Rebecca D. Lockhart

Rebecca Dawn Lockhart[1] (November 20, 1968 – January 17, 2015) was an American politician and Republican member of the Utah House of Representatives.[2] Lockhart represented the 64th District in Provo, Utah. Lockhart was the first female Speaker of the House in Utah, serving until the end of 2014, when she chose not to run again.[3]

Rebecca Lockhart
Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives
In office
January 24, 2011 – January 17, 2015
Preceded byDavid Clark
Succeeded byGreg Hughes
Member of the Utah House of Representatives
from the 64th district
In office
January 1, 1999 – January 17, 2015
Preceded byBryon Lee Harward
Succeeded byNorm Thurston
Personal details
Born(1968-11-20)November 20, 1968
Reno, Nevada, U.S.
DiedJanuary 17, 2015(2015-01-17) (aged 46)
Provo, Utah, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Alma materBrigham Young University

Early life and career

Lockhart was born in Reno, Nevada and attended college at Brigham Young University where she obtained a degree in nursing.[4]

Lockhart's husband, Stan Lockhart, served as a member of the Provo City Council[5] and previously served as chair of the Utah Republican Party.[3] Stan Lockhart currently works as a lobbyist for Micron/IM Flash Tech.[6] The Lockharts lived together in Provo, Utah, where the couple raised their family.

Political career

Becky Lockhart served in the Utah House of Representatives for sixteen years. She announced in 2014 that she would not be seeking reelection that year, and pundits claimed that she may have been focusing her efforts on running in the 2016 Utah gubernatorial election.[7]

During the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions, Lockhart served on a variety of committees, including the Executive Appropriations Committee, the House Legislative Expense Oversight Committee, the Administrative Rules Review Committee, the Legislative Management Committee, and the Legislative Audit Subcommittee. She also served on the Commission on Federalism, the Education Task Force, the Subcommittee on Oversight, and the Utah Constitutional Revision Commission.[2]

2014 sponsored legislation

Serving as Speaker of the House, Lockhart did not file any bills under her name. In 2014 Lockhart's primary legislative project was HB 131S03, the Public Education Modernization Act, filed under Representative Francis Gibson.[8]

Pivotal legislation

HB 131S03, the Public Education Modernization Act, was particularly controversial. The proposed legislation called for $200–$300 million in state funds to replace textbooks with tablet computers in the state's classrooms.[9] The bill was essentially killed in budget negotiations.

Among other projects while in the state legislature, Lockhart pushed for a radar at Provo Municipal Airport.[10] She also proposed a revised tax system that would greatly increase the amount of taxes levied by Utah on chewing tobacco.[11]

HB477 Republican leadership controversy

At the close of the 2011 Utah legislative session, there was open concern expressed by one representative that, under Republican Party Leadership (who have a large majority in both houses), legislators were pressured to vote for HB477, which denied the public access to certain forms of government communication. There was vast public outcry over the bill which was hurriedly presented and passed under her, and other Republican leaders' oversight.[12]

Death

Lockhart died at her home in Provo, Utah on January 17, 2015, from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease,[13] "an unrecoverable and extremely rare neurodegenerative brain disease".[14] She had begun to develop signs of the condition a few weeks before her death. The illness had led to her admission to the hospital a few days after she left office.[15]

Tribute

In 2016, the Utah House of Representatives building on Capitol Hill was named the Rebecca D. Lockhart building. In 2017 the Rebecca D. Lockhart Arena at Utah Valley University was named after Lockhart.[16]

See also

References
  1. "Utah Women in the Economy Commission" (PDF). Utah State University. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2023 – via Wayback Machine.
  2. "Rebecca Lockhart". Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah House of Representatives. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  3. Bernick, Bob, Jr. (April 17, 2009). "Utah Republicans get ready for changing of guard". Deseret News. Retrieved 2009-06-04.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. "Vote Smart article on Lockhart". Vote Smart.
  5. Dethman, Leigh (November 5, 2003). "'Nobody' a somebody in Provo". Deseret Morning News. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  6. "Conflict of Interest Form" (PDF). Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah House of Representatives. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  7. "Lockhart bids farewell to Legislature". Salt Lake City, Utah: Daily Herald. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  8. "H.B. 131 Third Substitute Public Education Modernization Act". Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah House of Representatives. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  9. "No money for House Speaker Becky Lockhart's education technology plan in budget". Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  10. Riddle, Laura (February 10, 2008). "Provo airport is moving closer to getting radar". Deseret Morning News. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  11. "Chewing tobacco cost would rise with new tax". Deseret Morning News. February 8, 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  12. "GOP lawmaker apologizes for HB477 vote, saying he feared retaliation". Deseret Morning News. March 14, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-14.
  13. Former Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart, 46, dies of rare disease
  14. "Becky Lockhart, Utah's first female House speaker, dies". 17 January 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  15. Gehrke, Robert (January 17, 2015). "Becky Lockhart, history-making Utah lawmaker, dies at 46". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  16. Katie England Daily Herald (2017-01-18). "UVU arena named after Becky Lockhart, first female speaker of the Utah House of Representatives | Education". heraldextra.com. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
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