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, I, you know, you get locked in this hermetically
sealed studio and with me with you, yeah, and you know,
and working on the show and getting ready for the show,
and you forget Hey, I should probably step outside and
see the sunshine. Yeah, so I did.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
That's important to you. I did about you.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I did today. Great to be with you on this
Thursday afternoon. We've got a lot to do. Talk to
you about today. Steve Moore, who's giddy as could be
when we called him earlier about the economic package. Will
we joined Essa State represented Steve Elison. What about the
impact of these federal layoffs? What impact will I have
on Utah, especially our national parks.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
We have a lot of federal employees and there's you know,
there could be as you're seeing government become more efficient,
hopefully and you might see those layoffs, and so what happens.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
What happens then, well I figure that out a little
bit later on. We'll talk about that. We'll also talk
about a bill concerning school boards. That's an interesting Billy.
We'll get into that. So we've got a lot to
get to today, and we appreciate your time to join
with us every afternoon on your way home if you
want to be a part of the program. Eight eight
eight five seven eight zero one zero. I always say
that number about my nine million times, but I forget

(01:17):
eight eight eight five seven zero eight zero one zero,
or on your cell phone dial pound two of fifty
and say, hey, Rod. The story of the day I
think is the passing of Gene Hackman.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
The Hollywood story kind of odd too, And I look
the man I think was the ninety three.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, it's ninety three and ninety five.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Ninety three, i'd say a little long in a tooth,
just supposed to put that way, a little older, are
you slamming?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Definitely on the back nine maybe the final hole?

Speaker 1 (01:44):
So yeah, so his his passing isn't like a shock shock. However,
his wife passes, who's in her sixties, and they're one
of their one of their three dogs passes. Yeah, so
it's just a it's just a different type of story
leaves you wondering. But what an incredible actor and contributor
to film and you know story that He was an
author too, which I only learned from you today.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, he wrote three books. A matter of fact, here's
what Fox News are reporting today on the passing of
Gene Hackman Ris.

Speaker 5 (02:12):
The Associated Press now looking at the sheriff search warrant
and saying that according to the sheriff, Hackman was found
dead on Wednesdays. I mentioned Hackman was in a mud room.
His wife, Betsy was found dead in the bathroom next to.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
A space heater.

Speaker 5 (02:30):
The AP also reporting there was an open prescription bottle
and pills scattered as they put it on the countertop
near Betsy Arakawa. So we're getting developing information.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Development Now that was a little while ago. Now we're
getting new information that they are now you know, they
they didn't include foul play in here, but now they're
saying that death is suspicious. These two may have been
dead for several days. They really don't know how long
does Apparently there is a report the bodies were partially mummified,
which would mean they'd been there for a little while.

(03:04):
And apparently the first inclination that something was on wrong,
Greg was a housekeeper came up to the house, couldn't
get in the house, looked through the window and apparently
saw the bodies on the floor, and that's when she
called authorities.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, and look, Gene Hackman, I'm just looking at this
at ninety five years old. The wife, Betsy was sixty three. Yeah,
I don't know. We all go sometime, but it's it's
sad to see two people passing at the same time
and then and then they don't understand exactly what happened there.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
But I don't know. When I thought it was maybe
carbon monoxide or something, well.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
I thought it was murdered suicide. Yeah, and I'm thinking, oh,
have we got Oh no, have we got a murder
suicide with Jane Hackman. But then they came out they
said no foul play, and then we we instantly go
to carbon monoxide. Yeah, but till we're dead. One dog
is dead. How about the other two dogs?

Speaker 3 (03:57):
Well they're alive.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, they are alive. So what happened to them?

Speaker 4 (04:01):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
S Yeah, it's a strange, strange story.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
It is.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
And you know, I don't know if you sign any
pictures of Gene Hackman lately, but you know, he he
kind of exited out and kind of became kind of reclusive,
but most recent pictures I had seen, I recall even recently.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Then, Wow, he looks rough. He looks like.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
He's yeah, really he looked having a hard time, but
he didn't look healthy.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
What a great actor. Oh yes, I mean it was
an every man actor is what they referred to him.
He took on so many different roles. Do you have
a favorite.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Hoosier's Probably, but like he put a pretty good Lex
Luthor packing. Well, you're a super Superman super Bowl fan Superman, yeah,
Lex Luthor. Yeah, I liked him as Lex Luthor. That
was back into what it was, late seventies.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, late seventies. Yeah, yeah. Was Christopher Reid Superman then? Yes,
I think he was.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, he was su Reeve and I think his Yeah,
Christopher Reeve was Superman.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, I want to play a little montage of some
of the lines from his movies. You'll hear lines from
the Conversation Hoosiers, which I agree with you, I think
is a fun, great movie, Mississippi Burning, which is another
great movie, and then of course Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood.
Here a few highlights.

Speaker 6 (05:06):
Listen.

Speaker 7 (05:06):
If there's one surefire rule that I have learned in
this business is that I don't know anything about human nature.
I don't know anything about curiosity.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
That's not part of what I do. What I this
is my business.

Speaker 7 (05:16):
Don't get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game.
If you put your effort and concentration into playing to
your potential to be the best that you can be.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
I don't care what.

Speaker 7 (05:26):
The scoreboard says at the end of the game. In
my book, we're gonna be winners.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Okay, well you you get this straight, kicker.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Don't you go mistaking me for some whole other money.
You got to hear the brains in your You think
we're just gonna fade away. We're gonna be here till
this thing is finished. How about you, dippity.

Speaker 8 (05:53):
Demorestell different lines than you, the one there lies in
the same shoe lives.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
I ain't gonna hurt no one.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
I'm gonna hurt you.

Speaker 9 (06:11):
Didnt gender like before?

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Well, that's terrifying.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
That's a clip from Unforgiven. Uh you know, he once
said in an interview. I was reading about him a
little bit today. He enjoyed playing bad guys.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Well, from what I just listened to, it sounds like
he does it quite well. I you know, the man's deceased,
and I was feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, listening to me, he enjoyed playing bad guys. So yeah, yeah, Well,
many people will go home tonight and watch a Gene
Hackman movie.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
I may, Yeah, I might too. Well, I'll do it
this week. I'm not doing it.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, maybe this weekend, just this weekend I show. Yeah,
but Gene Hackman, uh, dead at the age of ninety
five and still kind of suspicions out there trying to
figure out what happened. All right, Yeah that.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Not just these Hollywood types. You know you can't all right,
More coming up. Steve Moore, economist Extraordinary, will join us
next on The Rotten Gregg Show and Utah's Talk Radio
one O five nine k n r S. One way
or another, We'll get.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
There one way or another. Very good.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, you got that. I've got to get it right
past you, get it right past another.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Get you welcome back.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
One way We'll get to get you. That's right, Welcome back.
It is the Thursday edition of The Rotten greg Show. Well,
big news coming out of Washington this week, the new
big news every day with Donald Trump in the White House,
but a couple of days ago, the Senate passed a
House passed Trump budget bill. And you've been pushing this
for a long time, mister Hughes. I mean, this is

(07:44):
something gotta happen, man, gotta happen. Yeah. Well, Steve Moore,
economist extraordinariy is joining us on our news maker line
to talk about this. Steve. Thanks, big news coming out
of the House.

Speaker 4 (07:55):
Steve, Well, it was a huge victory, and gigantic victory,
it was for sure. You know, I had talked to
Speaker Johnson, you know, early that evening, and he called
me and said, Steve, we may have to withdraw the
bill because we don't have the votes. And it's my
heart sank. And then a half hour later he calls

(08:18):
me back to well, no, we're counting them. Call him
back in, and now we have the votes. And of course,
a couple of Republicans got a phone call from a
certain someone. I don't think I have to tell you
that was and he's a very good arm twister, very
very very persuasive guy. And so we got this thing
through by one vote, two seventeen to two fifteen. This

(08:40):
is epic because it means the odds of our getting
this done and done it getting it done quickly are
greatly enhanced by this. I feel pretty confident we're going
to get this done now. Now, I want to make
sure that your listeners understand something, because the Democrats lied,
widelied through their teeth on this. They kept saying, oh,
this is a big tax cut for the rich to
pay for medicaid, you know, cuts and so on and

(09:02):
so forth. And the truth is that what this bill
really does is it ensures that we don't have, on
January first of this year, the biggest tax increase in
American history. So, in other words, it just keeps in
place the current tax law that provided a three thousand
dollars tax cut for every on average, for every family.

(09:24):
It cut small and big business taxes. It vastly simplified
the system. It virtually eliminated the alternative minimum tax. The
Democrats want to bring that all back. Every single Democrat
in the House voted against this bill.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, you know, I was waiting. I was withholding judgment
on this bill until we spoke. I had to hear
from you because you read, you know, you know, all
the fine print. I needed to know that we didn't
have a tax increase coming our way like a freight train.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
There's no tax increasing. Well, you know me, I'm not
for any tax increasing. Now, this was not Yeah, Now,
this is a really good bill. It basically makes the
Trump tax cuts of twenty seventeen, which you guys know
out there, Laffer and Larry Coppo and I wrote the
very first version of that bill. But you know, seven
or eight years ago, and it's been a huge success,
and we just want to keep it in place. And

(10:11):
you know, the Democrats want this massive tax increase. And
so now we move to the Senate, and things looked
pretty good there. You know, it's remember the Republicans only
have a three folks majority in the Senate and only
two so you know vote margin in the House. So
you know, there's not a lot of room for error here.
But I do think that we're going to get this done.

(10:33):
I think it will be very very positive for the US.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Economy in addition to not seeing this massive tax increase,
which was how I tried very hard to translate this.
We you know, extending the Trump tax cuts, because it
wasn't any tax it was just massively increasing our taxes,
as you've always stated. Well, in addition, to that. Didn't
we see no tax on tips, no tax on overtime,
and even some Social Security tax relief.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Was that included in that bill?

