Friday, February 18, 2011

TODAY legislative committees are meeting both this morning and this afternoon to discuss everything from math education and nonresident tuition waivers to an urban farming tax break and a comprehensive health care insurance reform bill.

THIS MORNING in COMMITTEES

SENATE EDUCATION will consider SB 179.  It aims to improve math education by awarding grants to districts and charter schools that adopt the Singapore math program, to schools that have honors math courses, to higher education or nonprofits for math teacher training and to independent evaluators of how Singapore math affects student achievement .  SB 179 appropriates $3.6 million in FY 2012 for these programs.

HOUSE REVENUE AND TAXATION will discuss HB 191. It repeals a college tuition waiver that currently allows Utah students who were born outside the U.S. but came to Utah as children to pay in-state college tuition rates, provided they have attended high school here for three or more years and graduated.   Approximately 640 non-citizen students use the waiver now and pay about $2.3 million in tuition. Since out of state tuition is 3.5 times the resident rate, opponents of the repeal say that many good students could not afford to continue at the higher rate.

SENATE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

SB 253 sets up a process for the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health to determine the feasibility of decentralizing the State Hospital and integrating it with community mental health services.  A private company would operate the hospital.

FLOOR DEBATE IS FROM 10 TO NOON AND LUNCH IS FROM 12 TO 2

COMMITTEES AT 2 PM

HOUSE BUSINESS AND LABOR will look at HB 128, Health Reform Amendments, which details plans to reform Utah ’s health insurance system.

SB 82, the Urban Farming Assessment Act will be before SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT.  It suggests a greenbelt property tax break for 2- to 5-acre parcels of land used for urban farming in or around largely populated cities and towns in a county of the first class.

REMINDER: 
THE LEGISLATURE WILL NOT BE IN SESSION NEXT MONDAY.  IT’S PRESIDENTS DAY 

ALSO IN COMMITTEE TODAY

HOUSE POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS

HB 53, Seismic Requirements for Condominium Conversion Projects 
HB 392, Retention Elections for Justice Court Judges

HOUSE WORKFORCE SERVICES AND COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

HB 360, Housing Alternatives for Nursing Home Eligible Parolees

SENATE BUSINESS AND LABOR

HB 212S01, Charges by Health Providers for Medical Records

HOUSE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

HB 234, Assertive Community Mental Health Treatment Pilot Program*
HCR 9, Lupus Awareness Month Concurrent Resolution

WHAT HAPPENED THURSDAY

HB 54 2nd Substitute, Electronic Communications in Public Meetings (K. Powell, R-Duchesne, Uintah, Wasatch Counties ), has been put on hold by the Senate Government Operations Committee, which voted to take no action Thursday morning.  The latest version would have allowed electronic messaging but required messages to be maintained as public records but didn't address the problem of how the public would know the records existed, so that they could be requested.

--Sherilyn Bennion Reporting

SB 132  Sales and Use Tax Exemption for an Energy Efficient Stove or
Energy Efficient Stove Fuel -- Davis,G. --http://le.utah.gov/~2011/htmdoc/sbillhtm/SB0132.htm

passed the Senate today--next opportunity will be in the House.  The only no votes were: Dayton , Jenkins,Madsen and Stephenson, H. In this time of budget cuts, Sen Gene Davis is sponsoring legislation to give a tax credit to pellet stoves, which can be used on red air days.  Pellet stoves can be the cleanest burning of solid fuel stoves, but these devices emit 39 times the particulate matter of a Natural Gas furnace.

                                                                        --Kathy Van Dame Reporting

Sandy Peck
sandypeck@xmission.com