Friday, February 22,
2008
MORNING COMMITTEES
THE HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
will consider establishing English Language Learner Family Literacy
Centers. Under House Bill 436, sponsored by Representative Hughes, the centers in
school districts and charter schools would be used to increase parent
involvement and to communicate with parents who are not proficient in English
about school activities, using the parent's preferred language. The goal is to increase literacy and language
skills and academic achievement for all ethnic groups of students and their
families. Ten million dollars would be
appropriated for the program.
HB 274,
sponsored by Rep. Ferry, proposes a computer-based, on-line school called Utah
K-8 Online. K-8 Online students could
attend regular public schools as well.
The on-line school is expected to foster on-demand, interactive,
self-paced and individualized instruction.
Senator
Dmitrich's bill, SB 224 in SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE AND
ENVIRONMENT creates the Utah Office of Coal Mine Safety and a Mine Safety
Technical Advisory Council. The council
will make recommendations about mine safety and accident prevention, effective
emergency responses, and miner certification and recertification.
COMMITTEES
meet only one hour this morning. Floor
time begins at 9 AM.
The
SENATE will vote again this morning on SB
81, Illegal Immigration, at 10:45, plus 4 other immigration related bills,
including the immigration task force bill SB
97.
The
HOUSE agenda includes child abuse homicide, illegal drugs, dating violence and
human trafficking.
AFTERNOON COMMITTEES
HOUSE JUDICIARY
will debate animal cruelty penalties. Under Rep. Allen's bill, HB 470, animal cruelty would be a third
degree felony if committed against a companion animal. Companion animals are dogs, cats, or any
other animals commonly considered to be pets that depend on their owner to
receive necessary food, water, care or shelter
Preventing
catastrophic wildfires will be addressed in HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT. Substitute
SB 89, by Senator Stowell, authorizes state Department of Agriculture and
Food land restoration grants to eliminate invasive fast burning plants like
cheat grass. Catastrophic wildfires
affect public safety and health through air pollution, flooding and reduced
visibility on highways. They damage the
environment and local economies by soil erosion, degraded water quality and
release of carbon plus damage to wildlife and livestock habitat.
For
more information, visit our legislature in person or online at www.le.utah.gov
WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY
SB 81,
Illegal Immigration moved forward yesterday.
It passed Second Reading in the Senate 21-8-0 and must receive a second
vote in the Senate today before going to the House. It was amended 5 times, but an amendment
failed 12-15-2 that would have delayed the bill's taking effect until July
2009. Delaying the effective date was
proposed by Senator Jenkins, sponsor of SB
97, a one year Immigration Task Force.
Senate President Valentine cast the deciding vote against the 2009 date,
saying he was assured by Senator Hickman that the bill could be implemented yet
this year. The task force bill, SB 97
will likely be voted on today.
Many
questions were asked. Senators Jones and
McCoy mentioned they had received an email on both sides, some hateful, calling
them enemies of the state, mostly from out of state. But Senator Greiner said immigration is the
main issue of his constituents. Several,
including Senator Romero, questioned the accuracy of E-verify - the federal
electronic system used to check legal residency by matching names and Social
Security numbers. State employers, their
contractors and the contractors' employees (but not private employers) would be
using that system. And no one seems to
know exactly how many such employers and employees there are in the state.
The
prohibition against harboring the undocumented for commercial advantage raised
the question of whether landlords would have to evict undocumented tenants. And
preventing employment could lead to many losing health insurance, driving more
patients to emergency rooms - the most expensive kind of health care.
Yesterday
morning the HOUSE REVENUE AND TAXATION
COMMITTEE approved H.B. 201 Tax
Credit for Solar Projects.
HB 201
gives municipalities an incentive to support solar projects. Since
municipalities are not taxed, a tax credit is not an incentive that works for
them. So this bill provides a mechanism
for individual persons to get the tax credit when they invest in solar projects
that municipalities own. Not exactly
straightforward, but a creative way to provide funding for solar energy. Voting for HB 201 were Representatives Barrus, Cosgrove, Dougall, Frank,
Johnson, Last, McGee, Newbold, and Tilton.
Representative Harper voted no, but didn't say why.
Rep
Dougall's HB 190 passed by a 9-2
vote, giving tax breaks to students pursuing higher education and also turning
much of the state Board of Regents' power over to individual institutions'
boards of trustees.
Sandy
Peck
League
of Women Voters