Speaker 4 (10:58):
Steve, You know, that's a good question. I don't believe
it was. I think that the idea is to add
that this is amendment. Trump is very insistent on the
no tax on tips, and I believe, I do believe
I can play. I can say with full confidence that
we're going to do the no tax on tips. I
don't know about the other ones. You know, we may

(11:19):
make some minor adjustments to those, but no tax on
tips because you know, as they haven't been for no
tax on tips, Trump I might not have won the election.
I mean, that was so popular with service workers throughout
the country, you know, and so we we need to
reward them with a little bit of a pay raise
in their paycheck.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah, may have carried them through Nevada, certainly because it's
such a service oriented industry.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
Now, see, Steve, where are we in the Senate?

Speaker 2 (11:44):
What? What kind of hang ups does the Senate have
on this?

Speaker 8 (11:47):
Right?

Speaker 4 (11:47):
Now?

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Have you heard anything?

Speaker 4 (11:49):
Well, you know that you heard Trump talk about one
beautiful bill, right, one big beautiful bill. So we want
one big, beautiful bill. The Senate wants two bills or
three bills. You know. Look, this is a lot of
theatrics right now. The bottom line is, I think we're
going to get this thing done. I would like to,
you know, and then I talked to Speaker Johnson, and

(12:10):
then we want to get this all done by a
Memorial Day. And it's important, by the way, it gets
done quickly. You know, It's not only important we do it,
but we have to do it quickly. Economy is showing
some signs of weakening from all the massive fourth quarter
spending that Biden did, you know, when he left office,
and that's caused another burst of inflation because, as you know,

(12:31):
uncontrolled government spending raised prices, so, you know, worried about that.
The housing numbers are not great, so that the economy
needs to pick me up. I think Wall Street wants
to get this, you know, done, so we don't see
every business in America with a bigger tax bill next year.
But as you can tell from my voice, and you
know that, I'm very happy about the developments of this week.

(12:53):
I think it was a huge, huge victory for Trump
and we will get this done going forward.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Beyond beyond this, just so we have tariffs that come back.
They always are talking spoken about. I see the Apples
made some big moves and some investment in the United States.
I think that these levers.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
You know, that's a that you know, you know, that's
a that's the understatement of the world. It's like what
over you're you know, I forget the huge number fifty
billion dollars. I mean this gigantic investment uh in the
United States. And and that's what Trump wants to see.
I think we'll see a lot more of that once
that tax bill is signed into into law. But you're right,

(13:35):
I mean every you know, the United States is a
great place to invest in right now. We have some
of the lowest taxes. Uh. You know, we were going
to make sure that if you produce things in the
United States, you're going to pay a lower tax rate. Uh.
And so we're doing everything and we're deregulating, you know,
we're did you see just in the last week, you
know all those regulations we used to talk about on

(13:56):
you have to buy an electric car, you have to
buy an electric stove, you can't have a so if
you can't have a guest car, you can't have a guess.
You know, law and mower, you know, all those regulations
we're getting rid of. We're getting Remember the something we
talked about on your show, you know a few months ago,
was that Pete petisheg Remember he had the seven point
five billion dollars to build fifty thousand charging stations. You

(14:21):
know me, you know how many? They built fifty five?
So they were all they missed it by ninety nine
point nine percent. And so Trump Trump killed that program.
And look, dose is going to do a lot of
saving of money. And the thing that really surprised me,
guys is the left reaction to to doge O. My god,

(14:43):
this guy's so terrible because he's exposing all the waste
in our budget. And I'm like, you believe in good government,
why would you want wouldn't you want to get rid
of the waist? But no, And I have been puzzled
by that. And then one of my friends sort of
slipped me the answer, which is they make money on
the waist. I'm still paid.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
It's a cottage industry.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
Yes, it's a racket. It's a racket.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
I don't think I was tracking that as well as
since Elon's come on the scene. We've seen Doge's work,
We've seen President Trump take office. I don't think I
understood the extent and how deep that money making racket
really is.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
Oh did you see the story? I mean I just
almost dropped out of my chair. The most sanctimonious, self
righteous Democrat. He's always you know, attacking Republican Sheldon Whitehouse,
a senator from Rhode Island. You know, he was he
was caught grant he got an earmark in one of
the spending bills for fourteen point nine million dollars and

(15:38):
guess what, four million of that money somehow showed up
in his wife's bank account. Oh, how that happened?

Speaker 3 (15:45):
And he's mad about it?

Speaker 4 (15:46):
I wonder. Yeah, No, he's mad that they've exposed you know,
that's that. There's a word for that. It's called grafts. Yes,
and there's so much graft in Washington. I go, I
don't know if we use that word anymore. They used
to call it graft. But you know, that's these guys
who talk about how wonderful they are, how much they
care about you know, environment and other things, that what

(16:06):
they're really doing is lining their own pockets.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Steve, thank you.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
It's rare.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Steve shares his opinion like that, but charged up.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
And you know, I don't even know why Rhode Island
is even a state. I think I think it's actually ridiculous.
They get two centers out of that place. You and
I could throw a football across. That's that Probably it's
not even real.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
All right, Mark coming up on the Roden greg Show,
Talk Radio one oh five nine k n R S.
You gotta have water.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
I have red bull. I don't need water. I'm so overwalked.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
All right, Well, certainly Donald Trump and Elon Musk have
taken a what shall we say, a jackhammer a chainsaw
to the sides of the federal government. But at this
point we don't know what exactly that's going to mean
for individual states. You know, we're still trying to figure
that out. But what could have mean here in the
state of Utah. M. We've got somebody here on our

(16:57):
line right now. We haven't had this guy on the
air for a long time.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
I don't know what my favorite lawmakers I love stirring
with him. He's got a big brains, an accountant, certified public.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
He's an accountant.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
This guy knows like you can't be.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
He's for sure.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
So this guy's got it all figured out. If it
comes with numbers, he's got it down.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
No, we're talking about state Representative Steve Elis and Steve,
how are you welcome to the Rod and Greg Show.
I think that's your first time on with it, Steve.

Speaker 10 (17:25):
In a few months for sure. But it's great to
be with you all. And I was hoping I was
the fifth caller to win the prize.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
But not this time, Steve. Not this time.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Hey, Steve, I got representative, I got merch. Okay, we
got the Rodd and Greg show hat. Okay that you
have to see you You're gonna love it anyway, as.

Speaker 10 (17:44):
Long as it's under ten dollars, I can accept it.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
There you go, There you go, There you go, sir.
All right, let's talk about Steve. You've got an idea
when it comes to state park federal parks here in
the state of Utah, if in fact, we're going to
see some cuts, no doubt that we are. Well, what
are some of the some of your thoughts on a
represent ended Yeah, so it's really interesting.

Speaker 10 (18:04):
Before these cuts had been announced at the federal level,
I was already working on this resolution because we have
a number of federal recreation sites around the state that
have been neglected and even closed. There's a campground of
Farmington Canyon called Sunset Campground. The Forest Service let it

(18:25):
fall in disrepair. They then closed it for health and
safety reasons, and then they bulldozed the buildings and said,
we're just going to let it go back to nature. Well,
a huge demand for camping. Anelope Flats Campground out in
Flaming Gorge area. They only have about a third of
the campground opened and they don't know if they'll be

(18:49):
even able to have it open this summer due to
the budget cuts. They had a three or four mile
road that led to this campground that was paved, but
it was in such disrepair they just said, you know,
it's going to be cheaper to tear the road up
than to fix it, so they just returned it to
a dirt road. So there, I'm proposing Flaming Gorge State Park.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
It's right on the water.

Speaker 10 (19:13):
I'm proposing the Skyline Drive State Park just outside of
Bountiful at Farmington Canyon.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
And then Greg will remember this.

Speaker 10 (19:22):
Years ago, we passed a bill to create little Sahara
State Park down in the Little Sahara sand Dunes, and
we passed the bill. But the only thing that had
to happen was the BLM had to agree to give
us the land, and under prior administration they said nope.
So this bill says, hey, let's state parks make another
run at working with the BLM to take over operation

(19:46):
of that park and that area and turn it into
a state park. So that's just a few things my
resolutions trying to do.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
Why am I not surprised you were already working on
this before Doge got you know, got starting so Representative,
let me ask you. I think that first starting with
these no show jobs, like like the MOB has, you
know in New York City or whatever, where they get
a lot of jobs where there's no one attached to them.
So I think they'll get to them on the federal
side first. But what what do you suspect I mean,

(20:13):
you've just narrated some just disrepair and some just neglected
state parks or properties. How do you think that these
layoffs and then just the employees are the FTEs we
would need to make those those properties attended by a
state and operated by the state. What kind of dollars

(20:34):
are we talking and how how realistic is it to
do something like that.

Speaker 10 (20:40):
Well, Greg, you'll remember this very well. You were either
speaker or in leadership when the last government shut down
happened and they were going to close down all the
national parks. Yeah, Utah stepped in with millions of dollars
and said not sel fast, and we've kept those parks open.
And guess what, we've never been paid back. So Utah

(21:01):
has a history of stepping in when the federal government
drops the ball. And interestingly, the National Park Service has
released a list of nearly four hundred million in maintenance
and capital projects that need to be done in the
mighty five national parks here in Utah, but there was
no money before the current administration, and now we're in

(21:24):
budget cutting mode. So the last part of the resolution says, hey, Congress,
please pass legislation that would allow the National Park Service
to work with states to co manage national parks with
states on a voluntary basis, because then Utah could step
in as funds are available and say, you know what,
we are going to get these restrooms working, we are

(21:45):
going to fix this road, we are going to deal
with the wastewater system and do the most critical things.
I'm sure there's things on that lists that aren't really needed.
But here's the real kicker. Under federal law, at least
twenty percent of the gate receipts from our national parks.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
Go back to d C.

