These are classic discussions published back in February 2006
Live Blog Day 36
I will live blog day 36 (out of 45) of the session.
The budget weighs heavily on us. Having reached an impasse with the Senate, House Republican leadership worked with the Governor’s people on Friday to put together a budget. News articles suggest that the Senate spent the weekend crafting its own budget. These likely will be exchanged today, and we’ll see where that puts us. I’LL FILL IN BUDGET DETAILS HERE.
(2:40) We’re still at loggerheads. All the House (and the Governor, I believe) wants the Senate to do at this point is take a firm position on how much money we’re going to spend this year. Before we jump with both feet into negotiations regarding food tax, flat tax, etc., we need to know how much money we plan on taking out of the budget for transportation and tax cuts. We keep hearing that they agree with the $300 million number, but, then,... (read more)
Bringing It Home
Closing the budget will take concentration and a steady hand. To see if you have what it takes, you might want to test your concentration and steadiness on these 3 mazes (courtesy of the Urquhart kids). Crank up the sound, to enjoy the celebration at the end. And, good luck!
Legislative Process
One-and-a-half weeks to go, and we have many things to pull together. As is being reported, the House and Senate are having a difficult time coming together on the budget. Budget leaders for the House and the Governor’s office spent the day putting together a budget proposal that hopefully will be helpful in breaking the log jam.
It is no small project, piecing together policy and budgetary items in a 45-day span. And, I remain confident that we’ll have a budget.
A good example of how the process works is my Hospital Lien bill. Concerns were raised (regarding whether the health insurance policy of an accident victim should pick up medical costs or whether that party’s potential 3rd-party recovery from the other driver’s liability policy should be liened). The relevant parties (hospitals, insurers, lawyers who typically handle accident cases, and collection agencies) huddled together many times, made a little progress here and a little there, sent many... (read more)
Education Reform
In an article on my education reform bill, the president of the teachers’ union said that the bill is deja-vu to SB 154 (Sen. Tom Hatch), which I sponsored in the House in 2003. I hope so; she opposed that bill (saying it would do horrible things for education), it passed, and it has done great things for our schools. We could stand to see that sequence repeated.
I handed out the following information to House Education Committee members:
This bill addresses 3 items in the following ways:
1. UBSCT REMEDIATION
Students reaching their senior year without passing the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test (“UBSCT”) will receive a stipend toward a remedial course. The stipend amount is either $500 or $1,000 or $1,500, depending on how badly the student failed each subpart of the test (more money for those further from passing). The stipend can be redeemed by public or private providers, but only after the student passes the test.... (read more)
Task Forces
House leadership earlier took the position that no new task forces should be created this year (though one or two existing task forces will be reauthorized/modified). We question the value of task forces, figuring it might be best simply to run issues through existing standing committees, instead of spending extra time and money on task forces. Today provided some good evidence that this is a sound decision.
The Tax Reform Task Force spent a lot of the public’s time and money this past year discussing tax issues. Except for 2 House members, the task force agreed that the food tax should be repealed. Today, the Senate informed the Speaker and the Governor that it had no interest in further pursuing repeal of the food tax. No Senate committee hearing, no floor discussion, they simply don’t want to take up the issue. That, of course, is the process. But, if there never was any support... (read more)
Budget Deal