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Show ; l. Legislative wrap-up Matheson pleased with session is opening up some mining operations, and the area needs that type of operation. Hunter indicated that the reason he voted against the severance tax was that eventually the consumer would bear the burden of the tax as businesses increased their prices to cover the cost of business. Matheson was very pleased that House Bill 73 passed which changed the law that made it a felony to have a concealed weapon. According to Matheson, it will not be a felony to have a weapon as long as it isn't loaded. Matheson also said that he was very disappointed in the budgets set for Southern Utah State College and Dixie College. He said that most of the money was cut in the final trimming of the budgets, but that Dixie College didn't get "hardly" any increase except for cost of living increases. SUSC, on the other hand, did get enough money set aside for the addition on the administration building. Hunter indicated that he was disappointed that his bill concerning Industrial Revenue Bonds was held up. The bill was designed to protect the small businessman from big retail businesses, banks and large corporations who according to Hunter, "take advantage of the bonds." SALT LAKE CITY "We accomplished the work that was there, and we did what we had to do," commented Senator Ivan Matheson (R-Beaver, (R-Beaver, Washington, Iron, Garfield, Kane counties) about this year's annual Utah Legislative budget session which ended Saturday at midnight. Matheson stated that, in general, he was pleased with the outcome of the session, but that he was disappointed with driver license and automobile registration fee increases. The drivers license fee was increased from $5 to $10, the automobile registration fees will be doubled and the truck fees will be increased by - Ifr percent. "We didn't need that money, and I don't see any reason for the increases," said Matheson. According to Matheson, there will be a surplus of $8 million which will go into the general fund. The surplus money is to help mitigate problems of having federal grant funds blocked from being used in the state. Representative R. Haze Hunter (R-Cedar (R-Cedar City) said that he felt that the session went over well, but that he also was concerned about the amount of money being spent to balance the budget. "Five years ago, the state budget was only about a billion dollars. In the last five years; however, the budget has doubled, but the population hasn't increased near that much. "I would rather see the budget cut than increase the fees," Haze stated. Both Matheson and Hunter were glad that the state severance tax on oil and gas was killed during the session. According to Hunter, the severance tax might have been damaging to this area because it would have placed an additional tax against U.S. Steel which |