Speaker 10 (22:03):
Well, they don't stay here for the benefit of our people,
the employees, or the needs of the parks. So under
a co management agreement, what I would envision is we
would say, you know, if we're going to put our
Utah taxpayer dollars into this, we're going to keep all
of the gate receipts in Utah for the benefit of
these parks.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Well, I'm with you on that one.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Well, and I will tell you the added benefit is
that there is a if you were to see the
continuation of unstaffed or deteriorating sites or what's happening with
the cuts, it has an impact to Utah's tourist economy,
and a lot of counties depend on the tourism to
come in. So really some of that money that the

(22:44):
state would use to partner would bolster and even promote
the tourism industry, which is a huge economic sector of
our state. So it does kind of work supply siders.
We believe when people pay their taxes and when things
are going well, that's when you see those revenues come.
So it would pay for itself. I would argue with
the people that would come and would would visit these sites,

(23:05):
if you can competently and successfully co manage them, if
you leave it to the Feds, by themselves representative, they're
going to shut them down, just like you're seeing with
these other properties. Let me ask you just this last
question real quick. They don't have, they don't have. They
never paid us back. We did take the we did
take the responsibility to keep it open when Obama tried
to shut it all down. Are any talk of us

(23:28):
getting a credit for that? They are You're an accountant,
you're in You an accountant, You can send the receipts.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
You know how to do this.

Speaker 10 (23:37):
You know, with this resolution, I've packed so much into
it that I didn't throw that in there. But the
last point you made was excellent that we we've already
benefited by keeping those parks open in the form of
income tax, sales tax, and TRT tax transit room tax.
So really, you know, we got some of that back already.

(23:59):
But I think we better write that bad day.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, all right, Representative, my accountant, I need you, Yes, all.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Right, Representative as always great joining having you join us.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
Thank you very much, Thanks so much, guys, take care
all right.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
State Represents Steve Elison all right, Moore coming up on
the Rotten Gregg Show in the coming hour. Just had
a great conversation with State Representative Steve Elisson. Maybe co
managing parts? Greg, what do you think about that idea?
I mean, many of our major parts have been in disrepair.
No money has been allegated, it has been used wisely.
Should we think out of the box? Greg? And what

(24:35):
would it be like if the state of Utah took
over the five national parts?

Speaker 3 (24:40):
It would be better?

Speaker 2 (24:41):
I mean, I mean would I know, I'm just thinking
out of the box on this one, right, So why not.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Let me tell you what we confront as a state.
This is I'm just hearkening back to my time as
a public servant for the State of Utah. When you
get a Democrat wants to run it. They think the
best way to treat a national park is leading the
womens outside of it. That's how they that's how they
want to manage it. You are the enemy. Yes, we're
not supposed to visit it. We're supposed to stay away
from it. That's how they that's their mindset. So I

(25:09):
think we can do better as a state than that.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah, you know, I think I didn't even think about
your your angle on that. You're right, you know, let's
let's set us aside. But nobody can go in it.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
No, that's it.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
Everybody people who want to use it as their own
personal places.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
As a personal you know, reservation system for the elite,
they get to come in, but only a few, not
everybody else. And they really do act that way or
not act that way. They manage it that way or
try to. And you have counties and those that are
around those areas that really push back hard to let
the people have access to those parks. I think the
state of Utah could really have a more cooperative relationship

(25:44):
with the residents of the state and the tourists that
arrive to really enjoy these national parks.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
And what if they kept all that money.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
I'm telling you it would be as a win.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Well, I want to leave. I want to ask you
are great listeners as you work home tonight, think about it.
I know a lot of you like to visit our
national park. We have five great ones, and a lot
of state parks as well. What if the state either
managed or coal manage your parts? What would you think
of that idea that's coming up our number two of
the rotting Greg.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
I feel obligated to share with our listening audience some
information you might not. Yes, well, I don't know if
it shouldn't bearish huge I I am, I am, I
am giving you praise.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
You are on a diet, and.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
I am watching for the eighteenth time.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
I am watching the way I really revamp your eating habits,
and it would require for me a level of willpower
and interest of which I cannot fathom.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
You don't have.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
I don't, And so you are a tough cat. I
eat here, I I nibble on Stuf'm kind of a grazier.
I eat stuff. And you haven't complained that I've got
all these all these goodies that I might eat here.
You just say dinner. You just grind through it. You
just like you just don't care. You're just pretty tough.
It's a pretty tough deal. That self discipline on dieting

(27:06):
is commendable. And I'm just I'm watching it in real time,
and I just had to share that this is a
very good end. I don't know, it's been like thirty
second you've been doing you lost a zillion pounds. I mean,
you're doing really well.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
I thank you. I am, but I got a long
way to go. But and I've been and if people
have listened to the show, I think this is the
third diet plan I'm on.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yeah, which seems to work. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Man, well the work and I put it back on.
But that's one really changes things I'm I'm having.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
We don't want to be a spoiler and tell audience,
but within just a short amount of days, you have
really seen some progress. Yeah, eating better, man, I don't
have anything else. If I don't have gluttony, what do
I got? I mean, I gotta have yourself. You talk
to yourself all the time.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
That's why I don't like water, That's why I like
red Bull. I gotta have something.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
All right, Let's talk about more important things, shall Yes,
let's all right. The one thing we wanted to bring up,
and I'd love to get people's reaction to this today,
is that Senate Bill one seventy eight that is devices
in public schools, meaning cell phones, smartphones, tablets, smart watches,
tablets out of the public Utah classrooms right, according to

(28:16):
this new bill passed by the Senate today officially passed Senate,
had earlier passed the House and now goes to the
governor for his signature. And my guess he's going to sign.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
It, so that one might be official. We might have that.
That might be a done deal, I think the government.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
Do you think it is?

Speaker 4 (28:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Have you heard the argument that we should let all
the kids have their cell phones because there could be
an emergency and they need to reach out to their parents.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
Well, do you buy that one?

Speaker 2 (28:38):
No? No, I think I tell you why. Yeah, because
we didn't have one.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
Yeah, we kind of manage Now.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
People say, well, schools are more dangerous today than they
are when you were going to school. I'd question that.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, I think we're staring at it a little closer nowadays. Yeah,
here's what you could do, And I don't know if
school districts will do it. But you know, I've been
to a I've talked about this with E.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Ray.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
He's been to concerts. I've been to a comedy show
where they want they don't want phones for the performance
because people recorded or whatever. So we they give you
this bag, you put it in this bag, and then
when you leave the venue, they'd give you this thing
to open it up and get your phone back out.
But you can't get it while you're watching the performance. Well,
you could put that bag. You can have those bags
for classes, and you could have them available if in

(29:20):
the event there were an emergency or something that a
teacher could get that access and open that bag for
the students to access their phone. If they can do
it for an entire concert comedy thing I was at
was at the Delta Center. If they can do it
for that many people, I think the schools could handle that.
If that was a way to bridge the concern that
the kids have access to their phone and in the
event of an emergency.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
Okay, I'm going to play take a contrarian view. Yeah,
is that all right with you?

Speaker 3 (29:46):
I don't know that it matters.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Why do we have to have a law? Yeah to
say this? I mean, think about this. Why couldn't Why
couldn't individual teachers be allowed to decide what they want
in and out of their classroom. Put a big old
sign as you're coming into the classroom, no cell phones
in my class.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
I have struggled law. So here's the bipolar nature of politics.
I have heard many times when I was a lawmaker
and chair of the House Education Committee, local control. Let
just what you just said, Let the schools uh school boards.
I elected school boards to make these decisions. Government closest
to the people are most important. And I hear that

(30:27):
a lot. And then I would see this bill that said,
we're going to ban uh vending machines from schools, and
it would be supported by the school Board Association and
by all the all the people in education want to
ban vending machines out of schools. And I would ask
the same question, Well, I thought you guys wanted local control.
Why can't you just why do you need a law?

(30:48):
Why aren't you ban it? Well, no, we need you
to do it. In other words, the answer to local
control versus we need a state law depends on where
you're sitting at the time you're sitting there. I mean
that nobody keeps that consistent. Sometimes they want to state law,
even the schools themselves. Sometimes they don't. It depends. So
I think the general rule, maybe an overarching rule of

(31:11):
the kids don't have the cell phones. I think that's good.
How they administer that will? I think we leave it
up to the schools to, you know, do it.

Speaker 4 (31:18):
Well.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
My question would be, all right, banning cell phones from schools?
Does that mean the classroom? Does that mean the hollow
they are the halls? Does that mean the gathering area
where kids gather in schools? What exactly does it mean?
And I go back to my original question, Greg, and
I'd love to get our audience and their feedback, because
I know we've got a lot of people who are
concerned about the impact that their cell phones are having

(31:39):
on kids. But why not just let each teacher decide
and say absolutely not in my classroom, and if some
aren't bothered by it, let them come in.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
I think some teachers have tried this and they kids
have complained, parents have complained, and then administration gets involved
and says, now you got it?

Speaker 3 (31:57):
I mean I do.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
I think I don't think all teachers believe they have
that kind of autonomy in their classroom.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
Well, what have we been talking about, Greg? With the
Education Department? Get rid of it and allow local control,
state control of federal funding, and state control of education.
This just takes it another step further, and I just
thought of this today. I'm thinking, why do we have
to have government telling us what we can and cannot
do when it comes to the use of a cell phone.
I understand the driving issue. I do get that that's dangerous,

(32:26):
but having a you know, if a teacher just wants
to say not in my classroom, and I, like you said, Greg,
I think there are some out there who say not
in my classroom, then why do we need a law
that says it.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
I'm good with the law, I am.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
I have a debate here. Do we need a poll here?

Speaker 9 (32:46):
Well?

