When Wayne Harper first considered a run for the Utah House of Representatives, his family was all in. Harper, now a senator and NCSL’s president, recalls that when he brought the idea to a family meeting, his kids said, “Yeah, Dad, go for it! You like to serve.”
He had demonstrated it all their lives and even before they were born. Harper says in high school he usually had his nose in a book or was out in nature. He was curious about what the world could teach him and how he could be of help. His church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, certainly emphasized service, and he spent two years in rural Bolivia as a missionary.
“We spent time working with people on improving the electrical systems and water and things like that,” Harper says. “It was a wonderful experience sharing the gospel with the people I did not know, but I came to understand and to vastly appreciate them and their situation, and loved helping make their lives better.”
“It’s fun to get around the table and listen to what other states are looking at and doing, comparing that with yours and finding better solutions.”
—Utah Sen. and NCSL President Wayne Harper
He had left for that service role after one year at Rick’s College (now known as Brigham Young University-Idaho), where he had become smitten with a woman he saw in the dorm lobby, who turned out to be his roommate’s sister, KaLee Neal. Long-distance communication was tough from remote Bolivia, but they reconnected as soon as he got back and were married just a few months later.
Harper earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both in history, from BYU. He says he was often asked, What can you do with a degree in history? The answer was obvious to him.
“I said, ‘Anything you want, because you’re not specialized, you’re not focused, but you take classes in politics, economics, business, art, architecture and international programs,’” Harper says. “It gives you a big background to relate to people in the country, or in your state or internationally, so you can better understand where they’re coming from.”
After grad school, he worked at the Salt Lake County Recorder’s office, then in his church’s historical department and later at the Utah State Tax Commission in various management positions. He was certified in archives and records management. Harper’s first legislative experience arose from an issue in the mobile home park where he and his wife lived in the small town of Orem, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. There was a bill regarding residents’ rights after the park owner required costly exterior home improvements.
“I got together with a number of other resident groups within the mobile home communities and actually was asked to go up and testify before the Utah State Senate on this bill I thought would be detrimental to the mobile home residents,” he says. The hearing room was packed with people planning to testify not only on the mobile home bill, but also on one to raise the salaries of state troopers and another one on helmet requirements for motorcyclists.
In a coincidence, that day’s agenda returned many years later, just after Harper was elected to the Senate. “My first agenda on the committee I was chairing was (mobile home park) residency requirements, salary increases for state troopers and a mandatory motorcycle helmet law. Who could have imagined that?”
A Local Focus
It would be a few years after that first testimony before Harper was elected to the House, where he served before moving to the Senate. In the meantime, he had many roles in his community, including with the PTA. He and his wife ultimately had eight children and adopted three brothers who’d been with them in foster care. So, it made sense to take an active role in the public schools. “I said, ‘Why not? I want to make sure that my kids’ schools are the very best,’” Harper says.
But it seemed he couldn’t avoid the Legislature. Soon, he became the PTA’s legislative vice president for the elementary school, representing local education issues in the Statehouse; eventually, he was legislative vice president for the whole district.
Still, Harper’s focus was local. He served on the City Council for West Jordan and later became the city’s economic development director. This meant imagining a future for the town of 26,000. For 10 years, he led efforts to envision and implement growth as the city nearly doubled in size.
“It’s really kind of fun to think I made a difference there for my community,” Harper says. When a seat opened up in the state House of Representatives in 1996, Harper ran for it and won. He laughs that his family didn’t understand exactly what they were signing on for.
“They didn’t realize that ‘Yes, we’ll support you’ meant they would be helping me on eight House campaigns and now, let’s see, four Senate campaigns, going door to door, doing get out the vote, making phone calls, delivering door hangers,” Harper says. “So yeah, they’ve done a lot over the years, and it’s a family affair.”
He involved his children not just in the campaign but brought them to the House floor when he could, and when he got involved with NCSL, at least some of the family would often join him when he went to conferences. Harper says he heard of NCSL in his first session and signed up for a meeting in Washington, D.C.
He was hooked immediately.
“It’s fun to get around the table and listen to what other states are looking at and doing, comparing that with yours and finding better solutions and better ways to go through and serve our constituents and our neighbors,” he says.
Harper quickly got more involved with NCSL, helping to chair a telecommunications and financial institutions task force, serving on the Transportation Standing Committee and, of course, attending all the Legislative Summit meetings and other events that he could. In 2023, Harper became NCSL’s vice president, a yearlong role that put him in line to take over as president this year.
Fostering Connections
“I’ve spent years and lots of love and attention on this organization, and I just kept going with a group that I truly support and admire for the ability to reach out and make a difference for the states,” Harper says. He wants to foster that connection to the organization with more legislators who might not realize all that NCSL offers, especially considering the rate of turnover in House chambers nationwide.
Harper emphasizes that NCSL has just about the same number of Republicans as Democrats attending meetings and participating on committees.
“So, my goal for this organization is, No. 1, make sure people feel welcome, let them know that their opinion and their perspective are valued,” Harper says. “I just want them to know that NCSL is here to help them and to support them in their legislative activities.”
To that end, he is encouraging the expansion of work by NCSL’s state liaisons—NCSL staffers who are the organization’s points of contact for legislators and legislative staff.
Harper is now the longest-tenured legislator in Utah. That’s a long way from that first visit to the chamber as a resident of a mobile home park who wanted to testify on a bill.
He recalls when he was making the hourlong drive home after that hearing, he had the thought, “This is crazy, why do people do that?”
But he says he never was someone who could turn away from public service, not with parents who were the only two teachers—as well as principal and secretary—of a tiny rural school in Idaho when he was young, not with his father and uncles on both sides of the family having served in World War II.
“They have always been very patriotic, very supportive of the country, very involved. They branded me with a love for the country,” Harper says, “and a sense of duty to step up and make things better.”
Kelley Griffin is a senior editor and the host and producer of NCSL’s “Across the Aisle” podcast.