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Utah can help women and the poor by eliminating food tax, voting to cover birth control, religious leaders and lawmakers say

Utah could help its businesses, poor residents, women and working families if lawmakers passed a slate of bills lauded by legislators and religious groups on Thursday.

This session there are bills to expand Medicaid to cover long-term birth control, require state agencies to offer paid parental leave for employees and remove the sales tax on food, among others. Some of the bills came out of the work of the Women in the Economy Commission, which focused on helping working Utah women.

Together, a package of a dozen bills make up what a bipartisan group called the “family economic prosperity priorities” for the five remaining working weeks lawmakers have at the Capitol.