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.

Constituents Heather & Taylor Brady love horses. They discovered that the brutal practice of horse tripping for sport had entered our state. Horse tripping takes out the front legs of a horse at a run, bringing the horse down and often injuring and maiming the animal. The Bradys came to Ken as their representative, wondering what could be done. Together, they researched and outlined the legislation, began teaching legislators about the problem and the proposed solution, and collaborated with a number of animal support, ranching, and rodeo groups.

Parents and leaders in Ken’s district and around the state were concerned that the materials available to their children at school were not appropriate. After reviewing these materials with them, it was clear that many were not only indecent, some met the definition of pornographic under existing Utah law. Together with these parents and leaders, Ken drafted and refined the language of HB374 Sensitive Materials in Schools and worked with legislators in the House and Senate and education leaders and organizations around the state to pass this bill, which received bipartisan support in both chambers.

Gary Leaney is a hard-working small businessman who lives in District 39. He thought it was arbitrary and unfair that, under Utah law, when a customer bounced a check to him, the banks could charge him $25 for each bounced check, but he, as the business owner, could only charge the person who bounced the check to him in the first place $15. This seemingly small matter affected businesses all over the state, costing them tens of thousands of dollars each year.

Ryan Rassmussen was a sheriff's deputy who lives in District 39. He shared with Ken that victims of Domestic violence are often put immediately back in dangerous situations that called for police intervention, resulting in further threats, violence, and even death to these victims. Ryan wanted to do something to make this stop. He came to Ken, and together they crafted the legislation that would provide immediate protective orders for victims of domestic violence. They brought law enforcement and victims advocacy groups to the table, educated legislative colleagues in the House and Senate, and passed HB57 on a unanimous vote in both chambers. Ryan saw a problem and made all the difference!

Gary Welch was deeply concerned about his daughter. She had just escaped an abusive relationship and was staying with her father for protection and support. However, Gary had suffered a financial downturn in 2008-2009 and filed for bankruptcy to get a fresh start. Under Utah law, at that time, creditors could take away any firearm or ammunition valued at over $250. Consequently, Gary lost his firearms and his ability to protect his home and his daughter from a violent ex-boyfriend. Ken went to work researching bankruptcy laws and state exemption laws.

Susan Speirs is the president of the Utah Association of CPAs ( Certified Public Accountants). She, and the accountants she represents, became very concerned about the impact on essential government services in Utah and the drag on our Utah economy of runaway national debt & inflation fueling federal spending. Susan rallied her members, and together she and Ken assembled a core group of legislators and stakeholders around the state and the nation, to teach legislators about the perils of Utah's dependence on unsustainable federal debt and spending.

Jen Brown knows it is the structural balance of governing powers in our constitutional system that secures our rights. Seeing state and local matters increasingly taken over by Washington, DC - under both parties - Jen stepped up and rallied friends & neighbors to do something about it. She and her groups came to Ken and together they crafted and passed HB209, Federalism Amendments. This bill creates a federalism database produced by an apolitical, nonpartisan university to track all federal action which appears to intrude upon state and local powers.

Dr. Michael Jennings received a notice from the state of Utah that his medical practice was going to be shut down claiming that he was selling insurance without a license. Dr. Jennings believes in affordable wellness care. He established a program for his patients where they would pay a small monthly fee for most routine wellness care. The state considered this innovation by Dr. Jennings to lower healthcare costs & improve quality to be the unauthorized selling of insurance. Working with Dr. Jennings, the Utah Medical Association, and a number of other groups, Ken crafted a bill to allow and encourage a doctors, like Dr. Jennings, to lower healthcare costs for their patients.

Britta Shugg 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. Britta 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.

School community councils do amazing things to address the unique challenges their schools and their children face with the funds administered directly by these councils. If they had more funds, they could do even more incredible and unique things for their schools. However, Utah is more than $2 billion below average per-pupil funding for education, primarily because we have only 20% taxable land in our state. .

The constituents behind this bill have lived through a tragic history of traumatizing violence and abuse. Sadly, they found that Utah's criminal justice system often re-traumatizes victims of heinous crimes in the way they address the rights and needs of victims of crime. For them, and anyone else who might ever be in a similar situation, they wanted this to change.