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Show Statehouse Report - . Lawmakers Invited to Meeting To Devise Cutbacks in Welfare By C. SHARP Sharp cutbacks in Utah public welfare programs and expenditures appear to be inevitable beginning this fall. The extent and nature of these cuts will be discussed discus-sed by state and federal officials with members of the State Legislature at a conference called by Gov. Calvin L. Rampton for Friday Fri-day at 2 p.m. at the State Capitol. The added cutbacks come on the heels of a 10 per cent cut in state payments pay-ments to hospitals for cure of welfare recipients announced an-nounced last March and a two per cent cutback in most state spending announced an-nounced by Rampton effective ef-fective July 1. All States in Bind In a letter to legislators, Rampton said all states are experiencing similar difficulties from insufficient insuffi-cient appropriations to pay for public welfare programs, pro-grams, particularly aid to dependent children and medical aid. The grant per single welfare wel-fare recipient was increased increas-ed July 1 from ?90 to $99 conforming with state and federal laws requiring cost of living increases. Effective Sept. 1, or soon after, this grant probably will be trimmed to $86 to-curb to-curb a mounting deficit in state welfare expenditures expendi-tures Officers of the U. S. Health Education and Wel-1 Wel-1 fare Department meeting this week in Salt Lake City heard why such a cut is necessary to balance the state budget and why federal fed-eral clearance must be granted. Nursing Home Costs Meanwhile the Family Services Division is completing com-pleting a ' utilization study of nursing homes expected to result in reducing state costs. Dr. Bruce Walter,' Health Division official who is completing the study, re- for wihch skilled nursing homes now have 2,200 beds for which skilled unrsing services are provided. The state, he said, is paying for 1,300 of these beds bbut only 900 are required. re-quired. Lesser services are sufficient for the remainder, remain-der, he said. As a result he probably will reclassify many of the beds for less expensive care. In the meantime, nursing nurs-ing home operators have handed the state an ultimatum ulti-matum that they must be paid 30 per cent more effective ef-fective August 1. Gain In Recipients Ward C. Holbrook, executive ex-ecutive director, Social Services Department, said the number of welfare recipients re-cipients in Utah has increased in-creased 25 per cent during the past year. He told Rampton that costs for some of the programs pro-grams have skyrocketed. A woman on the Work Incentive In-centive program being trained for higher employment, employ-ment, he said, now is able t(1 lfPPTl tVlD fl'rot S.1( nf r y UJ. income she earns in a month. She also may keep one-third of the balance of her earnings and she qualifies for food stamps, medicaid, day care service for her children and costs of transportation to and from work, he said. ' Utah cannot permit 18-year-olds to vote beginning next year as provided by a new law enacted by C'oVigress unless a court decision voids the state's present constitution provision. pro-vision. Tells U. S. Official 'Rampton so informed U. S. . Attorney General John N.- Mitchell last week. Utah Attorney General Vernon B. Romney the day before said that so long as Utah's Constitution permits per-mits only persons who have reached their 21st birthday to vote, no vot- ing by 18 - year - olds can be . permitted. . : '. This is despite an opinion opin-ion by. the State Supreme Court earlier this month voiding a portion of the same constitution because the U. S. Supreme Court had held that all qualified voters must be allowed to vote in bond elections. Crocket's Opinion Chief Justice J. Allan Crockett held that actions by the U. S. Supreme Court are the law of the land. A provision permitting property pro-perty owners to vote in bond elections, thus was invalidated. Rampton told Mitchell that a court decision on the voting law is doubly important because any uncertainty un-certainty in voting for public bonds "can make our bonds unmarketable." The first trainload of Emery County coal moved this week from Salina on its way to Japan. Jesse S. Tuttle, director, Southeastern Utah Eco-nomim Eco-nomim Development District, Dis-trict, and Gardell Snow, Ferron, Emery County Commission chairman, brought this information to the Capitol. Trucked From Emery The coal was being trucked from the Kemmer-er Kemmer-er Coal Co. and Browning mines near Emery to Salina Sal-ina where' it was stockpiled stockpil-ed before moving by Rio Grand train on its way to Japan. ' They said coal from Emery mines is of very high quality making it competitive with oaroon County coal which already al-ready is' moving without truck haulage to Japan. Milton L. Weilenmann, executive . director, . Development De-velopment Services Department, De-partment, said: "We hope to find some way to accumulate ac-cumulate money to build a railroad to Salina in order or-der to provide cheaper itransportjation from Emery Em-ery County.' |