Congress dawdling on helping wildland firefighters: Inside Utah Politics
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SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – This week on Inside Utah Politics, we remember a Utah business leader and human rights activist. We also look at the job of wildland firefighters and federal legislation that aims to increase their pay and benefits.
Our first guest is Michael Marriott, Executive Director of the B.W. Bastian Foundation. He reflects on his longtime friend Bruce Bastian, who died last week after a long illness. Bastian co-founded WordPerfect and went on to champion the arts and LGBTQ+ rights in Utah. Marriott discusses Bastian’s legacy and how the foundation plans to move forward.
We also talk with Jonathon Golden, a former wildland firefighter who now advocates for firefighters and the industry. Golden discusses the conditions wildland firefighters endure and the relatively low pay they earn for doing that work. Congress is considering legislation that would raise pay and benefits for wildland firefighters, but the bill is languishing with Congress focused on other priorities. You can learn more about wildland firefighters and the movement to give them better benefits by visiting Grassroots Wildland Firefighters and the Wildfire Industry Collective.
The week brought Utah lawmakers back to the Capitol for a special legislative session. Lawmakers acted on federal Title IX rules, directing the state to ignore the federal directives. We’ll explain what that decision means and highlight the other issues lawmakers discussed.
In Washington, there’s a movement to take a closer look at extreme heat events. As a warming climate makes heat waves more frequent, several groups want those events considered as disasters, like the way disasters are declared in the wake of hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes. FEMA would have to approve such declarations.
Inside Utah Politics airs Sundays at 8 a.m. on ABC4.
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