Jan. 13, 2001--
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ In years past, a fat kid waving a laser pointer in the back of a jacked-up pickup might have slipped unnoticed beneath the Legislature's radar.
Not this year.
With the budget flush and scarcely a whisper of traditional hot-button topics like gun control, quirky bills taking on everything from childhood obesity to mattress tags are getting more attention.
Rep. Carl Saunders, R-Ogden, wants schools to help obese children lose weight by stocking healthy food in vending machines instead of candy.
Other proposed bills would allow high schools to offer televised courses in Mandarin Chinese; regulate trucks with low-riding or jacked-up suspensions; prohibit the reckless aiming of laser pointers at people or animals; disband the state's never-used militia; and repeal Utah's Bedding, Upholstered Furniture, Quilted Clothing Advisory Committee.
That's not to say there isn't serious business to be done in the 45-day session.
This year, lawmakers will cobble together a $7.3 billion budget that includes more new spending than ever before. They will likely offer modest tax cuts and infuse unprecedented amounts of new money into the education system.
"We've never had a budget year like this since I've been in the Legislature," said House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West.
Lawmakers have $656 million in new money to spend this year, although about half of that can only be spent on one-time projects _ like buildings or buying textbooks _ rather than programs that carry over year-to-year.
That's because a big chunk of the new money is believed to be taxes people paid when they sold their stocks, said Lynne Ward, Gov. Mike Leavitt's budget director. Once the stocks are sold, the taxes won't be paid next year.
And when there's lots of money, departments don't want to take "no" for an answer to their budget requests, Ward said.
"We have a lot of financial resources this year and we're (budgeting) in a time where everyone feels that the economy is going into one of its inevitable cycles," said Leavitt. "That puts substantial pressure on us to invest it wisely and ... not create ongoing obligations that may not be meetable in future years."
Stephens also notes that this year's budget runs through the end of the 2002 Winter Olympics, so lawmakers will be hedging against a projected post-Olympic economic slump.
Leavitt's budget includes massive new spending for education _ $245 million altogether. That includes a 6 percent increase in the state's per-pupil spending, which is the lowest in the nation.
While legislators haven't started putting their budget together yet, Stephens believes the final education package will be comparable to the governor's.
"I think it will be at least as good and I think there's a good chance it will be better," Stephens said.
Two small tax cuts have bipartisan support. One would come as a result of re-working Utah's income tax brackets, the other by reducing the number of poor who pay state taxes. The tax cuts would cost the state about $5.4 million.
Politically, Utah's Senate will be even more conservative than last year. Republicans hold a 20-9 majority over Democrats, and the new Senate President, Al Mansell, has appointed some of the most conservative senators as committee chairmen.
"I don't think we'll be shut out," said the new Senate Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich, D-Price. "I think we'll work within the system."
On the House side, Republicans outnumber Democrats 51-24. As in past sessions, the GOP dominance will allow party leaders to make most decisions in closed-door meetings.
One urgent problem that Leavitt wants to see legislators tackle is the skyrocketing energy prices in the West. He has created a task force of lawmakers and state department heads to recommend remedies by Feb. 1.
"We are at a point where our supply and demand are bumping up against each other in a very awkward way," the governor said at an economic forum last Wednesday. "This is an issue of the most serious order. No economy can prosper without energy, water, transportation, minerals, food _ the basics."
The governor is proposing paying cash for new state buildings, including $140.5 million for seven new projects at Utah colleges.
And he is proposing a $102 million initiative to generate more computer science and engineering graduates from Utah colleges, and $1.5 million to spur technology development in rural Utah.
One development in rural Utah he doesn't want is high-level nuclear waste. Leavitt backs a series of bills sponsored by Sen. Terry Spencer, R-Layton, aimed at blocking a proposal by the Skull Valley Goshutes to temporarily store the waste on their reservation.
Other issues of note include:
_ Rep. David Ure, R-Kamas, is trying to repeal Utah's 12-year term limit law passed in 1994 to stave off a voter petition drive. Lawmakers elected after 1994 could be thrown out beginning in 2006.
_ A handful of legislative gift reform bills are being sponsored, although similar measures have failed in the past.
Cassie Dippo of Utah Common Cause says this could be reform's year. "At some point in time, legislators will decide this is a really good idea and go forward," she said. "I'm still waiting for that time."
_ Democratic Sen. Pete Suazo and Rep. David Litvack want to rework Utah's hate crime law. A judge ruled in November 1999 that the old law was unconstitutionally vague. Suazo's efforts to rewrite the law last session fizzled in the House Rules Committee.
_ Sen. Paula Julander, D-Salt Lake City, wants to make it a misdemeanor if a firearm is stored negligently and a child injures someone with it.
_ And a bill by Rep. Duane Bourdeaux, D-Salt Lake City, would require Utah police departments to enact policies prohibiting racial profiling and would track traffic stop statistics to determine if minorities are targeted.
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