Speaker 3 (32:49):
Five seven zero eight zero one zero? Maybe? I don't know.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
I just think that I think that there are some
laws or some policies that you can implement statewide. You
can give the latitude for the what's what's the number
of this lot?

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Is a Senate bill one seventy eight, Okay, I'm.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Going to look it up.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
So, but the point is, I think how you administer it,
you can leave that up to the you know, to
maybe districts. I think it should be decided on a
district level, not even a schools, not a school level,
but a district.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
By the sounds of it, they would leave it up
to district levels to decide how they want to use this.
But again, I go back to the original question, why
not let teachers decide what they want in and out
of their classroom when it comes to cell.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
Phones, because it'd be too chaotic.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
Schools are already chaotic.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Well you said, you know, you just said, well, we
didn't need them back then. Well we didn't have, man,
We used to have to pass notes. You know what
kind of clandestine effort it took to put a note
together and then flip it to somebody in the classroom
to let them.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Know we survived.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
If you get what I'm saying. With the phones, it's
like a cheat code. You don't even need it.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
You don't have to write a note anymore. You have
to pass a note pass someone is text allas.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
Have you ever been around a group of kids. It's
where they're communicating with each other, but not saying a
thing to each other. It's all this.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
Yeah, it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
I mean, come on, folks, but learning not allowing that
in the classroom. Do you think it's going to make
a difference.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Absolutely, it's going to make a difference. I don't make
a difference for us. Look how smart.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
We are see by passing notes, would we be smarter
than if we texted each other.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
It's more resilient, wouldn't it, and make us a little
more clever. You know, it's not so lazy just using
your phone. Yeah, I'm telling you, I think this law
is a good law. All right, I think I think
I think it's great.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Okay, we'll boil it down.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
It's too easy being able to just text. Us that
have to pass notes. You step it up. If you
wanted to pass a note to someone, you do it
old school.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Let's go all right? Is this a good law for
the state of Utah? Banning cell phones in schools? Passed
by the Utah Legislature down on its way to the
Governor's desk. We'll see what he does with it. My
guess is he'll sign it. How do you feel as
a parent? Eight eight eight five seven eight zero one
zero eighty eight eight I've seven o eight zero one zero,
or on your cell phone dal pound two fifty and

(35:03):
say hey, Rod, see we use cell phones your calls
and comments. And coming up on its way to the
governor's desk to limit phones in classrooms. My stand is,
why not let the individual teachers decide. Mister Hughes wants
to live in a communistic world where government controls.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Everything, saying, a uniform policy that allows for this cell
phone not being in the classroom to be implemented, it
makes it better for the students and easier for the
teachers to administer. That is my position. Let's go to
the smartest listeners and all the land and get your take.
Let's go to Tammy in West Point. She's been patiently waiting. Tammy,

(35:42):
Welcome to the Rod and Greg show. What say you
on this topic of cell phones and kids?

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Yeah, Tammy? Is this a good bill or not? Tammy?

Speaker 6 (35:51):
Thank you for taking my call.

Speaker 11 (35:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (35:53):
I think it's a great bill because so many parents
nowadays encourage their kids to break rules of teachers, you know,
and so this puts some teeth behind it being able
to enforce it, that's the next question.

Speaker 12 (36:07):
But I think it really would help teachers to.

Speaker 6 (36:10):
Be able to say, no, you cannot have those phones
in my classroom.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
Temmy, let me ask you this question, how are parents teaching
their kids to break the rules.

Speaker 6 (36:21):
I personally am a teacher and I have the rule
in my school is that they can't have those smart
watches or phones, and their parents don't care. They buy
them for them anyway, and they wear them all the time,
and I constantly am having to remind them to put
them away and turn them off for the day. And

(36:42):
it's just it would be nice if there was a loss.
So then the parents don't do that, they don't buy
them for them or and I teach a younger grade,
so I think they don't need them when they're in school.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
All right, dam thank you for your call.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
I concurse. Let's go to Derek in Orum. Derek, thank
you for holding. Welcome to the Ronn and Greg Show.

Speaker 12 (37:06):
Thanks guys, how you doing.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
We're doing well?

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Gad what say you?

Speaker 12 (37:10):
Okay, I'm a sixteen year veteran, not very long I'd
start doing this. And the amount of bad outweighs the
amounts of good to have these phones. I'm an art teacher.
I love to have these phones. It saves time, But
the amount of bad outweighs the good. The parents give
these phones to these kids and they're calling them in

(37:32):
the middle of my class.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
Yeah, wow, it's crazy appropriate.

Speaker 12 (37:36):
They waste the time and they have the most wonderful
invention ever and they abuse it. All time, they've lost
the privilege. They cannot be trusted with these. We don't
allow these in our rooms, and the kids keep bringing
them in, and we keep saying, hey, give me your phone,
give me your phone. And some of them have their

(37:58):
little crime riot act to these phones that it's scaring
me and a lot of my colleagues. These kids have
little tizzy fits, and I send them out and say, hey,
you're not going to hold this class hostage with your
town Trump see you up front.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
All right, all right, Derek, My question would be, is
a law going to make any difference to that?

Speaker 1 (38:22):
Yes, of course it is. Really I'm telling you that once.
That's a uniformly enforced by the way, folks. Just some
other details to this. It's in the classroom, you can't
have it, but where it is not considered classroom hours.
So classroom hours do not include lunch period, recess, transit
time between classes. So I guess you have the phone
in your locker if you're going between classes, study halls

(38:44):
unless directly supervised by a qualified instructor, and after school activity,
so those are moments. So it looks like you have
it in the school but not in the classroom.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
What do you want. I think that's great.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
I the environment in the class and how addicted these
kids are these phones.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
I see it. I even see it with my older kids.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
All right, back to the phones. Let's go to Derek
in Spanish for tonight. Derek, how are you welcome to
the Roding Gregg Show.

Speaker 13 (39:11):
Hey, Rob Greg, let's be on. I just have a
different from opinion. I guess because my kids. I love
having them have a cell phone because such bad things
have happened lately in this world that I don't feel
like I can trust the information that's given to me.

(39:33):
And then something's happening at my kid's school. I would
love to be able to Hey, the school's in lockdown. Well, hey,
why do you happen to know why it's in lockdown?
I'd love to have my kid be able to do that.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yeah, you know, that's a really good point. Now it
makes me go back. There's two incidences that I've heard
talked about, and that is that there is a lockdown
and people want to absolutely be able to reach their kids.
There might be a way for you know, like you
could put it up on any secure bags in the class.
They could get it out if they needed to if
an incident occurred, But I go back to what about it?

Speaker 3 (40:04):
Was it in Springvale?

Speaker 1 (40:06):
It was one of the high schools where a kid
decided to record the teacher kind of lecturing the class,
and she was saying terrible things that your parents are dumb,
don't listen to them. She was very politically driven, and
they got exposed because a kid finally recorded some of
these rants.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
So there's that.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
But didn't that happen in Utah County? Wasn't there an
American important? But she was talking about gay issues? Was
she not? Yeah, a lot of that stuff. Kids filmed
it and she lost her job.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
Yeah, So I think about those things, But I go
back to the if you have to outweigh the good
and the bad. I think that right now students inability
to have a conversation out loud, or pay attention or
their span of attention because of these phones. I think
that on the whole, I think these cell phones are
becoming a net net negative inside the classroom.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
But I hear, I hear.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
I don't think a law is going to make a difference.
All right, more of your calls and comments coming up.
A lot of people went on a way in on this.
We'll get you caught up on the news and more
coming up on talk radio one oh five nine kN
rs at rodding Greg Show on a there's a poll
there if you want to weigh in on that as well.
We want to get back to your calls. But Greg,
you have another comment you wunder Shane. Yeah, we get
a low comment here.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
It says huge equals big government, flaming liberal Rody true,
are cat equals correct on cell phones but wrong on journey?

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Well that's that's again, that's.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
The group journey of which you don't appreciate, which means
you might be deaf.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
We don't know.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
We don't know that you maybe those headphones been on
your ears for too long. You can't hear good music.
I don't know what's going on there but music. Yes,
Welcome back to our smart listening audience. Let's go to
Jeremy and West Jordan who has been patiently waiting. Jeremy,
thank you for waiting and holding what say you?

Speaker 4 (41:48):
Good evening.

Speaker 14 (41:48):
So my take on this is a little different. I
appreciate kids being able to have their phones. However, when
they're in the classroom they're just such a distraction. But
if a teacher asked them to take their phone away.
They just the kids just like they don't turn it
in or anything like that. And the only way the
teacher has any way to do anything or to say
that I have authority to do it is to have
some kind of law or infrastructure saying that, yeah, I

(42:10):
have the right to say that you can't have your phone.
And if the parents send their phones to so they
you know, a touch with them, can they call the
offices or send a message to the students, Hey, I
need to get a call you. It's an emergency, kind
of like when we were kids eighties and nineties.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Yeah, I'm like, you.

Speaker 14 (42:28):
Wanted to have their phones.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Yeah, but Jeremy, you've asked kids in your classroom to
put their phone away and they told you to take
a hike.

Speaker 12 (42:35):
Oh no, I'm not.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
I'm not teacher.

Speaker 14 (42:36):
I work at a school, but I'm not a teacher.
But I can just see that that's what the kids
are saying. If and the teacher has no authority to say, hey,
I need your phone, the kid can just keep it
without the teacher having some kind of backing saying, hey,
this is a law.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
You got to turn your phone, all right, thank you
for the input. I totally concur I think that's exactly right.
Let's go to Carrie an Orum. Carrie, thank you for
holding Welcome to the writing great show.

Speaker 15 (43:02):
Hey, thank you.

Speaker 10 (43:03):
Hey.

