Wednesday, February 20, 2008

MORNING COMMITTEES

HB325, a bill to require school policies that discourage bullying and hazing, is back in the HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE this morning. At its last hearing, the committee tried to define exactly what bullying and hazing are as opposed to, say, teasing. Members of the community of people with disabilities are especially concerned about the issue.

HB311 would expand higher education distance learning by putting vidoconferencing equipment in classrooms at Utah higher education institutions. The cost to purchase the equipment would be about $5 million.

Substitute HB316 is before the HOUSE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE. It requires substance abuse treatment programs that receive public funds to give priority admission to pregnant women or pregnant minors within 48 hours.

SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT will discuss SB238, which enacts strong measures to prevent Dreissena or zebra mussels from invading Utah waters. The mussels originally from Russia cause great economic damage. They clog up water systems and filter out nutrients and green algae needed by native species and sport fish to survive. There's no known way to eradicate them after they're established. SB251 would create a Wildland Fire Task Force to study wildland fire suppression. And HB137 would create a program to promote indoor and outdoor water conservation in state buildings. The Division of Water Resources would design it.

THIS AFTERNOON

The HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE plans to consider the merits of Utah's state tree. HB246 would change it from the blue spruce to the Utah juniper. The state tree is just one of 24 state symbols in Utah law, from the state animal (the elk) to the state rock (which is coal).

And SB195, a proposal to prohibit spending leftover campaign funds for a candidate's personal use, will be before SENATE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS. Personal use means not related to political purposes or not fulfilling the duties of the office to which the candidate was elected. The committee discussed the bill on Monday and suggested that the restrictions on personal use spending apply only to retired or defeated candidates, not to current officeholders.

For more information, visit your legislature — in person or online at www.le.utah.gov

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

Yesterday's scheduled Senate debate on SB81, Illegal Immigration was postponed to Thursday morning at 11 a.m. Sponsor Senator Hickman wants to make some changes in response to concerns from religious and business organizations.

Yesterday, Utah's U.S. Senators Robert Bennett and Orrin Hatch visited the Utah Senate and House. On the subject of immigration reform, Senator Bennett said he thought it would take five years for Congress to act. This is frustrating to all, since most agree that a national solution is needed. Oklahoma and Arizona have passed strict laws that have led to an exodus of the undocumented. A former president of the Arizona League of Women Voters tells us that a lot of contractors and farmers are going broke with no one to work for them, and hotels and restaurants are being hurt as well.

In committee action yesterday, the HOUSE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE passed unanimously HB198, State Agency Energy Efficiency, sponsored by Rep. Hunsaker. It encourages state agencies to save energy by allowing them to keep the money they save by being efficient. HB 198 also requires the Legislature to appropriate a certain percentage of the replacement cost of existing facilities for the State Building Energy Efficiency Program. It creates a revolving loan fund for state agencies to use for energy efficiency measures.

There's a move afoot — well, actually it's a bill — HB199, Incentives for Highly Efficient New Homes and Retrofits, to save energy in the residential sector as well. Also sponsored by Rep Hunsaker, this bill offers corporate and individual nonrefundable tax credits for energy efficient new residences and for energy efficient retrofits. Rules for qualifying for the tax credits would be made by Utah Geological Survey, and the Utah Tax Review Commission would study the tax credits. Energy conservationists feel HB 199 has great potential for energy savings and is estimated to reduce income tax revenue by less than $1 million at first. However it has not yet been heard in a committee, so House Rules will need to give it a committee assignment soon if it is to get through both House and Senate. Members of the House Rules Committee this year are Representatives Urquhart, Hughes, Dunnigan, Garn, Morley, Walker, Biskupski and Hendrickson.

Sandy Peck
League of Women Voters