Wednesday, February 24, 2010

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY

Legislators are busy in committee hearings from 8 to 10 and 4 to 6 today.  
Floor Sessions are from 10 to noon and 2 to 4.  
HOUSE RETIREMENT AND INDEPENDENT ENTITIES meets at noon to debate two retirement bills:  
Substitute SB 43 addresses “double-dipping” by state retirees.  
Second Substitute SB 63 proposes new retirement plans for individuals who begin working for the state after July 1.


IN MORNING COMMITTEES
HB 185, Animal Euthanasia Standards , is before the HOUSE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE . It directs animal shelters to euthanize an animal only by lethal injection or, one animal at a time, in a carbon monoxide chamber.
          HB 153 would create a Consumer Electronic Recycling Program to safely dispose of toxic personal desktop computers, TVs and printers. Business computers, cell phones, and small handheld devices would not be included.


SB 188 is in SENATE EDUCATION.   It removes the enrollment cap on charter schools, makes a State Charter School Board member a nonvoting member of the State Board of Education, changes procedures for admitting and transferring students, modifies conflict of interest provisions, and sets up a committee to review requests for loans to charter schools.
          SB 276, Promoting Healthy Lifestyles in Public Schools, requires school community councils to review and report healthy vending machine contents and physical activity participation rates to their local school board.  The information would then go to the State Board as well as Education and Health and Human Services Interim Committees to be compared to standards set in SB 276.
 
IN AFTERNOON COMMITTEES
HOUSE EDUCATION will discuss HB 292, Equalization of Funding for Divided School Districts .  When a school district, for example the Jordan District, is divided, school property taxes would be equalized at the same amount per student in both districts, resulting in a possible property tax shift of $15.4 million depending on geographic location.
HOUSE BUSINESS AND LABOR will look at HB 145 , which would allow Utah businesses, schools, local governments, and other
 non-profits to take advantage of innovative private financing and tax incentives to produce renewable energy.  
 Also in committee is HB 223.  It removes the cap on the number of restaurant liquor licenses allowed by the state.

WHAT HAPPENED TUESDAY?
In the Senate
Sherilyn Bennion reporting
The Senate in its Tuesday morning session passed second substitute SB 275, Removing Signature from Initiative and Referendum Petition (H. Stephenson, R-Draper).  This bill would make it easier for initiative petition signers to remove their names, which can be done for a month after April 15 (when initiative petitions must be turned in).  
         Sen. Ben McAdams (D-Salt Lake) offered an amendment which would limit signature withdrawals to the period before the April 15 deadline that petition sponsors must meet, but it failed. Both the amendment vote and the bill vote were largely along party lines.
More about SB 275
Sandy Peck listening on-line
Senator McAdams amendment would have corrected a flaw in the current initiative law.  He cited the case of a 2002 radiation waste initiative.  After all signatures were handed in by April 15, well-funded opponents still had time to convince a handful of voters to remove their signatures. In a district that has collected just enough signatures to qualify, it does not take many to disqualify it and keep the initiative off the ballot, preventing the people of Utah from exercising their constitutional right to initiate legislation.  
         He described the situation as initiative proponents having to sit on the bench for a month while opponents play extra innings to remove signatures.  He didn’t disagree that people have a right to change their minds, but argued for a fair playing field.
          Sen. Ross Romero (D-Salt Lake) supported Sen McAdams’ amendment and noted that if voters oppose an initiative they can simply vote no when it’s on the ballot in November.
 
In House NR/AG/ENV Committee
Ann O’Connell reporting
The first bill I heard added some law to the statutes on bee keeping.  A cheerful bill and the news is good.   Bees and bee keepers are making a slow comeback in Utah. Missed rainwater harvesting SB 32, Jenkins.  Also a pleasant bill.
The rest of the meeting was devoted to three companion bills concerned with the battle against federal control of land in Utah . HB 143 Eminent Domain Authority , Herrod (Provo), HB 324 Public Lands Litigation , Sumsion  (Lehi), and HB 323 School and Institutional Trust Lands Amendments , Sumsion.   HB 143 gives the state the power to use eminent domain against the federal governmentt. on public lands, HB 324 gives the attorney general orders to file actions on a long list of areas (many of them RS2477 roads), and HB 323 extracts some money from SITLA funds to finance the beginnings of the long legal battles to ensue. The first two have long constitutional notes attached.  You may recall that the legislature a couple of years ago asked the legislative attorneys to forgo constitutional notes in most cases, so it is significant that they are included here.


And on the House Floor
Nearly the whole session was devoted to Rep. McIff's (San Pete, Sevier, Emery) Substitute HB 141, Stream Access which passed 50-25.  Monday’s afternoon session saw the debate on, and defeat of, Rep. Fowlke's (Provo) HB 80 on the same topic.  Her bill fleshed out the recent Utah Supreme Court decision giving recreational access to most Utah waters.  His relied on constitutional property rights to deny access to waters on private land (except under certain circumstances of traditional use). Almost two whole sessions were devoted to this discussion.  Some of it was substantive, a lot was not.
 
Also on the House Floor
Jenn Gonnelly Reporting

HB0066 < http://le.utah.gov/%7E2010/htmdoc/hbillhtm/hb0066.htm > Prosthetic Limb Health Insurance Parity (Litvak) - I am pleased to report that this bill passed the house with 48 yeas, 25 nays, and 2 absences.  The debate lasted approximately 30 minutes with only 2 representatives speaking against it. Thanks to all league members who took the time to contact their representatives in favor of this legislation.  Nays and absent are listed below.  
NAYS - 25

      Aagard          Ferry             Hutchings         Painter           

      Anderson      Fisher, Julie     Kiser               Sumsion           

      Bird              Frank             Lockhart          Wimmer            
      Daw             Grover            Mathis             Wright            

      Dee              Harper            Morley            

      Dougall         Herrod            Newbold           

      Dunnigan      Hughes            Oda               

  ABSENT OR NOT VOTING - 2

       Edwards           Clark, D.    

Sandy Peck