Patrice Arent Explained

Patrice M. Arent
State:Utah
State House1:Utah
District1:36th
Term Start1:1997-2002, 2010-2020
Predecessor1:Phil Riesen
Successor1:Doug Owens
State Senate2:Utah
District2:4th
Term Start2:2002
Term End2:2006
Successor2:Patricia W. Jones
Party:Democratic
Birth Date:3 February 1956
Education:University of Utah (BS)
Cornell Law School (JD)
Residence:Salt Lake City, Utah

Patrice M. Arent (born February 3, 1956) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Utah House of Representatives, representing the state's 36th house district through 2020.

Early life and career

Arent was born February 3, 1956, in Utah. She received her B.S. from the University of Utah in 1978 and her J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1981.[1] Before becoming a member of the House of Representatives, she worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Utah Attorney General's Office from 1989-1995.[2] She currently lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and two children.[3] She is Jewish.[4]

Political career

Arent was elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 1996 where she has served as Democratic Whip and Assistant Democratic Whip. In 2002, because of legislative redistricting, she would have had to run against another incumbent Democratic representative to remain in her House seat. Rather than run for a fourth term in the House, Arent successfully ran to represent District 4 in the State Senate.[5] She served in the Utah Senate from 2003 through 2006.[6]

Arent was elected Democratic National Committeewoman from Utah at the 2008 State Democratic Convention.[7] She represented Utah as a "superdelegate" at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, and helped nominate Barack Obama as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States.

In 2010, she returned to public office as the Representative of District 36 in the Utah House of Representatives.[8] She was reelected in 2012 with 60% of the vote. She was reelected in 2014 with 67.8% of the vote.[9]

In 2011, the Utah Democratic Party awarded her the Eleanor Roosevelt Award.[10] [11] The award was presented on October 27, 2011, at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was selected by a committee of past award winners. Past award winners include former Congresswoman Karen Shepherd and State Senator Karen Mayne.

During the 2016 legislative session, Arent served on the Executive Appropriations Committee, the Business, Economic Development, and Labor Appropriations Subcommittee, the House Government Operations Committee, and the House Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee.[12]

2016 sponsored legislation

Bill Number Bill Title Status
HB0052S02Office of Outdoor Recreation AmendmentsGovernor Signed - 3/21/2016
HB0119Straight Ticket Voting AmendmentsHouse/ filed - 3/10/2016
HB0130Electric Vehicle Infrastructure AmendmentsGovernor Signed - 3/29/2016
HB0158S01Campaign Funds Restrictions for County and Local School Board OfficesGovernor Signed - 3/18/2016
HB0237Income Tax Contribution for Clean AirGovernor Signed - 3/21/2016
HB0267Charitable Solicitation Act AmendmentsGovernor Signed - 3/29/2016
HB0275Submission of Nonbinding Opinion Questions to VotersHouse/ filed - 3/10/2016
HJR006Joint Rules Resolution on Ethics CommissionHouse/ filed - 3/10/2016

[13]

Arent passed five of the eight bills she introduced, giving her a 62.5% passage rate. She did not floor sponsor any bills during the 2016 general session.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Arent. Patrice. University of Utah Faculty Profile. 19 September 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060715/http://www.law.utah.edu/faculty/faculty-profile/?id=patrice-arent. 21 September 2013.
  2. https://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/10548/patrice-arent Biography on Project VoteSmart
  3. Web site: Patrice Arent Utah House . 2014-04-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101024103925/http://www.patricearent.com/about/background/ . 2010-10-24 . dead .
  4. News: With Utah Legislature's Mormon supermajority, is it representative of the people?. The Salt Lake Tribune. 2018-03-12. en-US.
  5. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/51089931-82/county-democratic-republican-rolly.html.csp "Paul Rolly: Weep for the Disenfranchised," The Salt Lake Tribune, January 22, 2011
  6. http://le.utah.gov/house2/detail.jsp?i=ARENTPM Rep. Arent's official page on the Utah Legislature website
  7. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700224827/Utah-Democrats-Springmeyer-to-challenge-governor.html?pg=all "Utah Democrats: Springmeyer to challenge governor," Deseret News, May 11, 2008
  8. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=DSNB&d_place=DSNB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=12EE443DF9454CF8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "Former Legislators Seek Return to the Hill," Deseret News, April 4, 2010
  9. Web site: Patrice Arent - Ballotpedia. ballotpedia.org. 2016-04-01.
  10. http://utahamicus.blogspot.com/2011/09/state-rep-patrice-arent-to-be-honored.html Utah Amicus story on Eleanor Roosevelt Award
  11. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700178067/Rep-Patrice-Arent-to-receive-Eleanor-Roosevelt-Award.html "Rep. Patrice Arent to receive Eleanor Roosevelt Award," Deseret News, Sept. 10 2011
  12. Web site: Committees. le.utah.gov. 2016-04-01.
  13. Web site: 2016 -- Legislation(House Of Representatives). le.utah.gov. 2016-04-01.