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House passes HB3 appropriations package after debate over Antelope Island hunting language
Summary
The Utah House passed House Bill 3, the final appropriations bill, 61-11 on March 11, 2010, after adopting multiple amendments and rejecting a substitute motion that would have removed language allowing sale of limited hunting permits on Antelope Island. The bill includes targeted funding items and intent language for capital priorities.
The Utah House on March 11, 2010 passed House Bill 3, an omnibus appropriations measure known on the floor as the 'bill of bills,' 61-11 after hours of amendments and debate.
Representative Bigelow, the floor sponsor, moved HB3 from the rules calendar and introduced a series of amendments that the chamber considered part of the final funding package for the fiscal year. Amendments adopted included a $25,000 drafting correction for a previously listed item (Amendment No. 8), language clarifying that selected legislative funds would be nonlapsing (Amendment No. 12), and an increase of $5,000 for the Division of Arts to support Utah Symphony community performances (Amendment No. 5), raising their authorization from $25,000 to $30,000.
A contentious floor exchange focused on language authorizing sale of limited permits to take certain trophy animals on Antelope Island. Representative Ray offered a substitute motion to delete lines authorizing those permits; proponents of deletion said hunting would undermine the island's value as a tourism draw and ride against county and local stakeholder opposition. Representative Julie Fischer, who opposed the permits, described Antelope Island as a small, concentrated wildlife viewing area and urged keeping it a recreational attraction. Opponents of the deletion, including Representative Knight and Representative Noel, argued the measure allowed a narrowly tailored harvest to thin herds, avoid disease and generate revenue, and that Utah Fish and Game supported a monitored approach.
The House held a division and opened roll voting on the substitute motion; the motion failed 34 yes to 40 no. Members subsequently returned to the underlying amended package, adopted additional intent language (including a provision to coordinate planning for a joint emergency operations center in Salt Lake City under Amendment No.1 / substitute), and passed HB3 as amended.
HB3 as amended carries multiple line-item and intent items called out on the House floor: two $500,000 set-asides tied to House and Senate fiscal priorities, $500,000 earmarked for a developmental center, $515,000 for post-retirement employment benefit adjustments described in connection with SB43, a $5,000 increase for arts programming, and intent language reallocating $5,000,000 in transportation funds in Davis County to support improvements at the Falcon Hill site.
The bill's final vote was 61 yes and 11 no; the House referred the measure to the Senate for consideration.
What happens next: the bill is transmitted to the Senate for consideration and any further action that chamber may take; several amendments in HB3 are expressed as legislative intent and may require later administrative follow-up or appropriation exercise by state agencies.