Speaker 15 (43:03):
I am a teacher and cell phones are a problem.
They cause behavior problems, and it gets to the point
to where kids can't the other kids can't learn, teachers
can't teach because you're trying to solve these problems individually
with all these children, and so I think it's a
great idea. I think it's a good start. What I

(43:26):
find is that when a teacher has students stand up
and say I'm not going to and they start arguing
with you, and if you do it individually with individual teachers,
then that teacher has to fight the fight by herself.
So then the students have the argument with you that, oh, well,
other teachers let us, why don't you let us? And

(43:48):
you've got this, and then all of a sudden, you
have to document the argument. As a teacher. You have
parents calling you, you have parents that you've got to
meet with, You've got to meet with the admin, and
if the admin don't support it, then you're out on
your own. And it's just an argument and a fight
that teachers don't want to fight because if a child

(44:10):
argues with you, you say I'm sorry, it's the law. Discussions
and argument is over.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
Wow.

Speaker 15 (44:15):
So I think teachers are going to really like this,
especially if you're junior high high school and you've got
one hundred and fifty kids and you've got a document
five or six kids arguing with you every class period.
When do you have time to teach? When do you
have time to prepare? Because you're dealing with all this
after school. So it's just a fight. We as teachers
don't want to fight.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
Kerrie, What about this idea? I have a follow up
real quick? What about just banning them from the school completely?
Because this bill would allow him to be used in
the hall, in the lunch rooms and everywhere. Do you
want to ban it from the schools?

Speaker 15 (44:49):
I think banning it from the schools. I mean if
they keep it, but banning it. Our children are addicted
to technology. I mean, teachers are putting kids on computers
all day. They're on their phones. No one has communications
you see you You hear about kids graduating from colleague
and they don't have communication skills because they don't communicate

(45:11):
with them.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
I'm telling you, I love it, Carrie. Carrie articulated that
perfectly well. And I'm on the side of carry and
the teachers. I don't know why Rod's just so against teachers,
wants to make it her for I don't.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
I'm just saying, give them the authority, give them the
authority to say no classroom, no phones in mine. I
heard I have a teacher.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
I'm just teasing you. But that's good.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
I hope she's I hope Stay's that teacher, because you
get some contempt going on.

Speaker 3 (45:42):
I don't know what this is about.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Stacy from Earth. Thank you for holding and welcome to
the Rodd and Gregg Show.

Speaker 16 (45:50):
Hey, yes, thank you for taking my call. I am
on Rod's side.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Let me tell you why he needs it. I just
ad him. He's mad at me, so good. Thank you
in here.

Speaker 16 (46:04):
Yes, thing is is I so my son who is
in elementary school. I got him a watch, and I
got him that watch in case of emergency. He knows,
under no circumstances do you get on your phone or
on your watch for anything unless you're just looking at
the time during class. He knows that. He knows if

(46:25):
he does he's in big trouble. I have a lot
the watch locked during school hours, but he has it
for an emergency if he needs to contact me or
I need to contact him for any reason medically or
in his case, he was being he is being bullied.
He can go and he can call me, and all

(46:46):
he has to do is punch in a code, and
that means I drop everything and go to him if
he gets up. And the principle tried to tell me
that no, he cannot use his watch during school hours
at all, even if it's the recess or at lunch
or anything. And I said, that's that's ridiculous. You can't

(47:06):
if he has an emergency, She said, he can go
to the office like we used to wear kids. Well, yeah,
but now these kids are bullying so bad. They see
him get up and excuse himself to go to the
office to get help, and then they go after him
the next day. So it's just a repetitive circle. But
if he can just get a hold of me, So
I look at it as as long as we as

(47:26):
parents tell our children do not use these in the classroom.
But to tell me that as a parent, that my
child can't have a phone at school. I know he'll
have one regardless.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
All right, Stacy, thank you very much. Stacy, I compliment
your compliment. You you're being a very good parent. This
fight with mister Hughes says you know what.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Yeah, well, let's just keep going because we're getting more
and more.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
And you can vote on our X page too if
you haven't aren't able to get through the lines, Let's
go to Mark and Ara.

Speaker 3 (47:56):
Mark, thank you for holding. Welcome to the Rodd and
Greg show.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
What do you what do you say about banning's phones
cell phones for students in the classroom.

Speaker 17 (48:07):
I am against banning phones for students, and I'll tell
you why. Because my son was being bullied by a
Latino who is I don't know what gender he is. Okay,
I want to stay gay or whatever, but this kid
was giving my kid problems and my kid said something
I can't repeat what he said on Eric. But then

(48:28):
the teacher came up and told my son that he
needs to check his privilege. My son is mixed race,
he is Asian and white, and it made me mad.
And I said, if that teacher gives you a hard
time again, you record it because I want to see it.
And also I'm already thinking about filing a lawsuit because

(48:50):
interfering with my right to communiumicate with my kid is
unconstitutional in my view, and I am not going to
honor this thought if it's I'm still telling my kids.
I don't care. If there's a fine, I don't care
what they say. You're taking your phone to school.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Mark, there's a pack. I could hear the vim and
vigor in his voice. He's not having any determined. He's determined.

Speaker 9 (49:13):
All right.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
We've got a lot of calls who want to weigh.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
Out, so I want to talk about this. We're gonna
keep going.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Yeah, We're gonna keep going.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
Yeah, Okay, if it's all right with you, No, I'm
not ready to go good.

Speaker 2 (49:20):
All right. More coming up on the Roden Grag Show
the fact that the Utah Legislature has now passed a
bill limiting cell phones in schools. There are a few
changes and variations to what can be done. They're kind
of leaving it up to local school districts to decide
the policies that they want to implement. But this bill
is on his way to the governor for his signature.
My guess is he will I think he'll sign this

(49:42):
on you.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
He will, But I am enjoying this robust debate about
this bill. It is not all coming in on one side.
If if my tally is correct, you and I are tied.
But let's keep going and hearing from our good listeners.
Let's go to Eric in Salt Lake City, who has
been patiently waiting. Eric, thank you for holding and welcome
to the Rod and Greg Show.

Speaker 18 (50:02):
Hey guys, so I've got a statistic for you.

Speaker 19 (50:05):
Yeah, most homeschool kids spend about an hour a day
and then usually have one co op day a week
for like four to five hours, and they accomplished the
same amount of schooling in that like eight to ten
hours a week that the other kids do in what.

Speaker 18 (50:22):
Forty hours of public school.

Speaker 20 (50:24):
So you know, what you don't need at homeschool is
a cell phone.

Speaker 18 (50:29):
And if the regular public schools could accomplish the same
amount of learning, maybe we wouldn't need to worry so
much about cell phones in the school. Interesting if the
school was twelve hours long.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Yeah, wow, I wonder if that comes Eric. How much
of the individualized teaching plays into that. I would think
a lot of it does.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
Well.

Speaker 21 (50:53):
So, you know, the co op teaching is usually you know,
you have a classroom of kids. Yeah, it's happening in
a lot of chapels around, yes, and so it'll be
you know, six or eight kids in a room, and
it's the parents all split it up and take a group,
you know, and and a lot of times there's a
couple of them that are watching the littles that are
too too young for the schooling. And you do that
once a week, and that's the individualized you know, the

(51:16):
teacher time, and then you have packets and workbooks you
do during the rest of the week. So you spend
maybe an hour a day two if your kid really
struggles to learn. But most, you know, most homeschool kids
have smart parents. That's why they're peeting homeschool So they're
usually smart kids. And so a couple hours, you know,
an hour or two a day. I mean, I don't

(51:37):
I don't understand why my kid needs to go to
school for eight hours a day.

Speaker 18 (51:41):
I certainly didn't get that much more education in my
public schooling than my daughter's getting at home.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
He's throwing up the pot with them.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Oh yeah, yeah, good observation.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
I do think we're going to see a stronger element
of homeschool and micro schools as we go forward, I
think that there's a market, certainly an interest. Eric makes
a good case for that. Let's go to Ben in Spanish. Fork, Ben,
welcome to the Rod and Greg show.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
What's say you? Sir?

Speaker 9 (52:08):
Thank you so much. I'm not going to be able
to break your tie. But I have a question if
this becomes a state law, what is the punishment we're
breaking the law?

Speaker 2 (52:19):
Ah, that's a good question. No, we didn't even look
that far into it. But there with everything, there are consequences,
right Ben.

Speaker 9 (52:26):
For sure, like as we even thought as to what
the consequence will bring be like is it suspension or
that would be my question before we go sign this thing,
Let's make sure we know what the end result is
going to be once we break it.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
All right, then, good question.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Consequence I'm looking at quickly.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
I don't see a penalty written or establishment. But what
they do is they point to districts school districts to
make rules around around these the state policy. So it
looks like the actually even the state school board. The
state board may even create one or more model policies
regarding that.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
Follow all right, Allan is on, I fifteen tonight weighing
in on the Rod and Greg. Joe, Allen, how are you?
Thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
Hey, thanks for taking my call, first time caller to.

Speaker 17 (53:18):
The Rod and Greg.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
Oh that's great, great.

Speaker 22 (53:21):
Hey, the previous caller took some of my thunder.

Speaker 9 (53:24):
That was my point.

Speaker 22 (53:25):
What is the consequence, And if you're going to make
a law, make sure the consequence is in that law.
I would propose a hammer to the phone in the classroom,
and then they won't they won't keep they won't.

Speaker 23 (53:39):
Keep bringing phones.

Speaker 22 (53:41):
It's time to stop coddling the letting the inmates run
the asylum.

Speaker 4 (53:46):
So anyway, that's my comment.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
All right, Ellen, thanks for being a first time caller.
I don't know if taking a hammer to the phone
would go over.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
You know, it's so awesome about that from a is
the fear of a kid just the idea that you
would have their phone, they you would have their full attention.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
They would never they.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Would never want their phone and they would never want
their parents to know that they got their phone cared
because they took it out.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
All right, I mean you said, is what the state
is going to develop or the state board is going
to develop from models that the various districts can can follow,
and then they can sign up for the one they
want to use.

