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Show Under the . . . Capitol Dome Salt Uxke City, Special to The News iL'tah legislators returned to their homes this week, with members of the anti-Maw faction wearing broad smiles because of their last-round knockout victory over the governor after previous rounds in the battle had made the decision look as though it were going to be a draw. The knockout came in the closing clos-ing minutes of the session, and was delivered in what is ordinarily an uninteresting and unexciting measkire the appropriations bill. Maw supporters dropped their guard for an hour, and when they koked around to study the appropriations ap-propriations measure (if they have done so yet) they found that the chief executive had been hit right in the most effective spot the pocketbook. For the past two years Governor Gover-nor Maw has had millions of dollars dol-lars at his control in the state government operating account, to be transferred here and there ai the giovernor's will. For the next two years, the governor will have contifcl of about $(i-1,000 (his office of-fice and residence accounts) and he might possibly have up to half a millton dollars as a contingent fund toward the end of the bien-nium, bien-nium, provided there is any general gen-eral fund surplus "not otherwise appropriated." (Continued on last page) v UnderCapitol Dome, (Continuea trom-first page) The appropriations measure sets up definite operating accounts for every state department and institution and absolutely no pro-' vision, is made for any transfer of funds from one department to another. The bill even goes so far as to break down departmental depart-mental expenditures into personal services, travel, current expenses, equipment and permanent improvements, im-provements, and provides that funds can not be transferred from one such schedule to another schedule in the same department without approval of the board of examiners. . Appropriations bills passed during dur-ing the term of office of Governor Henry H. Blood gave the chief executive the power to transfer funds from one department to another, or to order any department depart-ment or institution to curtail its expenditures for a three-month period. Governor Maw has been deprived of any semblance of such power by the new appropriations measure. Neither he nor his board of examiners may transfer funds from one department to another, and departments may exceed their appropriations only with unanimous unani-mous consent of the board of examiners. ex-aminers. Even the gto-vemor's contingent fund is a "maybe" fund, because the appropriations measure provides pro-vides that it is to consist of "sur- plus moneys which may accrue in the general fund and which are not herein otherwise appropriated." appropriat-ed." No surplus no contingent fund. If any such surplus does accrue, the governor may use it to provide for additional needs for any state department, institution or agency. The i-easion for extreme pessimism pessim-ism regarding a governor's contingent con-tingent fund arises from the fact that the appropriations bill reveals re-veals that the cost of operating the state government and all state institutions will amount to $19,-404,170 $19,-404,170 for the next biennium. This 19-million dollar total ccmes from the $7,562,773 appropriated appro-priated from the general fund, plus another general fund expenditure expen-diture of $3,290,000 to increase teachers' and school employes' ' salaries. Add to these figures special fund appropriations of $5,7-58,551 and another $2,792,852 collected in the form of fees and you have the complete picture. ; In most respects, Utah's twenty-fifth twenty-fifth legislature, which finally went home late Sunday after a 63-day 63-day session, was an ineffectual ibcdy. However, the law-makers boosted their stock in a flurry of last minute action which saw the : death of the horse-racing bill and an "anti-labor" measure to re-write re-write Utah's "little Wagner act," and the passage of an eleventh-i eleventh-i hte'Ur welfare 'bill after every other such measure had been killed in one house or the other. The welfare bill which finally passed was an exact duplicate of the earlier bill killed by the "Maw lobby" except that the new measure mea-sure incorporated some of the pi-sent pi-sent statutes. In the main, however, the bill provides that the maximum grant to the state's old folks shall not be more than $45, based on a budgetary need. No minimum is provided in the measure. If an aged person has an income of $35 and the welfare department deems this amount sufficient, the depart- ' ment would not have to contribute . one cent. However, if another aged person had an income of $35 and the department found that this person needed $S0 a month, the department could grant $45. In other words, the welfare department de-partment would control all grants by basing their caculations on the budgetary needs in each individual case. The views of both sides differed dif-fered on the attitude of the aged in the state toward the bill. One side said the aged fully agreed with the budgetary-need basis of the bill, while the welfare bloc in both houses charged that the state's aged wanted the assurance 'cf a fixed, minimum grant. i Apparently the Senate re-introduced the welfare bill after the House had repented somewhat from their earlier actions of kill- ! in-g the measure and had assured i the Senate that the House would ! pass the bill. |