REAL STORIES OF KEN HELPING REAL UTAHNS
Protecting Schoolchildren from Abuse
Amy Coombs is an advocate for victims of crime and a survivor of violence and sexual abuse. After hearing far too many experiences of children being sexually abused at school, Amy helped Ken create legislation that requires detailed training and best practices and policies in all Utah schools to reduce the likelihood (and hopefully prevent) child sexual abuse at school.
Together, they researched laws around the nation and collaborated with victim support groups, teachers, administrators, law enforcement, and government agencies to refine and pass HB75.
In light of recent, high-profile child sexual abuse at schools, Ken is working this year with prosecutors, school officials, victim support groups, and colleagues on a bill to close loopholes and further strengthen protections for children in our schools.
Championing Quality Education
Education has always been a top issue for Ken. That’s why Ken fought to increase education funding while holding districts accountable for real results.
Ken worked tirelessly with parents and grandparents to protect our children from indecent and pornographic materials in our public schools. He is also married to an award-winning teacher and started the Japanese language program in the Provo School District, serving as the first Japanese teacher at Provo High School.
Preventing Animal Cruelty
Ken teamed up with constituents to end the brutal practice of horse tripping, a sport in foreign nations that had crept into Utah. Together, they researched the issue and outlined legislation, educated legislators about the problem and negotiated a workable solution in collaboration with a number of animal support, ranching, and rodeo stakeholders. The result was HB261, which passed with unanimous support in both chambers to put an end to this cruel “sport” in Utah.
Preventing Domestic Violence
Another constituent-inspired bill was HB57. Ryan Rassmussen was a deputy sheriff who lives in our district.
He shared with Ken how victims of domestic violence often find themselves returned to the dangerous situation for which they police intervention, resulting in further threats, violence, and even death to victims.
Ryan and Ken crafted legislation together to provide immediate protective orders for victims of domestic violence, passing the bill unanimously in House and the Senate and signed by the governor.
Defending Your Right to Defend Yourself
Utah law used to allow bankruptcy or judgment creditors to seize all of a person’s firearms valued over $250. This was brought to Ken’s attention by Gary Welch, a father deeply concerned about his daughter who had just escaped an abusive relationship and was staying with him for protection and support.
However, Gary suffered a financial downturn in the 2008 Great Financial Crisis and lost all of his firearms and his ability to protect his home and family. Working with Gary, Ken assembled several Second Amendment organizations and other stakeholders and passed HB298. This legislation – widely considered the best firearms exemption law in the nation – allows a person to exempt up to three firearms and a reasonable amount of ammunition from bankruptcy or judgment.
Thanks to HB298 we will never lose the ability to protect our homes and families simply because of a financial setback.
Advocating for Small Business
As a small businessman himself, Ken works to support small business in a number of ways, including lowering taxes, reducing regulation, and making government services more accessible. Ken worked with constituent and small businessman Gary Leaney to eliminate the burden and level the playing field for small business regarding fees for bounced checks.
Banks charged small businesses a higher fee than they could charge their customers who bounced a check to them. This seemingly small matter affected businesses all over the state, costing them tens of thousands of dollars. Thanks to Gary bring the issue forward and working with Ken, small business owners no longer face this inequality. This is just another example of how a hardworking, experienced legislator can make a difference for the people he serves.
Election Integrity
Utahns deserve elections that are transparent, accurate and honest, with results that are timely and reliable. That’s why Ken has been working with colleagues locally and nationally on election integrity as a top priority.
The goal is to “Make It Easy to Vote & Impossible to Cheat.” Ken won’t stop until we achieve this reality.
Health Care Costs
Dr. Jennings built his family medical practice around providing basic primary medical needs for an affordable monthly flat price. He came to Ken when the State Insurance Department sought to prosecute him for selling “insurance” without a license. Ken worked with Dr. Jennings, the Utah Medical Association, and many concerned stakeholders and passed HB240 which protected health care providers providing routine health care services for a prepaid fee from regulation (and punishment) by the Insurance Department.
Even before COVID, Ken anticipated the ability to extend medical services and reduce cost through telehealth, passing HB154 to require insurer transparency regarding telehealth reimbursement leading to the expansion of such services because insurance companies were encouraged to pay for these cost cutting and time saving services.
Jobs & Economy
Utah is consistently ranked as one of the best states in the country when it comes to where to live, work, start a business, and enjoy a robust quality of life.
This is not an accident. It is the result of the pro-jobs and pro-growth policies championed by Ken Ivory and like-minded colleagues in the State Legislature. While Ken’s opponents would change the recipe that has made Utah successful, Ken will continue fighting to improve upon the policies that have delivered proven results in lowering taxes, increasing jobs and improving opportunities for all Utahns.
Empowering Victims of Child Sexual Abuse
The person behind this bill is one of the bravest people Ken has ever met. It is well known that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be a victim of child sexual abuse by the time they turn 18 years of age. She was one of these victimized children. The damage caused to survivors (and their families) lasts a lifetime. A Utah study estimates the economic impact alone of sexual abuse exceeds $4 billion a year within our State. For decades, to recover such damages from the abuser, Utah law required a sexually abused child to bring their claim in court within one year, and later within four years, of turning age 18.
A host of studies confirm that sexually abused children, who are usually conditioned not to tell on threats of harm to them or their loved ones, on average take until age 42 to overcome the fear and shame to bring damage claims against their abuser. Despite the unspeakable grief and pain of relating her experience in public legislative committees, she shared her story so that no other child would ever experience the nightmare forced upon her. Together with a throng of survivors and supporters, Ken and she presented these stories and consequences to legislative committees and throughout the state and passed HB287, which eliminated the statute of limitations for sexual abuse of children. Thanks to her, and so many other courageous survivors, someone who sexually abuses a child in Utah can never hide behind the passage of time to be held accountable for the damage they cause.