Speaker 3 (54:24):
Real closer.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
But that's what I'm seeing right here is I do
believe that they're going to leave some of that the
penalties of the violation of this law. They're going to
have the state school board come up with some model
policies to choose from.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
All right, Well, we've got a lot of callers so
are patiently waiting, and we're asking you to wait just
a little bit longer. We'll get you caught up on
the day's news and get you the latest in traffic
and weather, and then of course we'll be back with
more your phone calls as we debate a new law
passed by Utah lawmakers on its way to the Governor's
desk limiting the use of cell phones in schools. That's

(54:56):
all coming up our number three of the Rod and
Gregg Show's Honest Talk Radio one oh five nine and
r F stay with Us. Approved by the Senate today,
already approved by the House, basically limiting cell phones in classrooms.

(55:20):
This has been a debate that's been going on for years.
There are other states, other schools around the country that
do this. Now, Utah may have an opportunity to do it.
Is it good or is it bad? Your calls eight
eight eight five seven oh eight zero one zero.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
Let's go to Curtis, who's been patiently waiting from Salt
Lake City. Curtis, thank you for holding in. Welcome to
the Rod and Greg show.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
What say you, sir?

Speaker 4 (55:43):
Hi? Greg Rodding?

Speaker 23 (55:45):
You know I'm not going to break your tie either,
because I think we should do I can understand the law,
but I think what we need to do is look
at better technology. They make cell phone jammers. If they
could turn on in a school, that would block anything.
But if there's an emergency, a flip of a switch
and everybody's got access to their families so they know

(56:05):
what's going on, that doesn't have to be a super
complicated thing.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
Is it expensive Curtis to do something like that?

Speaker 3 (56:13):
Yeah? I don't that.

Speaker 23 (56:15):
I honestly don't know.

Speaker 4 (56:16):
I know it shouldn't be.

Speaker 23 (56:19):
If the state wants to do it, they can set
it up very easily and probably set it up without
a casting, an.

Speaker 4 (56:24):
Arm and a leg.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
I like that answer. I actually I think that's a
smart maybe middle ground too. I think that that would work.
By the way, I read the bill. I read it's
not a long bill. I read it over the commercial break.

Speaker 4 (56:34):
It is it is.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
It does not have a prescribed penalty. It doesn't tell
you to go after the parents or the child at all.
It really does leave the rule making authority of the
school district, school board and the state school board to
create more specificity on penalties. But to the violation of
this laws. So it is unknown what clause what because

(56:55):
one one comment on our X page was for a
lot to be effective, there has to be and this
is absolutely true, it has to be penalties attached. Who
are they going to prostcate, prosecute if a child brings
a phone to school or is in the class, what
did the parent, the teacher, What's going to happen? Those
are unanswered in this bill, by the way. So those
are those are good spots, good things to look at.

(57:16):
Let's keep going. Kevin in Salt Lake City, Kevin, thank
you for holding. Welcome to the Ron and Greg Show.

Speaker 23 (57:23):
Thanks Rod and Greg love your show.

Speaker 4 (57:25):
I listen it.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
Thank you, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (57:28):
Hey.

Speaker 8 (57:29):
I kind of have a little different take. First of all,
I kind of leap lean towards no law needed, but
I think it needs to be looked at from a
different point of view. It's more of a respect and
a disciplinary thing. It's not a phone as a tool.
So you know, when the kids are in class, if
if the teacher is lecturing or they're taking a test

(57:49):
or something, Yeah, of course you don't.

Speaker 4 (57:51):
Don't.

Speaker 8 (57:52):
You're not on your phone. You're not using your phone.
But if it's a study hour or whatever, you know,
they could be using the phone as a tool kind
of research or whatever. Yes, I mean, I know kids, heck,
even adults these days, everybody's just about everything addy it
to their phones. And it's not the school's positions are
breaking addiction. So it's just, you know, I think just

(58:12):
maybe a little bit better training with teachers and students
and you know, clear clear stuff. When they talk about
syllabus in the beginning of class, just say tell the kids, hey,
I know you guys have your phones. I'm not going
to be a Nazi, but when I'm lecturing up front
or you're taking.

Speaker 23 (58:26):
A test, be respectful.

Speaker 8 (58:29):
Let's let's set your phones in your pocket, set it down,
don't use it. But when when I'm not doing that,
if you need to use your phone. But let's work
together with this.

Speaker 13 (58:37):
It's a tool.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
Yeah, you know, And that's kind of what I'm saying.
I mean, teachers. Teachers control their classroom. I know they
all tend to or try to. May not happen all
the time, but at all, a teacher has the right
today not when I go back to.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
The color carry she says, is a teacher. It is very,
very difficult if you have an obstinate student and you
don't have parental.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
Support back by the administrator.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
If your administration a big milk toast, you're just out
there on your own. It's a tough it's a tough
environment to navigate. So I'm hearing both sides, but I
tend to think that anyway, I think the classroom would
do well to not have these kids so addicted to
these phones. But we really want to hear from you.
This is a hot topic people. I love it that
people really want to engage in this topic. It's really good.

(59:19):
So let's go to Jim and Pleasant Grove. Jim, thank
you for holding. Welcome to the Rod and Greg Show.

Speaker 20 (59:27):
Hey, guys, good topic. So my question is this has
been going on for years. Why has the State Board
of education not set a policy on this, or why
have the individual school districts not set up policy on it?
It seems like every year the legislature meet, so they
want to become the super school board and spend a
lot of big time on small items.

Speaker 4 (59:45):
That's the way I view it.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
Well, you've make a very good point. Where have the
school board has been greg Yes? Were the state board?

Speaker 9 (59:51):
So I like this law.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
So this has been called out and I can answer
the super school board question. It depends on where you
sit because sometimes schools, school district, school school boards they
want the legislature to stay out. Other times they don't
want to be the bad guy and they want the
legislature to create the bill. They did this where they
want us to ban vending machines out of all schools
and we said, well, why don't you just do it

(01:00:14):
and they said, because everybody be mad at us, we
want you to do it. But that is actually, if
you want to know the politics, pull back the curtain.
They school boards want this legislature do it when they
don't want to take the callers. There's some heat out there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
Yeah, there is true. Let's go to Chris in Springville
tonight Chris, how are you welcome to the Rod and
Gregg Show.

Speaker 24 (01:00:34):
Hi ISAA, thanks for being there. So I am proud
to report and I'm not bragging everything, but I've never
had my cl phone taken away from me when I
was in junior high in high school either the same cases.

Speaker 25 (01:00:46):
We were just example we are.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
We were perfect, that's right, we made it, We made
it out the other side, and we never had a
cell phone taken away from on.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
Come on, you to admit it. You were carrying brick
phones at the time. You couldn't hide them.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
That's not true. You know Rod went to Catholic school.
He's telling me. You know they none would just tell
us about that. It would be a it would be
a tool of Satan in your Catholic school. Pal, you'd
have been, you'd have been, your knuckles have been hit
raw if you had a cell phone in your hand
at your Catholic school.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
Tell the truth.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Hey, Chris, what are your thoughts on this? I mean,
do we need it? What do you think?

Speaker 4 (01:01:18):
Well?

Speaker 24 (01:01:18):
I am a public school teacher and I always ask
my students when they take out their phones. Are you
listening to kN rs?

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
I love it? Chris, you are a good teacher.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
This man is a kid, and I just think we
found our teacher of the year.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
I know that is a teacher. I'm nominating him the
Dark Radio one O five. As long as they're doing that,
their gold.

Speaker 4 (01:01:40):
I like that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
All right, back to the phones, Okay, let's go to
Lexi and Logan. Lexi, thank you, Rolling. Welcome to the
Roddy Gregg Show.

Speaker 25 (01:01:48):
Hi. So I just graduated from high school, so I've
kind of been I justin and I know what it's
like having like other students on their phones all the
time and respected the teacher. But there are so many
of us who don't do that. We are very respectful,
we're very disciplined. We always put our phones away if
the teacher asked us too.

Speaker 6 (01:02:08):
And I had two teachers who are really.

Speaker 25 (01:02:09):
Good about upholding that policy, and we didn't have any
problems in those class even from the kids who like
were just respectful. And on another another aspect of this
is I feel like this is kind of a blanket law,
Like you're applying the same standards to kindergarteners as you are.

Speaker 6 (01:02:25):
High high schoolers.

Speaker 25 (01:02:27):
And I think that there needs to be like different
policies for high schoolers. We're becoming adults and you're so
busy in high school and I was a class president
and I did sports, and I literally would not have
survived if I didn't have a phone and was able
to communicate with my mom when I needed rides or
I needed to be picked up from a sport, or
if I couldn't leave on the bus because I had

(01:02:47):
a test coming. So I think this policy is just
really unfair and unconstitutional in preventing kids from communicating with
their parents.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
Lexy, let me ask you, did you reach out to
your mom while you were in class or did you
wait to class was over.

Speaker 25 (01:03:02):
I always waited till the class was over.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
You sure respect to the teacher.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
Yeah, and Lexi, so you know, thank you for calling.
And I love your perspective. It's it's it's the real time,
in the event perspective. And I like this one size
doesn't fit all. You're exactly right. I love that observation.
Just know this bill, if you have any younger siblings
or friends, if you're after class, between classes, uh during
launch your you could use your phone as per this

(01:03:27):
this law. But your your observations are spot on and
we sure appreciate you calling.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
Yeah, thank you, Lexi. You know, I think Alexi was
saying there's always one or two bad apples in the classroom. Yeah,
there are probably a lot of kids will respect what
the teachers say, but then you have those kids who
are going to do what they want to do.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Yep, let's keep going to the phone. Let's go to
Vonn and Harriman. Thank you for holding in with y
Welcome to the run, and Greg.

