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Show Many Important Bills Still In Hopper Though the end of the 1973 40th legislative session is just around the corner in hours and days, in the legislation legis-lation left to be done, the session has only just begun. It's a way of life with the lawmakers partially because be-cause they don't like to face up to the real issues until they have to and partially because the more important legislation takes more time to study and determine its merit. But, regardless of the reason, most of the important and especially the controversial legislation is passed or fails to pass in the last few days of any session. Often it is held up until the last few hours, and. then amendments are passed without hardly being read, and few have adequate ade-quate study. I am not niave enough to believe that anything you or I might say or do, will change this procedure which is as old as is our form of government. But what we can do is to try and keep abreast of the important legislation, especially that affecting schools, local government, taxes, and individual rights, and those bills which in some way seek to change or alter the inherant freedoms as set forth by the U. S. Constitution and the constitution of the State of Utah. One bill, SJR2, which seeks to consolidate school districts dis-tricts across county lines has been passed by the Senate, with only three dissenting votes It most certainly will be passed in the house, though likely the margin will not be as great, There are many other bills that bear a close watch, SB-12, which with a couple of amendments, could create a tremendous hardship on prospectors, wildcaters and small but stable operations such as Essex Intl. In the name of ecology, we can not let the radical environmentalists among us, set the state and the nation back years. Most of us are sympathetic to the maintenance of our ecology, but recognize that we also need energy, and raw materials mater-ials in order to maintain our standard of living. But unless you speak to your legislators now, it will soon be too late. Time is short! Red |