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Show Solon's organization keeps Senate running smoothly Senator Leavitt said that he is "luncemmitted" on the measure In the legislature to restrict the number of out of rtate hunters. He said that he is very Interested in improv lng Utah's hunting, but he Is cautious about this bill because be-cause It could Docsilblv cause "It's the smoothest running and most efficient Legislative session I've witnessed In my 11 years as a legislator." Those comments were made by State Senator iDlxie Leavitt, Senate Majority Leader, at the conclusion of the third week ' of the current legislative session. the loss of some Federal aid. This bill would limit the num-i her of out of state hunters to 20 thousand. Last year 30 thousand out of state hunters bought a $50 deer license. This bill would also raise the cost of an out of state license to $75 dollars. Here Is where the lass of funds could be caused. The Federal government suggests a 1 to 5 ratio in the cost of in state to out of state licenses. Already Utah has a 1 to 10 ratio. A $25 raise would make the ratio 1 to 15. This could cause Utah to lose Fed-reral.unds Fed-reral.unds because so mudjj, of the deer hunting areas are on Federal ground. Senator Leavitt Is desirous of knowing how the public feels about this Iblll. He would appreciate letters from his constituants on this and any other matter. Mr. Leavitt also stated that the legislature is using its time very effectively. A new inovation In legislative efficiency effici-ency Is that every legislator is on appropriations sub-committee. The sulb-committees listen to funding requests from various departments in government. This keeps all legislators busy during the first weeks while bills are still in committee. After these appropriation ap-propriation sub . committees turn in their recommendations ,The Joint Executive aippraprl. 1 ations committee, of which Senator Leavitt Is a member, makes the final decision as to what Is included in the appro-prlations appro-prlations measure to be presented pre-sented to the Legislature. Senator Leavitt has introduced intro-duced several bills alreadv this session. One of these bills deals with the planning and zoning of cities and counties. This bill, which is in agreement agree-ment with almost all county commissioners and mayors in his district, enables the local officials to make more zoning decisions, instead of having It done on the state level. Another bill he ihas introduced intro-duced Is a measure that will add an office wing to the state capital building. Another Anoth-er bill would create regional state centers. These centers would be located in various areas of the state and would put state offices at one central cen-tral location so that they could serve the public with more efficiency. Senator Leavitt is prepar-ing prepar-ing to introduce a bill that would remove the state prop-erty prop-erty tax and replace this tax with some of the Federal Rev-enue Rev-enue sharing money that the state has obtained. |