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Show Your Representative Speaks ( By State Rep. Jonn Garr pan Residents of Grand County: The "circuit brtaker" bill, HB 20, sponsored by Repre-entative Repre-entative Garr was finally approved by both Houses and sent to Governor Matheson for his approval. The Governor Govern-or is expected to sign the bill without reservation. When HB 20 becomse law it will provide property tax relief to a great number of elderly and low income Utahns. HB 139 was considered and passed by Residents of Grand County: The "circuit breaker" bill, HB 20, sponsored by Repre-entative Repre-entative Garr was finally approved by both Houses and tent to Governor Matheson for his approval. The Governor Govern-or is expected to sign the bill without reservation. When HB 20 becomes law, it will provide property tax relief to a great number of elderly and low income Utahns. The House considered and passed HB 139, the Residential Residenti-al Landlord and Tenant Act. There was, however, substantial substan-tial opposition to the bill and it was reconsidered and sent back to the house sifting committee. The bill would define the rights and obligations obliga-tions of both landlords and tenants. The sponsors felt that, unlike previous such legislation, this bill favored neither side and would be helpful to both tenants and landlords in making their responsibilities clearer. The lifting committee will decide if the bill will be considered again on the floor of the house. The House Education Committee Com-mittee considered a contro-Tersial contro-Tersial measure that would abolish the State Board of Regents and put governance of the State's institutions of higher .education with the institutional councils of each individual school, under gen- . eral supervision of the State Board of Education. The measure has wide support sup-port with 38 sponsors, despite the fact that both the State Board of Regents and the State Board of Education have requested a moratorium on this legislation during this session. The main criticism of the bQl centers around the power the state board would have over the budget requests of the schools. Representative Georgia B. Peterson, the chief sponsor of the bill, cited great increases in the administrative administra-tive costs of the Board of Regents over the past few years and said it must be justified. The administrative eosts are near $700,000 this year for the Regents, and Rep. Peterson said that no substantial changes have been made in the higher education system. This bill was eventually eventu-ally killed and replaced with a resolution for study of the problem and possible solutions. solu-tions. The House passed HB 447, Limitations on Funds for Abortions, Ab-ortions, despite the fact that such a law may be ruled unconstitutional. The bill prohibits pro-hibits expenditure of state funds for abortions except when the mother's life is in danger. Sponsors of the bill maintain main-tain that taxpayer's money should not be spent for things that many consider to be immoral. The Supreme Court has ruled that abortions during dur-ing the first trimester of pregnancy may be performed for any reason. Sponsors of HB 447 would like to see a Supreme Court ruling banning ban-ning the use of public monies for abortions, except those involving the mother's life. A resolution was also passed by the House urging Congress to propose a "Right to Life" amendment to the constitution, constitu-tion, prohibiting abortions, with the only exception again being the preservtion of the mother's life. The Measures now go to the Senate for further action. The purchase of the Dever-eaux Dever-eaux mansion was approved by the House, but funding was cut to less than a third of the proposed expenditure. The house is located on west South Temple in Salt Lake, and represents much of Utah's pioneer history. HB 296, Mine Foreman Certificate Amendments, a bill sponsored by Rep. Garr, was approved by the House and sent to the Senate. The bill provides an experience credit allowance for mining technical program graduates which shall be credited towards tow-ards earning certification for mine foreman, fire boss or shotfirer. The bill provides needed changes and faced no opposition in the House. The Senate gave tentative approval to the sale of the governor's residence, with the proceeds being used to renovate reno-vate the Reams Mansion. The Kearns Mansion was previously previ-ously the governor's residence, resi-dence, and now after 19 years away, it looks as if the chief executive and his family will be returning there. Action has been taken on several tax measures. The House earlier endorsed an increased beer tax, and now has approved an increase in the cigarette tax. The funds obtained from the additional one cent per package will be used to better enforce the Clean Air Act. The State Health department has not had sufficient funds or personnel person-nel to provide adequate enforcement en-forcement of the law since it was passed by last year's legislators. A bill in the Senate, sponsored spon-sored by Sen. Farley, which would remove the sales tax on food was tabled pending amendments am-endments by the sponsor. The proposal is meant to make the tax structure fairer to the poor, elderly and those living on fixed incomes. Opposition has been raised as a result of the problems that would be caused in implementing the proposal at retail outlets. It would be necessary to separate taxable and non-taxable items, which would be cumbersome and time consuming. Concern has also been voiced by the restaurant rest-aurant industry that the tax-free tax-free status would not apply to prepared food purchases, but only to grocery store purchases. purchas-es. The Senate has yet to take final action on the proposal. An alternate proposal for giving tax relief to fixed income groups is through property tax relief. This proposal pro-posal was made by Representative Represen-tative Garr and is favored by the Governor. The bill. HB 20, as already mentioned, has passed both Houses. The Joint Appropriations , Committee has been hard at work on budgets for the coming fiscal year. Utah enjoys en-joys a stable, healthy fiscal condition with surplus funds each year as a result of sound, conservative budgeting policies. poli-cies. The state budget is one of the most important actions taken by the Legislature. With only five days remaining in the legislative session, legislators leg-islators have taken measures to insure that all the work is completed by the March 10 deadline, and that the most important bills are given con'"' sideration. These measures have included in-cluded the formation of sifting committees to filter the huge amount of pending legislation, the limitation of time for debate of each bill, and a determination to complete each days work before adjourning. ad-journing. These actions have helped to keep the usually hectic last days of the session relatively calm and organized. Nevertheless, much of the most important work of the Legislature is still to come in the next week. Organizers of the Western Association of Land Users are to be complimented for their activities in opposition to the BLM Organic Act. I have made arrangements to distribute copies of the full page ad, appearing in the March 3 issue of The Times, to the desks of all House and Senate members, encouraging their active opposition to the Act. |