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Show Page 12 THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Volume IX Issue II November 1, 2003 House of Representatives Interim Summary — October 2003 Business & Labor Not only did this interim committee recommend legislation to sunset the “Employers Reinsurance Fund Special Assessment,” it also dealt with consumer credit education and the lien recovery fund it its October meeting. Most notably was a presentation by the commissioner of the Department of Financial Institutions about consumer credit education. According to the commissioner, Utah’s consumer credit education is broad-based. It ranges from financial institutions sending their employees out into the community to presentations by financial institution examiners designed to inform consumers about ways to avoid fraud and scams. In addition, the commissioner discussed the importance of integrating financial literacy into the core curriculum of Utah’s public schools, as outlined in S.B. 154, to give consumers a strong foundation upon which to build. Considering Utah has one of the highest bankruptcy rates in the nation, committee members expressed how critical these consumer credit education efforts are to our state. Education After hearing the annual report on textbooks and applied technology education, the Education Interim Committee approved funding for the development of a complete proposal, as outlined in S.B. 154, to develop plans for increasing student achievements or minimizing education costs—ProCert labs will receive $42,000, Innovation in Education will receive $30,000, and $75,000 was awarded to a joint proposal by Dr. Donald Wright, EduMetrics Institute, and Representative David Cox. Following the contract awards, the committee turned its attention to the funding restrictions of foreign exchange students enrolled in Utah public schools. Because the matter dealt heavily with funding issues, the committee referred it to the Public Education Appropriations Committee for further review. Government Operations The Government Operations Interim Committee started off its busy October meeting with a report back from the working group charged with studying possible changes to governmental immunity. Such a study became necessary after Fairview City was found liable for damages caused by one of its proprietary functions in the Utah Supreme Court case Laney v Fairview City. Under current statute, governments may be sued in cases where their action is proprietary, with latitude given to the courts to determine which government functions are proprietary and which are governmental. The proposed legislation seeks to simplify the law by specifying what activities are wholly governmental and what are wholly proprietary. The committee expressed interest in the working group continuing their efforts by arriving at a consensus on intent language to accompany the legislation so that any changes to the statue would stand up under scrutiny of the courts. As such, the group will return in November with final draft legislation in hopes that the committee will endorse it. Representative Pace then presented an election-related piece of draft legislation to the committee—Election Law Amendments—that would allow counties more flexibility in determining the size of voting precincts and change the age qualification for election judges to include high school seniors seventeen and older. While the initial proposal would have provided counties total discretion in determining precinct size, committee members amended the draft legislation to simply place a cap at 2,000 registered voters per precinct in order to address their concerns that altering boundaries too drastically might lead to voter confusion and unwieldy precincts. Upon amending it, the committee voted to endorse this draft legislation. Another bill endorsed by this interim committee at this month’s meeting, “No Excuse Absentee Ballot Amendments,” seeks to ease the voting process by extending the allowance for using absentee ballots from those who are out of town on Election Day and those with certain disabilities to any registered voter who wishes to do so. The committee also endorsed a bill to repeal the Cost Savings Projection Pilot Program discussed last month. Rounding out the meeting was a report on whether compensation paid to state employees differs between genders. The study showed that male employees of the state are only paid an average of 2.8 percent more than their female counterparts—better than both the private sector and the national average. Health & Human Services The Health and Human Services Interim Committee began its meeting with a discussion about possibly extending an exemption in the state’s insurance code to allow a charitable, educational, social or religious organization to provide death, accident, and health benefits to its volunteers who would not otherwise have access to health care benefits. Specifically, the draft legislation is meant to address a significant program with Utah’s largest religious organization—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Currently, the church provides medical insurance to retirees who are serving church missions outside the country. The program has grown beyond its current exemption and now includes more than 1,500 people. As such, an additional legislative exemption is needed for the program to continue. However, citing concerns about protecting volunteers from other groups that might use the broadly written exemption to defraud them by selling non-existent insurance coverage, the committee requested a revised draft to be brought back to them at their November meeting. From insurance, the committee then turned its attention to Medicaid. With the hopes of containing escalating costs within the program, the legislature authorized the Department of Health to study implementing a preferred drug program. Unfortunately, committee members learned from the department this interim that potential savings are questionable and may even exceed the costs of starting and operating the program. As such, plans for a preferred drug list have been suspended. Judiciary While not having time for everything on their heavy October agenda, the Judiciary Interim Committee got to business by receiving the first annual report from the child Support Guidelines Advisory Committee and the DUI best sentencing practices report from the Sentencing Commission. The former included a proposal to increase the state’s child support guideline statute, and the latter included a recommendation to set up stiffer penalties for DUI offenders, such as stipulations regarding the reinstatement of driving privileges—like the “Not A Drop” Laws for DUI offenders that last 2-6 years after an offense. The committee also began a sunset review of the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ), which will be continued at their November meeting. The CCJJ is charged primarily with studying, evaluating, and reporting on the status of crime in the state, and on the effectiveness of criminal justice policies, procedures, and programs that are directed toward the reduction in crime in Utah. Finally, the committee recommended two pieces of draft legislation before it—Trust Law Amendments (as amended), and Courts Security Fund Amendments for consideration at the General Session in January. Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice As a part of their continuing look at the state’s prison system and ways to improve it, the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee began their October meeting by looking at possible drug treatment policy reforms with a panel comprised of members from the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) to the Sentencing Commission. Most of Utah inmates were under the influence of drugs while committing their punishable offense, and run a high risk of re-offending because of drugs—either thru future drug violations or by committing additional crimes while under their influence. Recidivism rates generally coincide with addiction rates in the state’s institutions. As such, the panel looked at alternatives to imprisonment to break the vicious cycle. The panel reported that drug courts and outpatient programs seem to have some positive short-term effects. Recidivism rates within the first year appear to be lower than if the offender were to have been sentenced to jail/prison. Long-term rates, however, seem to be unaffected. One alternative option suggested by panel members is to shift offender treatment to an outpatient type program, similar to those that have had some success in Oregon and Washington. Another option discussed included re-vamping the criminal statute to increase penalties for re-offenders, while slightly reducing penalties for initial offenders. Other options also discussed included “Intensive Probation,” post adjudication drug courts, and therapeutic communities like the Utah RSAT program. In order to further discus program options and possible funding mechanisms for any alternative programs, the committee voted to again meet with the drug treatment policy panel in their November meeting. After discussing possible treatment reforms, the committee then turned its attention to methamphetamine lab disclosures. The director of Utah Substance Abuse and Anti-Violence and an official from the Utah Health Department spoke to committee members about their desire for the committee to support legislation that would require a property title to include whether the home had been a “meth house.” Some committee members, however, expressed concern about the lack of community consensus about the issue as well as including unflattering information about properties on documents available thru the government. Moving from drugs to DUIs, the committee ended its meeting with an annual report on best sentencing practices from the Sentencing Commission. Specifically, the Commission recommended setting up stiffer penalties for offenders, such as the “Not A Drop” Laws for DUI offenders lasting 2-6 years after an offense. Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment The Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Interim Committee heard first SUMMARY cont. on page 13. 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