Wednesday, February 2, 2011

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY

THIS MORNING, bills addressing elections, people with disabilities, overdue parking tickets, protecting investors, and balancing the federal budget will be in committee at 8:30 or 9:00.

SB 14 in HOUSE POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS would cancel an election if only one candidate were running.

HOUSE WORKFORCE SERVICES AND COMMUNITY AND DEVELOPMENT is considering HB 240. It directs State agencies that serve people with disabilities to make their first priority helping people be meaningfully and gainfully employed.

SENATE BUSINESS AND LABOR will look at SB 139. It proposes to withdraw vehicle registration when four parking tickets are overdue by 30 days or more. Drivers would have to pay a fee to restore registration after taking care of the tickets.

SB 101 would protect investors considered vulnerable due to age, medical or physical impairment from being exploited by brokers and dealers who misuse a relationship or position of authority, trust or confidence. Dealers could be sanctioned, fined and/or suspended by the State Division of Securities.

SB 100 enacts a whistleblower program under the Utah Uniform Securities Act. Employees who reported wrong doing would be protected from being fired or harassed by their employers and could receive monetary awards. Employers could be fined for harassing whistleblowers.

HCR 3, urging Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment, is before HOUSE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS.

House and Senate floor debate is from 10 am to noon.

IN COMMITTEE THIS AFTERNOON AT 2

HOUSE EDUCATION will look at HB 195. It says the property tax rate in a new school district should generate enough money to meet outstanding debt obligations and be the same for both new and remaining districts.

IN COMMITTEE THIS AFTERNOON AT 2

HB 68 is before HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT. It calls on Off Highway Vehicle drivers to accept responsibility for injury or damage resulting from inherent risks in the OHV sport—risks such as variations in terrain, ravines, streams, poor visibility, rocks and trees. Drivers should know their abilities, maintain control of vehicles, heed posted warnings, and refrain from injuring persons or property.

ALSO IN WEDNESDAY MORNING COMMITTEES

SENATE EDUCATION SB 140 is asking that nominations for 3 of the 7 State Charter School Board members to come from an organization that represents charter schools and allows the Governor to remove a board member for cause.

You’re invited from 12:15 to 1:15

Meet with the Family Investment Coalition in the Olmstead Room, East Senate Building.

Discuss Taxes and School Funding, a bill to lower property tax while raising sales tax on food, by Rep Noel). Medicaid vs. Education funding is also on their agenda. Kory Holdaway from UEA is invited.

ALSO IN COMMITTEE THIS AFTERNOON AT 2 PM

HOUSE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES HB 230 would replace derogatory terms that refer to people with disabilities in state law. ExampleS; replace “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability” and “crippled” with “disability”.

SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT HB 57 establishes a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine. The first 2 years of the four year program would be at Utah State University and the last two years at the University of Washington.

ALSO IN COMMITTEE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AT 4

Two gun bills will be heard in HOUSE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. SUBSTITUTE SB 36 requires out-of-state concealed weapons permit applicants to hold a permit from their home state and requires their home state to recognize the validity of Utah’s permit. Applicants would also have to pay a $5 processing fee.

HB 75 would narrow the definition of “on or about school premises” in regard to using or threatening to use firearms and other dangerous weapons. Primary and secondary school buildings and grounds would still be off limits. However, the ban would no longer apply to school activities at parks or stadiums, or to public or private vocational schools, post-secondary institutions, or child care centers.

WHAT HAPPENED TUESDAY ON THE HOUSE FLOOR

By League Observer Sherilyn Bennion

House members on Tuesday spent considerable time discussing HB 202, Death Penalty Procedures Amendment (Kay McIff, R-Sanpete, Sevier, Emery Counties), and passed the bill on a 67-5 vote. It would allow one post-conviction review of a death sentence after a case had worked its way up and through the Utah Supreme Court. Even representatives opposed in principle to the death penalty agreed to the need to shorten the appeals process, which in one recent case went on for 25 years.

The rest of the session dealt mainly with base budget bills, four of which were passed. Discussion centered mainly on the need to restore funds for specific programs, but some representatives stated their opposition to the process of developing a base budget and then adding funds as the session progresses and to the across-the-board 7% budget cuts mandated by the legislature.

U.S. Representative Rob Bishop visited the session and spoke briefly, mentioning some of the bills he's working on, including one stipulating that a vote of two-thirds of the states could force a review of federal legislation.

WHAT HAPPENED IN COMMITTEE ON TUESDAY

By League Observer Ann O’Connell

Senate Transportation, Public Utilities, and Technology 2:00, Tuesday, Feb.1

SB0047 Driver License and Identification Card Amendments, Bramble, C.,
The committee gave the bill a favorable recommendation but did not put it on the consent calendar thinking in needed floor discussion so legislators would understand what it intends. The bill gives refugees and legal immigrants the opportunity to take their first driver’s license test in their native language. At a four year renewal they must take the test in English. The bill is intended to aid the refugee in finding work as a car can be critical for many job opportunities. Illegal aliens are not included. In spite of the clear focus of the bill, Senator Bramble has received hate mail accusing him of aiding illegal aliens and supporting welfare cheats.

House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment 4:00, Tuesday Feb. 1

HB0051 School and Institutional Trust Lands, Barrus,R.
The bill passed out of the committee with a unanimous vote. The Director of SITLA, Kevin Carter, explained the bill which updates the 1994 law that established the agency’s current business model.

HCR004 Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Concurrent Resolution. Brown, M.
This resolution asks the BLM to put an elected county official on its Wild Horse and Burro Commission. These poor people are tasked with trying to solve the wild horse dilemma. The Audubon magazine recently printed an article explaining the dreadful fix we are in because Congress has insisted we maintain the surplus “wild” horses they must remove from public lands for real environmental reasons, not just at the behest of the cattle industry.

Sandy Peck
sandypeck@xmission.com