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Show UNDER THE CAPITOL ;MIM 4 I With just two weeks remaining remain-ing in its 60-day session the 29th Utah Legislature finds many of its controversial issues in the control of sifting committees commit-tees and Gov. J. Bracken Lees veto power. Consequently, the tax structure struc-ture of the state isn't likely to be changed greatly, and with the period growing short in which any action can be taken on an executive rejection of a bill a number of other issues on which the governor and the legislature disagree may go by the boards. . Sifting committees came into power on the 40th day, last Friday, with a Senate group, headed by Sen. Marl D. Gibson, (D-Price) first to appear. It swept the calendar clear of 140 bills, but only after bills to provide pro-vide for tax refunds on non-highway non-highway gasoline had been removed re-moved and made a special order. or-der. , Other members of the conservative-powered Senate sifting committee include Sens. Alonzo F. Hopkin (D-Woodruff), Donald T. Adams (D-Monticello), J. Harold Reese (D-Bear River City), Elias L. Day (R-Salt Lake), Grant Thorn (R-Spring-ville) and Vern B. Muir (R-Lo-gan). The House committee, also controlled by Democrats, did not make its appearance until three days later. Democrats gained control of the important committee com-mittee under terms of the "horse trade" which earlier in the session seated Rep. Clifton G. M. Kerr (R-Tremonton) as speaker of the House. The powerful sifting committee commit-tee was the fourth of a group of special committees gained by Democrats in return for giving up the speakership of the Republicans. Re-publicans. When the committee took over ov-er in the lower house, it took over life and death control of some 200 bills, including many of the proposals asked by Governor Gov-ernor Lee in his measures to the Legislature, including his tax reduction measures. Included also in the group were the Senate approved bill for disposal of the Sugar House prison site, sale of the Governor's Gover-nor's mansion, and the entire nine-bill Legislative Council highway program including a lc per gallon increase in gasoline gas-oline tax, raise in trucking fees, and the B and C road fund proposals. pro-posals. Meanwhile, the joint appropriations appro-priations was in the midst of its biennial struggle to fit the requested re-quested appropriations of state money into the limited confines of the anticipated 1951-53 rev- enues a job that required prun-! ing some $6,000,000 from tentative tenta-tive figures submitted by subcommittees. sub-committees. The task proved too much for the entire committee, so a six-man six-man sub-committee, three from each of the House and Senate, took over the task and over last week-end came out with the finished bill to be submitted to each House. Should the big money measure mea-sure be passed early next week, it would still give solons time to take action on any gubernatorial guberna-torial vetoes, since Governor Lee is required by law to sign or veto a bill within five days of receiving the measure during the time the Legislature is in session. Should the completed bill not meet with the expectations of the governor, and it is certain to be higher than the figures submitted sub-mitted by the chief executive in his budget message, some trimming can be expected from the gubernatorial blue pencil, As has been the case for numerous years, the biggest items in the appropriations message mes-sage will be money allocated to the educational institutions of the state. In addition to the $3,200,000 increase in the minimum school fund, an incrase that must come from property taxes, the appropriations appro-priations requested by the institutions ins-titutions of higher learning have brought up some terrific headaches head-aches to the appropriations committee. com-mittee. Some relief to the state might come should legislators act on the latest suggestion of Governor Govern-or Lee and turn three of the State's junior colleges Weber, Snow and Dixie back to the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-ter-Day Saints, which deeded the schools over to the state back in 1923-33. Under terms of the grant, should the legislature repeal the sections of law concerning use of these state institutions, the educational plants would, of ne cessity revert back to the church. Concerted opposition from leaders of these three schools to the plan, together with the fact that the bills are in the hands of the sifting committees, might stall any, action on the proposal. Should they pass, it could mean a considerable saving to the state. Appropriations to the schools cost the state over $800,000 last biennium, and temporary recommendations for the next two years are approximately approx-imately 12 per cent higher than the siim allocated for 1949-51. Weber college, which lost its fight for four-year status two years ago via the gubernatorial veto route in the 1949 session, has a bill in again to grant that status, but the measure is given giv-en little chance of getting the green light from the sifting groups. If the makeup of the two committees shown nothing else, it is indisputable proof of a i trend apparent early in the ses-l ses-l sion, that the conservatives were I firmly in the saddle in both I houses. I . There will be no further leg-I leg-I islation brought out that was I tossed into the hopper merely to satisfy political promises. ; Sponsors of these bills, however, can point to the fact that they ' tried, although they put in the ' bills knowing they had no 3 chance of passage. 3 Possibly the biggest sifting a committee casualty will be the 5 reapportionment measures. Evil Ev-il en the House-backed bill which j) would give every county a sen- 6 ator, will face tough sledding & to get onto the Senate floor, i and the other three reapportion-l reapportion-l ment proposals, none of which I have been acted on at all. will i have even rougher times. P Also apparently doomed, or P at least due to be sidetracked B a bit, are the bills for a non-v non-v partisan judiciary. The Senate, which passed one bill only to have the House kill it. will be ) in no hurry to act on another measure, and the headless bal-s bal-s lot proposal appears to be up against stiff opposition in the House. |