Show UNDER THE CAPITOL DOME despite the possible unconstitutional ity of their actions members of utah hou hoube e of representatives from 23 of th states 29 counties have successfully stopped an effort by representatives from utah weber davis a an 1 salt lake laka counties to enact legislation provid providing ng for a reapportionment apportionment re of seats in the house the big four counties had a population in excess of in 1940 according to federal census figures while the remaining 25 counties had residents representing this population on in the lower house are 30 mcp while the remaining OW ut utahna ahns are represented by an equal number of house members that tha t 1 is s where politics enters the picture under the present tion the 25 counties standing together can defeat any legislation desired y the other four counties if the reapportionment bill had bad pas passed ed the four counties would have 35 votes against the 30 0 votes from the 25 outlying counties statutory law provides that people of tho the state shall be represented in the lower louer house on the basis of one representative senta tive tor for each inhabitants or major fraction thereof but that each courty regardless of population shall be entitled to at al least one representative the constitutionality of the lawmakers actions was questioned because of a mandatory section in the state constitution which in effect says that the legislature shall provide for reapportionment following each decennial U S census if the census shows the need for such reapportionment apportionment re representative J welton ward D box elder states on the house floor that t h at he was forced to vote in favor fa vor in n the measure because he regarded a NO vote as a violation of his constitutional t tut ional oath other members from outlying counties who voted in cavar of the bill were susan alice smith R daggett and amos B robinson D it f web rich several days later rey rep james L nielson Nic lson it R Sari pete stated on the house floor that he would favor the measure if it came before the body again as he had decided that his constitutional oath made it mandatory for him to vote for the bill defeat of the measure can be partially blamed on three salt lake ani an i weber county representatives w who h 0 were absent at the time of the final vote with ane result showing a 2828 2823 28 28 23 tie the additional three votes would have meant success instead of failure for the proposed act during arguments on the measure I 1 proponents of the re apportionment pointed out that under the present setup th the counties of daggett grand rich and piute diute with a total population of only are represented by four men merr bers in the house while the 57 residents of utah county are allowed only five house votes even under the proposed reapportionment apportionment re utah county would be allowed only six members in the lower house ut utah ah taxpayers already suffering from a badly bruised and discolored tax jaw suffered another blow on the chin when the house killed a bill by reps grant midgley D salt lake and fred J D juab to eliminate the two per cent sales tax on food and food products despite an SC increase in sales tax revenues during the july 1942 1912 january 1943 period rep A Soren soa continued on last page 14 |