The Utah lawmakers balancing legislative duties with baby diaper changes

Smiles broke through the humdrum of a government operations hearing on Monday when committee members saw a fellow state lawmaker approach the mic with her 6-month-old baby.

“This is a moment,” committee chair Rep. Calvin Musselman, R-West Haven, said, his face lighting up. He later added, “That was the best (bill) presentation I’ve ever seen.”

“We try hard at the Pieruccis,” responded third-term Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, while simultaneously rocking her bow-adorned baby, balancing a bottle and reaching for her 4-year-old son, who had also joined her at the Utah Capitol during the hectic final week of the legislative session.

Pierucci, like a large and growing group of Utah legislators, is navigating the citizen Legislature’s whirlwind 45-day assembly all while juggling a separate career and caring for young children. Many of these lawmakers, who are occasionally found changing diapers between votes, say serving Utah with children that are school-aged or younger gives them insight into the challenges faced by the youngest state in the nation.

“We are a normal Utah family living on a budget,” Pierucci said in an interview with the Deseret News.

While she may have less sleep to count on than some of her colleagues, Pierucci, like her preschooler running through the House lounge, is hard to keep up with.

Legislating from a parent’s perspective

This year has seen Pierucci, an adjunct professor of American government at UVU, build on her groundbreaking Utah Fits All Scholarship program from last year, which paired increased public school teacher salaries with scholarships for alternative education options for kids, by expanding eligibility and funding by an additional $40 million.

“The lens that I look at is every kid’s different, and what is Utah doing to meet the learning needs of our children and empowering parents to make those decisions for their kids,” she said.

Pierucci, who now chairs the House education committee, has spearheaded efforts this session to restrict land ownership by, or state purchases from, countries like China and Russia. She has also advanced pieces of legislation that would facilitate referenda on tax increases by school districts and would boost teacher retention through an educator support hotline, paid postpartum leave and other programs.

Many of her legislative priorities, Pierucci said, are informed by her experience as a mother.

Just months before her first run for office, Pierucci, and her husband, Riverton Councilman Andy Pierucci, had their first child. She remembers receiving a thick packet of 126 questions that had to be filled out before leaving the hospital.

Upon entering office, Pierucci passed a bill requiring that any postpartum questionnaire be focused on birth certificate information only. When she had her second child last year, she was handed a piece of paper with just 26 questions on it.

“It was one little thing where I felt like we’ve made a change for young families in Utah,” Pierucci said.

Pierucci said between she and her husband they are able to trade off getting the kids ready in the morning and night, with a nanny and nearby family filling in the gaps during the day. But when Pierucci does bring her children to work, as she did Monday when her husband was out of town, far from being a distraction, their presence actually helps her to focus on what she’s there to do, she said.

“It’s a really big reminder for me, when I have my kids sitting on my lap as I’m voting on bills, on what matters most,” Pierucci said.

What Utah representatives have young children?

Other House members with young children include House Majority Assistant Whip Casey Snider, R-Paradise, Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, Rep. Ashlee Matthews, D-West Jordan, Rep. Andrew Stoddard, D-Sandy, Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Salt Lake City, Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, and Rep. Jason Kyle, R-Huntsville.

Kyle, the father of five children from 1 to 10 years old, jokes he and his wife “haven’t slept in a decade.” During the legislative session, Kyle is typically up before 4 or 5 in the morning to go to his office where he works as a production manager for a medical X-ray supplier before he makes the drive to the Hill, he said.

In an interview with the Deseret News, Kyle said having children was “the primary motivation” for his decision to run for public office just after their youngest child was born.

“I think that we have responsibilities to leave a better state for future generations than what we have,” he said. “I think our previous generations have done a great job for us, from the pioneers to our grandparents. ... And I think we owe it to our children to do the same.”

Being a parent influences what bills he pursues and how he chooses to vote, Kyle said, adding that with every vote he asks himself “How’s this going to affect the people around me? How’s it going to affect my own family?”

“We’re a part time legislative term here,” Kyle said. “We all have jobs, most of us have families, and so we really live with the policy that we make.”

‘A big sacrifice’

Lee, Utah’s second youngest lawmaker, said becoming the father to a 15-year-old stepdaughter, a 3-year-old, 2-year-old, and with one on the way, has changed his perspective on life and caused him to be forward-looking in prioritizing policies that deal with technology issues like cellphone use in classrooms, data privacy and artificial intelligence.

As a father and the CEO of a financial consulting business, Lee readily admits that serving as a state lawmaker has its drawbacks. But its worth it for the impact he can have and the example he can set for his children, he said.

“It’s typically harder for someone who’s young like me to be in the legislature. You have your job, you have your family you’re raising. So it is a big sacrifice,” Lee told the Deseret News. “But it means I’m doing this for an important reason because I care. I care deeply about the state I live in. I care deeply about the country. I care about the issues.”

The Utah Legislature is making some changes to try and lighten the load for its members with young children. Earlier this session, at Pierucci’s request, the first diaper changing table was installed in the women’s bathroom between the House and Senate chambers in the Capitol.

And on the last day of the 2023 session, the House majority caucus room was converted into a “family room,” with movies and coloring books.

“That’s the first time we’ve done that,” Pierucci said. “And that’s because we have so many young families here now. And I think that’s good. I think ... that is reflective of our state, we are a young state, and we’ve got lots of families and we should have more of that up on the Hill.”

To increase the representation of young parents in the Legislature, Pierucci and some of her colleagues, have formed a “conservative millennials PAC.”

“We really do need people who are in the middle of the grind of having a family and working and making it all work and showing that you can do more than one thing at a time and that your kids are better for it,” Pierucci said.