Wednesday, February 9, 2011

THIS MORNING

Four Appropriations subcommittees will work on budget requests from 8 to 10, including BUSINESS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND LABOR, and INFRASTRUCTURE AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 

The SOCIAL SERVICES subcommittee is looking at funding for substance abuse and mental health, Salt Lake County delivery of mental health services, aging and adult services and the Office of Recovery Services, which deals with child support. 

EXECUTIVE OFFICES AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE is examining budgets for Corrections, the Board of Pardons and Guardian ad Litem services for children at risk.

Floor debate is from 10 to noon and Lunch is from 12 to 2.

In AFTERNOON COMMITTEES

AT 2 PM

SENATE TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC UTILITIES AND TECHNOLOGY will debate SB 138.  It repeals using identification (ITIN) cards  issued by the Internal Revenue Service to get driving privilege cards, currently issued to undocumented immigrant drivers. 
SB 138 expires all driving privilege cards as of December 31, 2011, and prohibits issuing any new ones.

AT 4 PM

HOUSE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE plans to discuss HB 70, Representative Sandstrom’s Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act.  It requires an officer to verify the immigration status of a detained or arrested person upon reasonable suspicion that the person is an illegal alien.

HB 76, which spells out rules and procedures for the state Constitutional Defense Council to use as they evaluate whether or not a federal law or directive is authorized by the U.S. Constitution.

HJR 21 urges Congress to allow states to select 5 percent of federal land in their borders instead of 5 percent of the proceeds from sale of federal lands which states now receive and use to support public schools.

HB 97 proposes to eliminate the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and move its powers and duties to the Department of Natural Resources, which would be renamed the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.  A state Office of Energy would be created in the Department of Natural Resources.

ALSO IN WEDNESDAY COMMITTEES AT 2 PM

HOUSE EDUCATION: 

HJR 15 is a constitutional amendment, calling for the State Board of Education to be appointed by the Governor, with advice and consent of the Senate, instead of being elected.  Under HJR 15 the State Superintendent of Public Education also would be appointed by the Governor, with advice and consent of the Senate, instead of being appointed by the State Board of Education.

HB 183 would set up rules local school boards should follow regarding teachers taking paid or unpaid leave to perform association or union duties.

HOUSE BUSINESS AND LABOR will consider HCR 1, a resolution urging Congress to address employment-related child identity theft.
Investigators have identified 1,626 Utah employers paying wages to workers using Social Security numbers of children younger than 12.

Also in committee is Substitute SB 98, which would allow investment advisers or investment adviser representatives licensed in another state to do business in Utah .

 
In HOUSE PUBLIC UTILITIES AND TECHNOLOGY

HB 49 gives the Utility Facility Review Board, which resolves disputes between local government and utilities about where to put facilities like high voltage power lines, 60 days instead of 40 days to hold hearings and make a decision, and eliminates the Board’s power to decide whether or not the facility should be built.

SENATE JUDICIARY, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE:

Under Substitute SB 96, alimony payments could be automatically reduced and a self-sufficiency plan or facts demonstrating why the recipient is unable to become self-sufficient would be required after 5 years in some cases.

SB 152 adds a 1000 feet buffer zone around the area where a sex offender is restricted and adds county and state parks to the restricted areas.

SB 153 increases probation times for sex offenders who fail to register or to give complete registration information.

HB 202 would clarify the right to funded counsel for successive appeals in death penalty cases and limit the number of execution stays

ALSO IN WEDNESDAY COMMITTEES AT 4 PM

SENATE REVENUE AND TAXATION:

SB 71 eliminates the requirement that hearings for tax and fee increases be published in the newspaper and requires that they be mailed instead.

In HOUSE JUDICIARY:

HB 267 says public bodies must establish rules of procedure for their meetings and make them available at the meeting and on their websites.

HB 210 would allow the humane shooting or killing of an animal if the person reasonably believes the animal is a feral animal.

HB 182 declares an arrangement, agreement, or transaction that is illegal or against public policy is void and unenforceable.  Hmm. . .

WHAT HAPPENED TUESDAY?
--Kathy Van Dame reporting

Repeal of Phosphorus Limits in Dishwashing Detergent

http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2011/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HB0246.htm

In a surprise move, Rep Barrus, chair of the House Natural Resources,

Agriculture & Environment Committee, voted no on the motion to pass out

HB 246 favorably, making the vote a tie, 6-6-2. 

Rep Sandstrom presented his bill with very little new in the way of information, Walt Baker clarified some of the points from his testimony on Fri. 

The only really new testimony was from David Naftz of the US Geologic Service who elaborated on an issue raised by Rep Briscoe on Friday.  Dr. Naftz reported in the sediments of the GSL, mercury is converted into its toxic form and that sunlight penetrating the water reverses this process.Phosphorus contributes to algal blooms that stops this photo-degradation in the fresh water impoundments and in the open waters of the GSL.

*Senate Education Standing Committee
--Lynne Romney Reporting

The Committee heard one bill on Tuesday, SB65: Statewide Online Education Program. The bill would fund expanded opportunities for online learning through paid, private, online providers and charter schools funded through money from local school districts. Sen. Howard Stephenson said this bill is an effort to expand opportunities for online learning to accommodate different learning needs of students.

There was extensive public comment on the bill, including parents, students, teachers and representatives of several organizations. A teacher from the Electronic High School stated the one key to success in their online courses is the cooperation the EHS has with local districts including proctoring exams, sharing curriculum, working with counselors to help students, etc. She stated that competition of online providers would reduce that cooperation and also could threaten the rigorous standards EHS currently holds because paid providers would be motivated by profit and not high standards for students.

UEA President Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh expressed concern for expanding a program that would include giving money to private online providers in a year when the legislature is threatening extensive cuts to public education. She also questioned that the bill specifically prohibits limiting the number of students in an online class, and potentially sending tax dollars out of state to private online providers.

Several people stated that they felt this bill was simply a voucher proposal. The bill passed unanimously.

House Transportation Committee
--Sandy Peck Reporting

HB 258 was voted down in committee on Tuesday.  It would have exempted drivers from using child safety restraints designed for kids aged 5 to 8 when driving on roads with speed limits of 45 mph or less.  Instead those children could be restrained with regular seatbelts.

I didn’t hear the presentation of the bill, but public comments indicated an effort by those on both sides of the issue to bolster their argument with good statistics.  And as is usual with seat belt discussions, the freedom to choose and the rights of parents came up.   But as the father of a son crippled because he was not properly restrained said:  It’s not about choice but about love of a child.

The statistics must have factored in the size of the car, because pediatrician Jennifer Brinton warned: there will always be a vehicle bigger than yours.And an ER nurse practitioner who had seen many, many injured children said tearfully:  To lose just one child is statistically significant.

As it turned out just one vote was significant as well.  The vote was 5-6-3.

The 5 yeas:  Daw, B.; Kiser, T.; Nielson, J.; Peterson, J. ;Peterson, V.

The 6 nays:  Anderson, J.; Fisher, Janice; Fisher, Julie; Harper, W.; Hemingway, L.;
                   Moss, C.

Absent 3:     Handy, S.; Last, B.; Sumsion, K

Sandy Peck
sandypeck@xmission.com