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Show Activities which involve Utah State Legislature ByGayleF-McKeachnie ACTIVITIES OF THE LEGISLATURE The legislature is organized into two the senate which is made up of Ambers and presided over by the ; smw the senate; and the house i Cresentatives made up of 75 ' ' kp and presided over by the ' x of the house. Each house is Sized into various committees. AU i hers of the legislature participate an appropriations subcommittee triers a part of the total state 1 Recommendations of the : Smmittees are transmitted to the mnriations committee which is ;SSieadershipf thehouse entatives and the leadership of ' Sate. The leadership of the house ' rf representatives consists of the laker majority leader, majority L and assistant whip. Leadership in i L senate consists of the president, ; " iority leader and majroity whip Sgether with the minority : leader, minority whip and i 'ssistant whip. Leadership also i anpoints an appropriations chairman v from the majority party who sits on the i general appropriations committee. The appropriations committee e, Ridels the recommendations of the various appropriations subcommittees : prepares the total budget which is :i Hen voted upon by the entire legislature. Appropriations sub-?' sub-?' tommitteework for the 1981 session has t. jow been completed and recom- nidations have been transmitted to t the appropriations committee. I: in addition to the appropriations subcommittees and the appropriations ,' committee of the legislature, both the ' : house of representatives and the senate L : are organized into standing com-St' com-St' mittees. Nonbudgetary legislation is e.lreterred to a standing committee for 'preliminary consideration. For i.i example, I participate as chairman of s" the standing committee for Labor, S Manpower and Industrial Develop-E Develop-E jjient. I'm also a member of the standing stan-ding committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Proposed legislation in tl.tee areas are referred to the committees com-mittees for preliminary consideration. the committee approves the k legislation it is then forwarded to the j.Jull house of representatives, debated id voted upon. If the legislation passes Ae house it is sent to the senate where , 1 is referred to the standing committee ' , ith jurisdiction over that particular 'legislation., The senate committee acts y.VW liie .legislation and if jt finds the.,, 1 pegislation appropriate, it is forwarded , to the full body of the senate and voted ijiipon. If the legislation passes the senate, it is forwarded to the governor ffi(for his signature or veto. Afl Much of the time of the legislature ir; Airing the first 40 days of the session is X.', taken up with legislation being con-I con-I sidered by the committees. Toward the ., jend of the session time is spent on bills . passed out by the committees discussed the floor of each body. Legislation f.rmay commence either in the house or K representatives or the senate, and after U . consideration and approval by the body , c in which the bill is filed, it is forwarded j; to the other house for consideration. Each bill, before it becomes law, receives two committee hearings and a hearing before the house of representatives and the senate. Sometimes constituents ask about a particular piece of legislation having heard on the news media that it has passed and thought it had become law. Often, however, a bill will pass one house and be defeated in the other. Legislation does not become law until it passes both houses by a majority of the total membership. With 20 days remaining in the 1981 legislative session much of the important im-portant legislation remains to be considered. Generally, the two most important pieces of legislation is the appropriations act and the school bill. The appropriations act appropriates the money for operation of state government. The school bill appropriates ap-propriates money for financing schools during the coming year. The appropriations ap-propriations act and the school bill generally come before both house and senate to be voted upon on the last day of the session and is the cumulation of the work of all legislators during the 60- -day session. Bills which I'm sponsoring this session include the following: Licensing Licen-sing of outfitters requiring out of state outfitters to be licensed the same as Utah outfitters are required to be licensed in surrounding states. This bill has passed both houses and has been signed by the Governor. Wildlife arrest procedures which would conform arrest procedures used by wildlife officers to those used by other law enforcement officers in the state. This legislation has passed the house of representatives and is presently being considered by the senate. The Fourth Amendment Enforcement Act which is legislation to allow the courts to receive evidence at a criminal trail although there may have been some technical defect in the manner in which it was procured. This legislation would give the courts a better method of determining deter-mining the guilt or innocence of persons charged with criminal activities. The bill has passed the house of representatives and is now before the senate. The School Basic Tax Levy would provide for financing of the public school system partially out of the sales tax revenues of the state as opposed op-posed to the present system where the state mandates that 24 mills be levied against all property of the state for financing of public schools. If this bill becomes law, public schools could then be financed partially ouf'Of saleS'tax rather than being dependent entirely upon property tax. This legislation has been approved by the house standing committee on education and is now before the house of representatives for debate. The Circuit Court Amendments Amend-ments bill, of which I am the primary sponsor, would raise the jurisdictional limits of the circuit court from $5,000 to $15,000, provides for a new formula for distributing revenues obtained from fines, fees and forfeitures taken in by the circuit court and makes a number of technical amendments necessary to a more efficient and effective operation of the circuit court. This bill is presently being heard by the standing committee on the judiciary in the house of representatives. In addition to the bills named above, and several others of which I am the primary sponsor, I have been the house floor manager for several senate bills which include new legislation to describe the method of acquiring geothermal resources; reorganizing the state land board by adding an additional ad-ditional member; removing from the present statute the 12 percent royalty limitation on leases issued by the state, which monies go into the uniform school fund to be used for the education of children; and a bill which would change the law presently in existence requiring counties to provide legal counsel for indigent criminal defendants defen-dants at all stages in the criminal trial process. This bill would not require the county to pay for legal counsel for criminal defendants beyond the initial appeal. As the reader can see, a state legislator can have a great deal of work to do in addition to reading the more than 800 bills which are Wed annually, and determining how he will vote on each as it comes before his particular committee or the floor of the house or senate. In fact, the primary and most time consuming work is the work of the committees and of following particular pieces of legislation. A legislator cannot be an expert on every bill that comes before the house and, therefore, must select those areas in which he or she feels an interest and try to make a contribution in that area. |