Find the bills that interest you in the list below and see where they stand.
HB 90 Abortion Law Amendments (Rep. Ray) - The amendments increasing the penalty for performing an abortion, some controversy surrounding the wording of the bill and if it was constitutional There are fears it will lead to expensive litigation for the state. The bill has made it through both bodies and will now go to the Governor who is looking into the legality.
HB 95 Restriction of Wireless Communication Devices in Vehicles (Rep. Riesen) - It's been sitting in the House Law Enforcement queue for 10 days...we'll see if it ever moves.
HB 114 Abortion Litigation Trust Account (Rep. Sumsion) - This bill sets up an account people/organizations can donate to, the account will help pay for legal costs if the Legislature ever passes a bill banning abortion. If an abortion ban does not become law before 2014, the account will fund adoption assistance. The bill is through the House and has passed a Senate committee, the bill will now be debated on the Senate floor. After such bold words vowing to ban abortion during the election, the bill is high on message low on action.
HB 124 Insurance Coverage for Nutritional Formula (Rep. Johnson) - Just received it's fiscal note (the amount the bill will cost).
HB 129 Alcoholic Beverage Amendments Related to Minors (Rep. Oda) - Minors would lose their driving privileges for a year if they obtain a drink with a fake/borrowed id. It's a great bill with an appropriate consequence and deterrent for teens. The bill is through the House and is waiting for it's committee assignment in the Senate.
HB 150 Direct Election of State School Board Members (Rep. Moss) - The bill is through the House Education Committee and now is on the House calendar to be debated.
HB 215 Stopping 10-Digit Dialing (Rep. Dunnigan) - Don't see it happening, the bill has been moved BACK to the Rules Committee (never a good sign if you support a bill)
HB 242 Changing the Date for Kindergarten Enrollment (Rep. Black) - Died in committee, Rep. Black says she will not bring the bill back this session.
HB 248 Regulating Use of Wireless Communication Devices in Vehicles (Rep. Moss) - A substitute bill was recommended by committee, but it hasn't appeared yet.
HB 284 Smoking Ban in Car with Children Present (Rep. Seegmiller) - Bill failed in committee this morning, suffering the same fate it did the past two years.
HB 281 Regulating Use of Wireless Communication Devices in Vehicles (Rep. Ray) - Held by committee, I doubt it's going anywhere.
HB 293 Direct Election of State School Board Members (Rep. Menlove) - Assigned to the House Education Committee.
SB 43 Clay's Law (Sen. Stephenson) - Circled in the Senate, it may not have enough votes to make it through so the sponsor is trying to rally support before the bill comes up. If you care about this bill now would be a good time to let your Senator know.
SB 61 Sports for Home Schoolers (Sen. Madsen) - Through a Senate committee and now will head to the floor.
SB 199 Equal Recognition of School Parent Groups (Sen. Bramble) - Sick of paying PTA dues? This bill prohibits an educational entity from working with parent groups that require dues. Basically the PTA could not require you to pay your dues if you want to participate. The dues at our school are an outrageous $5/parent. They have funded an awesome USU Engineering Day, a donut breakfast for parent's that walk their kids to school, and many other activities around campus. Some say it is an attack on the PTA for their voucher stand a few years ago, but a column by Rolly in the Salt Lake Tribune seeks to debunk that conspiracy theory. Either way, is this really a problem worthy of a statewide law? The bill passed through the Senate Education Committee and now heads to the floor.
All the Common Ground Initiative Bills have been voted down or removed by their sponsors. With the debate over remarks made public by Sen. Buttars this week, it may mean some hope for some Common Ground bills to be resurrected. Funny how someone's 'ardent' support of an issue can rally the opposing side and move fence sitters away from you.
There are many bills listed above that I have not covered on this blog, if you see one that you think merits more explanation or interests you please let me know and we'll cover it more thoroughly. I love suggestions on bills to blog about, so send any of those as well.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
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1 comments:
I'm very happy that HB 150 sounds like it has support, but we'll see. I also am glad HB 242 didn't make it.
Another bill that I find extremely worrying is HB 122, restricting the ability of citizens and media to access government documents through the GRAMA law. Appeals are made harder and any document that could "potentially" be needed in litigation, which seems like basically anything to me, could be legally withheld from the public. Attorney General Shurtleff claims that investigations are being compromised, but I cannot find anywhere that they have provided an example of that. This blog post talks about an article in the Ogden Standard Examiner which gives a good concrete example of a well-publicized police shooting case last year in which the truth would likely not be known if HB 122 had been in place.
http://wcforum.blogspot.com/2009/02/contact-your-state-senators-house-bill.html
The proponents have also mentioned the burden on government, but inconveniencing someone is not more important than transparent government in my opinion.
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