Following the Utah Legislature 3/10/09

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY

Three days to go on Capitol Hill. There will be three bouts of floor debate, from 8 AM to noon, from 2 to 4 PM and from 5 PM to as needed. Looking at the 83 bills on the calendar, it appears that the House will concentrate on Senate bills and the Senate will debate House bills. But under suspension of the rules, legislators move from list to list quite easily

IN THE HOUSE
The House will likely start out with the Concurrence calendar. That’s where bills that were amended in the Senate have been returned to the House for their action. They can agree, or concur, with the amendments or refuse to concur and ask the Senate to recede from those amendments. Sometimes it takes a special conference committee from both houses to settle the matter. On that calendar are Second Substitute House Bill 126, which requires voter ID at the polls, and HB 122, which makes public access to some government records more difficult.

The House’s Senate bill list starts with SB 2, the New Fiscal Year Appropriations Act. This is a very large bill that appropriates $1.8 billion from the General Fund, $127 million from the Uniform School Fund, $334 million from the Education Fund, and $6.1 billion from “various sources.” All the details of where the money will be spent are in SB 2. Budget bills will be going back and forth for amendments today and tomorrow.

OTHER BILLS IN THE HOUSE

SB 134, Transportation Funding Amendments says transportation money from Congress must be spent on projects included in the statewide transportation improvement program. Substitute SJR 16, a joint resolution supporting nuclear power; SCR 2, a concurrent resolution calling for civility in the legislature and Substitute SCR 4, a resolution supporting obesity awareness are also on the board.

IN THE SENATE
The Senate will likely start out with 11 bills on the Consent Calendar. These are bills that are so non-controversial that they will be presented, but not debated, on the floor, then quickly agreed to unless one legislator wants to vote no.

The Senate’s House bill list includes some of the ethics bills that have passed the House. HB 345 prohibits elected state officials from acting as lobbyists for one year after leaving office. HB 346 requires candidates to report campaign contributions within 5 days after they’re received. HB 410 reduces legislators’ daily pay by 10 percent to $117 a day through 2010, and HJR 14 sets up an ethics training course for legislators.


WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

Third Substitute SB 79 passed the Senate. It sets a standard of proof a higher standard of proof, clear and convincing evidence in malpractice suits for a narrow class of health care providers, those who are on call to staff hospital ERs. Sponsors said the medical community had agreed not to try to expand it to other ER providers. A section of the original bill that set rules for expert medical witnesses was dropped. The new law sunsets after four years if not renewed.

The HOUSE voted on health care, too. They passed HB 171, removing the 5-year ban on Medicaid for 800 legal immigrant children by a vote of 50 to 23. Sponsor Rep Holdaway quoted a $390,000 fiscal note but he expects reduced use of the ER to offset that.

But the HOUSE failed 25-47 to approve HB 372, requiring prison inmates to use their private health insurance instead of prison health services while incarcerated. Proponents wanted to save the state money, but opponents didn’t want to increase the burden on small employers who pay insurance premiums. Rep Dunnigan pointed out that insurance contracts already say an incarcerated person is not covered.

The Senate passed two voter ID bills. Second Substitute HB 126, sponsored by Rep Daw, will require ID when voting. Senator McCoy added two provisions to help voters who arrive at the polls without it: signs in polling places reminding voters in line that ID is now required, so voters could go home and get it, and reminders when casting their provisional ballots that they must show ID at the clerk’s office within 5 business days. The vote was 26-3. McCoy, Robles and Romero voted no.

Late yesterday afternoon Substitute SB 69, which calls for proof of citizenship, not just ID, when registering or voting, passed both Second and Third Reading under suspension of the rules. Sponsor Sen Madsen added an amendment to allow people with disabilities to confirm their citizenship with a letter from the Social Security Administration--which Sen Robles said she appreciated. The vote was 22-7. SB 69 now heads to the House.

The HOUSE tried yet again to strike a balance between private property and access to Utah streams, but 3^rd substitute HB 87 failed 34-41. Rep. Fowlke cautioned that hundreds of letters – not form letters – protesting the bill signal litigation to come. She said the bill was based on the false premise that all water is private; the Utah Constitution says water is public. Rep Biskupski said that randomly designating some rivers as public without criteria was begging for lawsuits and Rep King suggested working with existing trespass laws first.

But the HOUSE passed HB 379, 52 to 22. Anyone asking the Departments of Environmental Quality, Natural Resources or Transportation to delay an environmental action through a preliminary injunction or administrative stay would have to post a bond. And if unsuccessful they would have to pay damages to defendants harmed by the delay. Rep Biskupski reported that Legislative Research found constitutional problems of limiting the right to petition for redress of grievances and denying access to the courts. She proposed to allow the court to ask for a bond or damages but not to require it. That amendment failed. Rep McIff, a former judge, said a court rule 65A already allows what HB 379 proposes. HB 379 now goes to the Senate.

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