Following the Utah Legislature 3/04/09

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY

Final standing committee meetings of the session meet from 8 to 9 a.m. today. Floor debate will be from 9 to noon and from 2 to 5 PM.

THIS MORNING

HOUSE REVENUE AND TAXATION will consider HB 378, a bill that increases the property tax “circuitbreaker.” That’s the sliding scale property tax credit available to renters and homeowners with household incomes below $26,941.

People who claim the credit could increase their credit by subtracting from their household income $1000 for each dependent. Income could be decreased by a limit of 2 dependents, or $2000 per household. And the claimant or the claimant’s spouse could not qualify as a dependent. The cost to the General Fund would be about $121,300 in 2010.


HOUSE WORKFORCE SERVICES AND COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT will debate HB 430. It offers an economic development tax credit to businesses that invest in alternative energy projects. Its purpose is to increase generation of renewable energy and create high paying jobs in the renewable energy industry.

Projects would be located in renewable energy development zones created by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development in conformity with community master plans and approved by the local government. Local government would offer incentives as well, such as abatement of all or part of property taxes for up to 30 years.
Qualifying projects would have to include significant capital investment, high paying jobs, or significant purchases from Utah vendors; and generate new state revenues. Credits are expected to cost the General Fund about $2.4 million and the Education Fund $187,000 the first year. The cost in subsequent years would be $9.6 million from the General Fund and $412,000 from the Education Fund.


HOUSE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS will look at HB 362, which sets penalties for destroying or mutilating the record copy of a government record. HB 362 also allows a government to charge a fee for researching and responding to a records request if the requester has already submitted 12 requests within the year. The fee would not apply to requests made for a story or report for general publication.

IN SENATE COMMITTEES

SENATE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES will discuss Substitute HB 64, authorizing a strike force to combat violent and other major felony 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.

It also provides for a Fraudulent Documents Identification Unit and appropriates $891,000 to the Office of the Attorney General to help run it.
Another immigration bill, HJR 25, urges Utah employers to hire only individuals who are authorized to work in the United States.

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

The HOUSE concentrated on the great outdoors yesterday. In the morning they honored Don Peay with a concurrent resolution HCR 9 for his contributions to conserving Utah’s natural resources, including habitat restoration and watershed and stream bed improvements.
Then they spent most of the afternoon floor session discussing 2^nd Substitute HB 187, sponsored by Rep Ferry, trying to strike a balance between private property rights and access to Utah streams by fishermen and other sportsman.

A recent Supreme Court decision said the public does have a public easement right to streambeds but did not spell out details of how to balance that right with trespassing protection for homes and ranches that, as Rep McIff said, existed before Utah even became a state.

Rep Noel also favored protecting those he said Thomas Jefferson referred to as virtuous cultivators of the earth. He mentioned that two-thirds of the state is public land with full access for sportsmen. After an exhausting discussion, Reps King and Bird recommended sending the matter to interim study, and the bill failed on a vote of 34-41.


The SENATE discussed SB 79 – Health Reform – Medical Malpractice Amendments at great length.
One part of SB 79 proposed that expert witnesses from out of state at malpractice trials be temporarily licensed. Then they could be disciplined if their testimony was found unprofessional. Senator Hillyard said it’s hard to get Utah doctors to testify because they are sometimes harassed by other doctors afterward. Local doctors and juries make convictions difficult.

The other part of SB 79 proposes a higher standard, clear and convincing evidence instead of preponderance of evidence, to convict Emergency Room physicians of malpractice. The reasoning is that emergency room patients come without their medical histories, sometimes unconscious, making good decisions harder, with problems outside an on-call physician’s specialty. Sponsor Senator Knudson said emergency rooms are losing personnel over the issues. Senator McCoy thought the higher standard of evidence was not needed, because knowledge of the patient, not perfect knowledge, is taken into consideration.

A major concern is that doctors involved in malpractice suits see the premiums for malpractice insurance increase by as much as $50,000 a year as reported by Senator Liljenquist.
Senator Jones brought up the issue of whether this increases the practice of defensive medicine - ordering too many tests that raise the cost of health care. Senator Robles questioned whether the higher evidence standard would bring down the costs of malpractice premiums, and said the AARP thinks the bill is unnecessary. Senator Romero added that very few malpractice cases go to trial or are awarded, and best practices training is needed to reduce health care costs instead.

SB 79 passed it from second to third reading – but just barely by 16-12-1. A bill takes 16 votes to pass the 29 member Senate.

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