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Show Hatch Reports On Legislature PANGUITCH District 73 Representative Thomas Hatch reported re-ported this week what he felt was a "successful legislative session with little controversy, but with extensive exten-sive debate and discussion on a variety va-riety of issues." "It's hard to believe," said Hatch, "but we are finally done with the 1999 General Session." We have worked hard to keep a lid on government growth, while at the same time offer ideas that help contribute con-tribute to a better quality of life for our families. One of the main issues that Hatch focused on this particular session was education. Recent studies show that Utah has fallen behind in the area of reading. Hatch supported legislation that will provide funding for schools to write and implement reading programs pro-grams that fit their particular needs, rather than a single, one size fits all program mandated by the state. "Perhaps," said Hatch "a school will decide to use those funds for an after school reading class, or they might choose to purchase new textbooks. text-books. ..the point is the teachers decide, not the politicians." Hatch sponsored House Bill 96, Mineral Lease Amendments, that provides for the distribution of any royalties from the extraction of minerals on certain lands located within the Grand Staircase-Escalante Staircase-Escalante National Monument by the legislature. This bill requires that 40 percent of such revenue would be distributed equally to those school districts that have been socially or economically impacted by the monument designation. Other legislation Hatch supported sup-ported includes funding for Southern South-ern Utah University to help fund the educational programming of it's Cedar Mountain Science Center. The center will use the appropriations appropria-tions to coordinate the development of a balanced approach to the study of environmental issues in our elementary ele-mentary and middle schools. (.ee HATCH on page 5-A) Hatch From Front Page The last item on education is the Utah Orderly School Tennina-. Tennina-. tion Procedures Act. This act puts into place a process that will allow a school district to terminate an employee due to unsatisfactory performance. per-formance. Prior to this legislation it was practically impossible to terminate such employees. This process is fair to the employee by requiring written reports detailing at least two specific incidents of unsatisfactory un-satisfactory performance and a hearing. hear-ing. A couple of items that are specific spe-cific to our area that passed this session: Hatch promised to bring back road funds that were taken from rural Utah counties by accident when the B and C funds formula was changed three years ago. He sponsored legislation that will restore re-store $1.2 million to those ten counties that received less funds than they previously received due to the new formula. Hatch also sponsored legislation that appropriates $200,000 to Utah State University's agricultural experiment ex-periment station to conduct research on rangelands and forest lands in the Cedar Mountain area. The research will help to determine how to better manage lands to support both livestock live-stock and wildlife and to investigate the replacement of aspen by conifers. coni-fers. Legislation was passed that requires re-quires water conservation plans be updated at least every five years. "We successfully amended this legislation leg-islation to exempt those retail water suppliers who supply water for less than 500 service connections," Hatch announced. Representative Brad Johnson's legislation to appropriate funds for the mapping and documentation of (See HATCH on page 6-A) Hatch From Page 5-A R.S. 2477 rights-of-way and other structures was passed by both houses of the legislature. A committee com-mittee will be created to award grants to counties to inventory and map these rights-of-way. This information will be helpful to the counties as it relates to Governor Gov-ernor Leavitt's plans for identifying and designating wilderness on U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands. One of the most important pieces of legislation to pass this session deals with the funding for the development of a communications communica-tions system for Garfield, Kane, Piute and Wayne counties. Jn order to preserve and promote a communications commu-nications system, such as broadcast television, in the rural areas of the state, a nine member board made up of mayors and county commissioners, commission-ers, will be created to establish procedures pro-cedures for awarding grants to programs pro-grams and projects dealing with communications systems in rural parts of Utah for the benefit of the people living there. Funding for the Rural Electronic Commerce Communications System Fund Board will come from a portion of the royalties from lands in the monument. One of the more controversial and much debated issues this session ses-sion was the Quality Growth Act. Hatch worked very closely with the sponsors of this legislation to en- sure that private property rights were not infringed upon. Hatch does not think this legislation presents pres-ents any threat to private property rights as it includes no mandates but only incentives to build where cities and counties can afford infrastructure infra-structure for growth. This growth plan will help counties, cities and towns discourage discour-age urban sprawl by offering incentives incen-tives to developers who build in quality growth areas and provides funds to buy conservation easements ease-ments for the preservation of open space. Originally, the legislation would allow non-profit organizations organiza-tions like the Nature Conservancy to qualify for these funds. Many of the legislators were not comfortable with the use of taxpayer monies to acquire land that would then be held by a private entity. Therefore, the bill was amended requiring nonprofits non-profits to work in partnership with local government agencies who would hold the rights on such easements. Last but not least, Hatch sponsored spon-sored legislation providing for costs of appointed counsel for indigents to be paid by the slate in cases initiated ini-tiated by the attorney general; exempting ex-empting the state and counties from indigent counsel costs in private actions; and requiring courts to take into account the income and financial finan-cial ability of the parents of minors in determining if a minor is indigent. indi-gent. And Hatch supported legislation that will allow you an income tax deduction for health care insurance costs. "These are just a small scope of some of the many good pieces of legislation that came out of the 1999 General Session," according to Hatch. He "hopes that these accomplishments do go a long way in providing for a better quality of life for our families, while at the same time, being watchful of government gov-ernment intrusion into private lives and keeping more money in your pocket." Hatch said he appreciates -letters and phone calls. The only way he can become a better representative is by hearing from you, and listening listen-ing to your concerns and ideas. He is proud to represent you and your family and the people of rural Utah. Feel free to contact him at 435-676-8808 if you would like to discuss any of the legislation mentioned. |