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Show Legislature Ends Session Governor Delivers Closing Message taxes. That was our objective." object-ive." Asked whether he considered consid-ered this budget "bereft of any imagination and foresight," fore-sight," Rep. McAllister said, "Very definately not. Very often a legislature will come together and simply cut 3 or 4 percent from the budget. We didn't do that. In some instances we did, but we went in and didn't just drop three percent across the board, we removed some programs that needed to be removed. We did cut AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent De-pendent Children) which is going to be quite painful to a number of people." Eliminating the AFDC program has shifted this welfare responsiblity from the state to the counties. Secons before adjournment at midnight, Republican senators blocked debate and managed to force passage of H.B. 333, co-sponsored by Rep. McAllister, that absolves ab-solves the counties of all responsiblity for former AFDC recipients. Legislators appeared tired ti-red and ready to return to their private lives and professions. A 20-day budget session of tghe legislature will begin on the second Monday in January, 1982 (every even year), and the next 60-day general session (every odd year) on that day in 1983. The 44th general session of the Utah State Legislature ended last Thursday at midnight, amid frantic political politi-cal maneuvering in the closing seconds to block or pass various bills into law. As is the custom, Governor Gover-nor Scott M. Matheson delivered closing remarks to both the House and Senate, congratulating legislators for enacting some "important, long-range, good public policy poli-cy legislation," and addressing addres-sing issues facing Utah "as we move into massive growth and development." But he added, "in the area of public education, and in providing expense for the poor and medically needy we have not done our duty." Governor Matheson thanked legislators for having hav-ing passed certain bills he considered particularly important. im-portant. S.B. 39, State Lands Amendments, he said "will provide greater resources for the education of our children from the management of those state lands in a proper and efficient manner." S.B. 69, Disaster Response Re-sponse and Recovery Act, and S.B. 70, Emergency Management Act, he called "tools on the books for management of man-made and natural disasters in this state." Governor Matheson praised the accomplishments of the Arch Madsen Executive Execu-tive Reorganization Committee; Commit-tee; the "absolutely critical" Highway Revenue Amendments Amend-ments to maintain the state highway system; S.B. 170, Prepayment of Property Tax to Mitigate Impact of Development, Devel-opment, and important component com-ponent in growth management manage-ment in Utah; H.B. 65, Judicial Salaries increases; and H.B. 183, Publish Intoxication Treatment Act which, he said, "will allow us, for the first time, to rehabilitate publich intoxicants intoxi-cants instead of locking them up in the drunk tanks in our local county jails." On the subject of the budget for the next fiscal year, however, Governor Matheson was openly critical of the legislature. The executive budget proposal, which he termed the "best and most austere" annual budget he has submitted during his five years in office, was not adopted by the Republican dominated legislature. "We have an outstanding budget office," he said. "Thousands of hours were invested in this budget. It had $40 million worth of proposed tax cuts based upon a careful programmatic review of those portions of state government which could be cut out the easiest, and maintain essential services.". serv-ices.". The Republican Caucus Cau-cus implemented its own plan of incremental cuts in almost alj programs, eliminating elimin-ating some entirely. The governor described this somewhat unusual rejection re-jection of an executive budget as "a step backward, dissolving the partnership between the budget process in the executive brand, and that in the legislative branch." Incremental cuts, he said, "create nothing more than a status quo document, bereft of any imagination or foresight of the state's needs or coming problems." He added, "We have failed and put off until tomorrow many of the serious problems our state is facing today." The governor thanked legislators for their public service, a motion was made and passed to adjourn sine die, and a final benediction was delivered in the name of Jesus Christ. Outside the chambers, House Majority Leader, Le', Ray L. McAllister, R-Utah, disagreed with the governor's govern-or's analysis of the new budget. "As the people recognize what we've done they'll be deeply appreciative," appreci-ative," he said. "They sent us here with the mandate that we were not to raise |