Wednesday, January 27

This morning proposed legislation will be debated in legislative standing committees from 8 to 10, and on the House and Senate floor from 10 to noon. Appropriations Subcommittees will have their first meetings of the session to talk about state budgets this afternoon from 2 to 5.

IN MORNING COMMITTEES

Up for consideration in the HOUSE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE is HB 22, which would require prison inmates with health or dental insurance to continue using their insurance while incarcerated. HB 78, Weapons Revisions, would allow individuals to openly carry guns and use them to threaten deadly force when they reasonably believe they’re threatened with bodily harm. Anyone drawing a weapon not in self defense would be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. Another committee bill, HB 37, would require applicants for car dealer or car salesperson licenses to be fingerprinted and undergo criminal background checks.

HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT will discuss HB 60, under which the state Division of Water Resources and conservation districts would create a safety and management plan for “water conveyance facilities.” This bill by Rep Hunsaker is a response to the failure of an irrigation canal that caused flooding and loss of life last year.

IN APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEES

The nine Appropriations Subcommittees recommend budgets for various state departments such as Economic Development, Health and Human Services, Public and Higher Education, Natural Resources and Transportation. They begin their work by reviewing general budgets and options for proposed 5 percent cuts.

More specific issues such as funding the Division of Juvenile Justices Services, the impact on Utah of U.S. health reform, health care financing, and Medicaid services will be addressed today as well. Subcommittee calculations depend on how much revenue the state expects. New projections will come out next month.

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

From League observer Jenn Gonnelly:

Yesterday’s big news on the hill was passage out of committee of HB 12 Abortion Amendments - (Wimmer, C) with a unanimous vote. This bill was written in response to the case in Vernal where a teenage girl hired a man to beat her up in effort to abort her unborn baby. The county AG stated that he could not prosecute her for attempted criminal homicide, as he did the man who beat her up, because the definition of abortion was too broad and because there is a prohibition against prosecution of a woman for killing an unborn child. This bill is attempting to narrow the definition of abortion and "removes prohibitions against prosecution of a woman for killing an unborn child or committing criminal homicide of an unborn child"

According to testimony by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood Action Corps the unintended consequence of this bill is that a women may be prosecuted for a miscarriage that happens under suspicious circumstances. While both Representatives Beck and Reisen expressed their concerns about these consequences they both ultimately voted to pass the bill out favorably.

A notable trio of bills being sponsored by Representative Daw deal with the Controlled Substance Database maintained by Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL) Two deal with reporting: HB 35 Reporting for Overdose of a Prescribed Controlled Substance and HB 36 Reporting Convictions for Driving Under the Influence or Impaired Driving. The third HB 28, Controlled Substance Database Amendments, requires that any doctor licensed to dispense drugs listed on the controlled substance database be trained on how to use the database. While these bills offer ways to control "doctor shopping" and prescription drug abuse, they also have implications for privacy issues and data control.

From Sherilyn Bennion:

In the House Government Operations Committee, HB 79 (Poulson) passed out with a favorable recommendation on a 6-3 vote. This bill would make Medicare cards valid voter identification at the polls. Opponents worried about the lack of a photo on the cards and the possibility that undocumented immigrants might be able to obtain them. HB 56 (Allen), which would improve transparency on campaign finance reporting, also passed out favorably.

In the general House session, in addition to the bills regarding the Controlled Substance Database referred to in Jenn's report, HB 15 (Dunnigan) passed. This would make it possible for borrowers from Payday Loan lenders to request one extended payment plan per lender per year.

In the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment Committee, most of the discussion centered around wolves and how to keep them out of Utah, or at least manage them. Considerable resentment was expressed at the lack of a response from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to a wolf management plan submitted by the state in 2007. Given the conflicting reports the extent of wolf-depredation damage to game animals and livestock from those speaking before the committee, it asked for further information and postponed a decision on either SB 36 (the more draconian) or SB 36 first substitute (Christensen). Some concern was expressed about the constitutionality of the bills.

You can join the League at the Legislature by watching, listening in, or contacting your legislator on line at Utah’s award winning legislative website le.utah.gov.

Call your House member at 801.538.1029 or your Senator at 801.538.1035.

Sandy Peck