Following the Utah Legislature 2/26/09

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Thursday, February 26, 2009

WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY

Today standing committees will meet only in the morning, from 8 to 10. But there will be two floor sessions, from 10 to noon and from 2 to 5 PM. Legislators are anxious to move as many of the 174 bills on the boards as possible before Friday, when House boards are likely to be wiped clean. The bills will then be reprioritized and sent back to the floor by the Rules Committee.

THIS MORNING

HB 64 heads the HOUSE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE agenda. It authorizes a multi-agency strike force to combat violent and other major crimes associated with illegal immigration and human trafficking. Officers of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement plus state and local law enforcement personnel could participate voluntarily. HB 64 appropriates $1 million to the Department.

HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT will consider HB 429. It expands the legal definition of “renewable energy source” to include energy from methane gas in abandoned coal mines. Other renewable sources listed in the current law include wind, solar; wave, tidal and ocean thermal; organic waste, woody debris from thinning forests and rangeland, agricultural waste, dedicated energy crops, gas from landfills, geothermal energy located outside the state, captured waste gas and waste heat, and efficiency upgrades to hydroelectric facilities.

Also before the committee is HJR 16, a proposed Constitutional amendment that changes the article on municipal water rights. Currently, the Constitution (Article XI, Section 6) doesn’t allow a municipality to lease or sell waterworks, water rights or, or sources of water supply that it owns or controls. It does allow water rights to be exchanged, but only if the water is used for the public supply of the municipality’s inhabitants. The proposed amendment would allow the municipality to lease its water, but only so long as the leased water rights are for use within the state of Utah. The lease could not be longer than seven years, but it could be renewed one or more times.


In HOUSE JUDICIARY, HB 401 – Custody and Parent Time Amendments for Service Members – addresses custody and parent-time issues that arise when a National Guard or Reserve member is away temporarily for training or on a noncombat mission. During the absence, parent-time rights could be delegated by a custodial service member to family members with a close and substantial relationship to the minor children if the non-custodial parent were unwilling or unable to provide care.


WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

Some interesting bills were debated on the House and Senate floors yesterday.

The SENATE moved two ethics bills to the top of their list and quickly passed them. SB 156 by Senator Bell will increase the number of gifts to legislators over $25 that lobbyists will have to report, making them more transparent to public view. SB 162 by Senator Valentine will disallow personal use of leftover campaign funds by elected officials after they leave office.

The HOUSE passed HB 328, creating a pilot program of two-year grants to school districts and charter schools who want to develop performance-based compensation plans for elementary school teachers. Guidelines say that student learning gains (not test scores, though) should account for 40 percent of the compensation. The teacher’s instructional quality as measured by classroom observation or “other instruments” would account for 40 percent, and the remaining 20 percent should include a measure of parent, student or community satisfaction.
Some questions were raised about what “other instruments” might measure instructional quality and whether we can afford even the $300,000 to fund the grants. Rep Holdaway also wanted to be sure that teachers’ base salaries would not be diminished, that the compensation would be an add-on. The bill passed 65-7.

The HOUSE defeated HB 208, on a 34-40 vote, including a call of the House to be sure everyone voted. The bill would have required undocumented children of undocumented immigrants to sign an affidavit saying that they are not employed or earning income in the U.S. Otherwise, they would permanently lose the in-state tuition rate at state funded universities and colleges.

The sponsor, Rep Greenwood, a professional law enforcement officer, said students could not be working without a Social Security card (although that may not be correct, depending on the employer) so they are likely guilty of showing a false card, perjury on the I-9 employment form they fill out, or identity theft. He feared students were not aware that the penalty for these felonies could prevent their qualifying for citizenship or for some jobs, such as security jobs, in the future.

Representatives Litvack. Beck and Mascaro shared stories about undocumented students who have been here for years and struggle to attend college and improve themselves. They said becoming citizens can take 10 or 20 years.

Representative McIff regretted that whatever the purpose of the bill it would “narrow the opening of the school house door,” as happened with Governor George Wallace in 1963 in Alabama, and asked if any country had ever benefited from that.

Second substitute HB 120 passed easily without debate. It creates a Snake Valley Aquifer research team to compile scientific data and an advisory council to advocate for Utah’s interest in the “Las Vegas Water Grab,” a plan to pump and transport Snake Valley water to Las Vegas to support its urban growth

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