Speaker 26 (01:03:51):
Show Well, thank you for taking my call. So I,
uh I, I feel like Lexi because I've got high
schoolers the same thing. We're involved in sports and such.
But I want to go one step further. If they're
going to take it away from the kids, I want
full visibility in my classes that my students are in.
I want cameras. I want to be able to log

(01:04:12):
in and see what's happening in the classroom. I believe
having the ability to see what's going on will prevent
the bad behaviors of teachers and administrators. So I wanted
an administration offices. I want in the hallways. I want
to be able to see what's going on. If they're
not going to allow this, I don't think it should
be legislated either, I believe, so what.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
Should so you agree with Roder Greg, I'm trying to
keep a tally here. I thought you were with me,
and now you're saying you'd like it. I was so
excited I thought you were with me. I'm going to
put you on Rod's side of the six of the tally. Sheep,
darn it, I was I was just about to win.

Speaker 4 (01:04:49):
That's right, all right, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
See she wants to even go so far as cameras well.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
Look, I do think transparent. I have no probuct Look
we have law enforcement, they have body camps. I think
transparency would do a lot. I've have debates with this
with people, but I think seeing the classroom environment would
help parents understand what teachers are up against sometimes, but
they'd also understand the curriculum being taught. They could also
hopefully help their students if they're involved parents. I think

(01:05:13):
there's a privacy issue where you should log in and
make sure you are a parent to be able to
see that. It shouldn't just be open to the public
at large, but anyway, I think that if not if
you don't have cameras or if you don't have your
phones on you, then cameras might be something you could
do to just create more transparency.

Speaker 2 (01:05:32):
All right, we need to take a break. We've got
a few more calls. We will get to your calls
when we come back right here on the Rod and
Greg Show and Talk Radio one oh five nine knrs.

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
Great comments coming from that as well. We have one
to comment on the poll that says private schools figured
this out years ago. Kids turn in their phones to
teachers during our morning gathering. They are stored in bins
at the office until the end of the day. Teachers
have two way radios in their classrooms if there are
student issues. Works great, So little input there from one

(01:06:02):
of our listeners.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
Let's go back to the phones. Karen in provo tonight. Karen,
welcome to the Rod and Gregg Show.

Speaker 11 (01:06:09):
Hi, thanks for taking my call. We've had a no
cell phone policy at our school for a while and
it didn't really well. It works and it doesn't work,
work depending on how it is enforced, and it's really
only effective if all the teachers enforce it. It's only
as strong as the weakest link, and it's really hard

(01:06:30):
if you have a weak teacher that allows cell phones.
So it's really interesting over the years how this policy
has ebbed and flows. But what's been interesting this year is,
in preparation for the state law that was coming out,
everybody heard about it, our district put together cell phone
policy with teeth and it got implemented in January and

(01:06:52):
I'm loving it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
K Karen. When you say teeth, When you say teeth,
what do you mean by that? I mean, what kind
of teeth does it?

Speaker 12 (01:07:00):
Here's what I mean.

Speaker 9 (01:07:01):
Here's what I mean.

Speaker 11 (01:07:04):
Parents who complain, and I've heard some of the parents
call in and say, I will let my kid have
a cell phone regardless because I want.

Speaker 4 (01:07:09):
To get in touch with them.

Speaker 11 (01:07:11):
Well, there's going to be teeth because there's a law
that says this is the way it needs to be,
and so everybody needs to adjust to it. So that's
the teeth. But what happens at our school is, well,
it's a graduated policy. You can read about it online.
But elementary they're not to have them on their person

(01:07:32):
during the school day. They can have them in their backpacks,
but they can't have them on their person. Secondary kids
can't have them in the classroom on their person. They
can be in their backpacks, but they can't have them
in their pockets. And that's because kids will go use
the bathroom and then text and call and whatever, and

(01:07:52):
that causes all sorts of problems in the school. You
text your friends and pretty soon you got ten kids
meeting in the bathroom to do.

Speaker 9 (01:07:58):
Drugs or whatever they're doing.

Speaker 11 (01:08:00):
And so it's it's just we get that kids need
to contact their parents. Just the other day, I had
a phone call from the office, so some needs to
come and call their mom, and I was like, they
can use my phone. Oh, they need to call from
their cell phone. I was like, okay, I'll supervise that.
The office said great.

Speaker 1 (01:08:17):
So, Karen, what you're basically saying is, I'm totally right.
You're voting for me, Right, Karen, I think that's a
vote for me. Totally on my side.

Speaker 2 (01:08:26):
All right, back to the phones.

Speaker 3 (01:08:27):
Let's go to Stuart and Harriman. Stuart, thank you for
holding what say you?

Speaker 27 (01:08:32):
I'm just kind of on the side of Rod here.
I'm wondering why this even needs to be a law
in the first place. It's something that should be left
up to the school district as far as I'm concerned.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
Yeah, good point, And you're not alone. We've heard that
on this afternoon as we've been talking.

Speaker 3 (01:08:49):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (01:08:50):
We're hurrying because I don't want to miss any of
these great callers. Tom from Magna, thank you for holding.
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (01:08:55):
What say you?

Speaker 28 (01:08:58):
Yeah, I just I think that call from Karen and
was really on point because I think sometimes don't you
need to have a law so that you have some teeth.
She never really talked about what the repercussions would be,
but the idea that if you're going to stand up
for a policy, it's good to have. It's not just
a it's just not a particular school or a school
district's policy.

Speaker 4 (01:09:17):
This is the law, so you know, this is this
is why we're doing it, is because we have a
lot to not do it.

Speaker 28 (01:09:23):
And I like the idea that they have a graduated
policy for kids elementary, junior high, in high school and
if there's an emergency then the teachers can do it.
But these are some of the problems we have with
modern technology and moving forward.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
So yeah, all right, well said, well said, and it
does give a latitude for those school boards and school
districts to create some of those specific rules themselves. Let's
go to Brennan and Bountiful Bran. Thank you for holding
Welcome to the Rod and Greg Show.

Speaker 17 (01:09:50):
Hey, thanks for taking my call.

Speaker 10 (01:09:51):
Guys.

Speaker 18 (01:09:53):
So a couple quick points.

Speaker 29 (01:09:54):
I'm from the perspective of a kid that had their
phone too much in class. Situated in twenty twenty and
since then.

Speaker 17 (01:10:03):
I mean I while I was in school, I didn't
pay much attention to.

Speaker 29 (01:10:06):
My teachers, and it really drove a wedge in my
social life because I was more focused on what's going
on on my screen than what's going on around me.
And since then, I'm now five years out of school
and I still I find enjoyment in studying and reading books,
but when it comes to the social aspect, I have

(01:10:27):
a hard time interacting with people. It's because most of
my interaction through school was on my phone. Interesting, so
I think there was a little bit more regulation there.
I would have done better in school and not I've
had to make up as much credit and be probably
have been a lot socially more acceptable to other people.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
All right, Brennan, boy interesting, Brennan's an old soul. Thank
you Brennan for listening to the show. He's a class
of twenty and listening to the Rod and Greg show.
And that is some my real life in the event
perspective from Brennan. I appreciate the call. We appreciate the call.

Speaker 2 (01:11:00):
All Right, more coming up on the Rod and Gregg
Show in Utah's Talk radio one oh five nine. K
n R asked, this is an email from Joy, and
she says, I am a teacher's aide, and I can
tell you firsthand from what I've experienced in public schools,
if you want your children to be as dumb as
bricks and never married to procreate, then please keeping arguing

(01:11:20):
for phones in schools. Dumbest bricks and too stupid to procreate.

Speaker 3 (01:11:25):
That is so funny. That is so funny.

Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
Thank you, Joy, that made our day today. All Right,
let's talk about the Utah legislature there in as of
tomorrow it will be their final week in session.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
Last week, man busy. It's the short session in America
for a state, but it's long enough. I say, they
got to get out of there. They've done their damage.

Speaker 3 (01:11:44):
They got to go.

Speaker 4 (01:11:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:11:45):
Well, and one issue they've decided to take on, or
apparently have decided not to, is expanding everify to small
companies here in Utah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:53):
Yes, sponsoring house built two fourteen Employer Verification amendments is
our next guest Representative Neil Walton Sure Representive Waller, thank
you for joining us on the program. Explain to our listeners,
what does what does your bill seek to do?

Speaker 30 (01:12:10):
Back what we had for more than a decade, which
was that if you employ more than fifteen people, then
you would be required to verify before employing somebody that
they have legal work authorization in this in the United
States through the everify program.

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
Represent What kind of a burden does everify put on
a small business of maybe only fifteen people. I mean,
is it a heavy burden it puts on them or
just a lot of paperwork? The business community argument argued
that it would be, but it's not.

Speaker 30 (01:12:44):
First of all, you don't you're not authorized to run
all of your previous employees, your existing employees, and so
it's not like you have to onboard or run all
of your existing staff. It is only new employees. And
what that really means is that you number one, have

(01:13:06):
a Social Security number and name and a birth date
those in That information is on the I nine form
that every employee has to fill out in order to
be employed in the United States, and you basically run
that through the E Verified program and it will tell
you if that is a verified identity for a for

(01:13:26):
an employee in the United States.

Speaker 2 (01:13:28):
It's very simple.

Speaker 3 (01:13:30):
Representative.

Speaker 1 (01:13:31):
I was on the clock as a representative when we
passed this original bill, and I remember that it was
about identity theft. We were seeing circumstances where social security
numbers were being used maybe of an infant, and people
were learning as they got older that their identity had
been stolen. Causes a lot of chaos. This bill was
was a measure to protect against identity theft. Now see

(01:13:54):
doge and finding out how much how problematic social security
is and if paying people that are supposedly one hundred
and fifty years old, I would imagine that your colleagues
would be staring at the safety provisions and the security
of our identity through our social Security number. What's been
the feedback from your colleagues as you've discussed how to
prevent identity theft?

Speaker 30 (01:14:17):
Yeah, So, first of all, there's a lot of support
for addressing identity theft. Nobody is trying to justify it
or apologize for it. Their argument is that it's ineffective
that everify specifically is ineffective.

Speaker 3 (01:14:29):
But I would argue it's the best tool that we
have today.

Speaker 30 (01:14:33):
We have hundreds of children on public assistance and thousands
of Utahs who their identity is being used by somebody
other than them to report wages. We can do something
about that. I recognize that he verify is not the
perfect solution, but I don't know of a better one

(01:14:55):
today to move that issue forward and protect these individuals
who or wrongfully having benefits either claimed for them or
their identity has been stolen for the purpose of in
maintaining employment. Representative you were a quote I think or
maybe during that hearing you indicate did you thought the
bill drifted away from the core issues?

Speaker 2 (01:15:16):
What do you What did you mean by that? What
are the core issues that we're moving away from on this.

Speaker 30 (01:15:22):
The core issue is number one, we need to protect
our Utah residents and that's where the identity theft comes
piece comes in. And number two, we need to have
our employers and employees. Everybody needs to be on an
on an even playing field. This idea that if you're
going to be employed in the state of Utah, then
you need to pay payroll taxes you needed to.

Speaker 2 (01:15:44):
We need to do the withholding.

Speaker 30 (01:15:45):
Everything needs to be above board, and we shouldn't advantage
one employer over another because one.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
Employer can.

Speaker 17 (01:15:53):
Use the.

Speaker 30 (01:15:56):
The lack of accountability or requirement to participate in a program.
I'm like this to pay an employee on the side
or under the table. And ultimately, when we start to
look at this, this is about fairness to our Utah residents,
both in terms of protecting their identity and also making
sure that that in an employment context we're we're following

(01:16:22):
the same set of rules. The last thing is we
know almost everybody agrees that the thing that draws people
to a place like Utah is its jobs. And if
we're essentially making a big carve out that says, look,
you know, we don't we don't support or condonia legal immigration,

(01:16:42):
but we're going to make a big carve out to
support creating jobs in that space, then we do have
a conflict in our public policy.

Speaker 3 (01:16:52):
I want to go back.

Speaker 1 (01:16:53):
I've heard from the business community as you have this,
you know, e verify federally administered for it's not very accurate,
it's got its problems, I would imagine, and that the
best way for an individual to know that the social
Security Administration does not have their information correctly. Would be
to have laws like this on the books where you

(01:17:13):
have to have the ear verify if you're a legal citizen,
you have a soci Security number and it comes back
as something's wrong. What better way to let someone know
sooner than later that it that there's there's a problem.
This seems like a way to even uh self correct
or even show the federal government that they've got to
step up their game with e verify. I'm just hoping
is that part of the discussion going up there, because

(01:17:35):
I see that your bills in committee still and I
want to see it come out. Representative, We've got to.

Speaker 3 (01:17:39):
Pass this bill.

Speaker 1 (01:17:40):
So does that Does that move any minds in terms
of how we can help the everify be better by
showing the discrepancies when they happen.

Speaker 2 (01:17:51):
Yeah, I've advocated and I did so.

Speaker 30 (01:17:53):
I did so in committee that when you have an
individual that is verified and it comes back unverified, it
might mean that the Social Security Administration has an error.
They have the wrong information about you as an employee,
as a citizen, and if we don't correct that, then

(01:18:16):
you might go through a whole career of working and
trying to have these, for example, your social Security benefits
attached to you as an individual, and you don't find
out till many years later that they didn't get applied properly.
If the Social Security Administration has an error on about

(01:18:36):
my personal information, my name, my birthday, something else, although
it's inconvenient to get that notice that you're not verified,
it's better to get it resolved sooner rather than later.

Speaker 3 (01:18:50):
Amen to that.

Speaker 1 (01:18:50):
Thank you, representative, and thank you for running the bill.
That bill's installed in the House committee. I don't know
that that bill's going to pass this year. And it's
a strange thing. We had it for over ten years
e verify of the smaller businesses. Nobody, no complaints.

Speaker 3 (01:19:02):
We saw that.

Speaker 1 (01:19:03):
We actually saw the complaints of identity theft going down.
One of the arguments why they said we didn't need
any works, We didn't have all this identity theft happening. Well,
it was because we had the bill in place. They
rescinded it in twenty two. Represented Neil Walter, looking to
bring it bring it back here in twenty five. I
don't think it's gonna happen, which is a disappointment to
me personally, but appreciate his work, and he's a determined,

(01:19:24):
determined guy. I think you may see that bill come
back next year.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
You never know, never know. All right more, coming up,
final segment of the Rod and Greg Show right here
on Utah's Talk Radio one O five nine k nrs.

Speaker 3 (01:19:34):
Wait, why don't you tell the bigger story?

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
We're doing well too.

Speaker 3 (01:19:37):
What number? It's just out of the one they won
all over the place.

Speaker 1 (01:19:42):
Let me clarify in our in the drive time evening
drift time four to seven?

Speaker 4 (01:19:46):
What number?

Speaker 2 (01:19:47):
I think we got number one?

Speaker 1 (01:19:48):
Okay, all right, you hear that, folks. That's that's that's
that's your show. That's you, that's you they're talking about.
He is killing it, man, he's killing it. Of course
he's a good radio host of fun. But yay, I'm
sitting right here. We're sitting here. Audiences listen to us.
You know they might listen to Jesse bit. This is
the number one audience right here in all the land.

Speaker 2 (01:20:06):
Man, A little touchy Kate Middleton? You know who Kate
Middleton is?

Speaker 14 (01:20:10):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:20:10):
Yes, I think she's a great. What is she the princess?

Speaker 2 (01:20:14):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:20:15):
Because William is not the king, He's he's in he's
in waiting, and she's.

Speaker 2 (01:20:19):
Married to William. Of course they have three three, three
wonderful children. Yeah, apparently she has now put her foot down.
We should talk to Abby about this. Put her foot
down with what she calls a royal barbaric ritual?

Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
What it is?

Speaker 3 (01:20:35):
What do tell?

Speaker 2 (01:20:36):
The longtime ritual calls for members of the royal family,
in which she and her children are members of, to
smear blood on their faces from their first killing during
fox or stag hunting.

Speaker 3 (01:20:49):
That's cool.

Speaker 1 (01:20:50):
I'm not even a hunter. I think that's awesome, especially
if it's a long standing, you know, tradition.

Speaker 3 (01:20:56):
Really yeah, man, he Ray does that?

Speaker 13 (01:20:59):
Do you do that?

Speaker 3 (01:21:00):
Let me tell you something I swear I saw in
the movie Yeah to do it?

Speaker 2 (01:21:03):
When I was thirteen years old? There really, well, what
did you kill a deer? Do permit? Deer hunting dough permit?
And you smeared face on your smeared blood on your people?

Speaker 3 (01:21:13):
I was drinking.

Speaker 2 (01:21:13):
My uncles weren't letting me get away with not doing it.
So did you have to do some kind of primal
scream or something like that?

Speaker 3 (01:21:19):
Hey, did you drink the blood you had to spare?
Try to get me to take a bite out of
the raw lever. I would not do it nice.

Speaker 2 (01:21:25):
I've heard it. I've heard people do that. I have
I've heard of out of the Heart. I think I
watched that. I heard the heart?

Speaker 28 (01:21:31):
What was that?

Speaker 1 (01:21:32):
What was the show Red Dawn? I think they did
first kill. They made him drink the blood of the
deer he shot. Really, I think that's a thing I'm
turning around.

Speaker 2 (01:21:40):
There was another movie, Always Dances with Wolves, Kevin Costner,
Remember that movie. I do the Native Americans there would
pull the heart out of a buffalo and eat it wrong.
He eventually did the same thing.

Speaker 3 (01:21:52):
Yeah, I'd never do that. One you lost me.

Speaker 2 (01:21:56):
I would do the blooding thing. Man, would you do that?

Speaker 3 (01:22:00):
I would? Yes, Oh well I would yeah. See yeah,
that's cool. More of a man than I. Especially if
it's tradition. Kate's gonna rob those boys of that tradition.
That's that's just rude.

Speaker 2 (01:22:11):
Well we'll see. Well we haven't heard what her husband,
as William has said yet.

Speaker 3 (01:22:16):
So he who wears the pants in that little royal family? Huh,
who's the boss?

Speaker 2 (01:22:20):
You want to guess?

Speaker 4 (01:22:21):
Well?

Speaker 1 (01:22:21):
I got a queen bee, so I got nothing to say.
I'm over here, just happy to be here. Yeah, you
got a rodeo queen. So yeah, we know we talked
tough on the radio.

Speaker 2 (01:22:31):
Tomorrow tomorrow is Thank rodin Greg is Friday wrap on
another week. One guest we know who will be joining us.
President of the Utah Senate, Stuart Adams.

Speaker 3 (01:22:40):
Yeah, that's always fun.

Speaker 2 (01:22:41):
Final week coming up tomorrow. Now a reminder coming up
on Tuesday night, it will be it will be an
abbreviated vision version of the Rod and Greg Show because
we'll be joining President Trump for his address to Congress.
They aren't calling it State of the Union anymore. They're
calling it and addressed to Congress from President Trum. So
it'll be interesting to see what he has to say

(01:23:03):
to change it. It probably was his call.

Speaker 3 (01:23:05):
It's called to say the Union.

Speaker 2 (01:23:07):
I'm with you on then I don't get it either.
All right? That does it for us tonight, As we
say each and every night, head up, shoulders back, May
God bless you and your family, and there's a great
shuntry of ours. Thanks for joining us tonight.

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