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House approves base budgets, passes dozens of routine measures and defers recreational aviation bill
Summary
The Utah House passed a package of senate-origin base-budget bills and a slate of routine measures on Feb. 1, 2012, approving several appropriations bills and technical fixes by unanimous or near-unanimous votes. Lawmakers deferred a bill to add recreational aviation to the state’s recreational use statute after a floor-technology outage.
The Utah House of Representatives passed a group of senate-origin base-budget bills and a series of routine measures on Feb. 1, 2012, advancing state appropriations and technical fixes while setting aside at least one debated policy proposal.
Representatives approved the base budgets for Business, Economic Development and Labor (Senate Bill 4), Executive Offices and Criminal Justice (SB 5), Infrastructure and General Government (SB 6), National Guard/Veterans/Legislature/Capital Preservation (SB 7), and Social Services (SB 8) on voice and recorded counts after brief presentations. Representative Keiser said SB 4 “appropriates $629,294,400, of which $85 million comes from the general fund and $18 million is coming from the education fund.” Voting tallies announced on the floor recorded large, nearly unanimous margins: SB 4 (74-0), SB 5 (73-0), SB 6 (73-0), SB 7 (74-0), SB 8 (74-0). Each bill will be signed by the Speaker and returned to the Senate for the president’s signature.
Representative Mel Brown, speaking to the chamber, urged members to complete the base-budget step on schedule, reminding colleagues that “we have to have the base budget passed by noon on the tenth day” and that the base memorializes last year’s funding levels while leaving subcommittees room to reprioritize later in the session.
The House also approved a set of House bills on the consent calendar. Representative Dunnigan presented House Bill 214, which adjusts the licensing and coverage rules for professional employer organizations and addresses a mini-COBRA gap for small employers; the House recorded 71 yes, 0 no and transmitted the bill to the Senate. Representative Assumption presented House Bill 261, a narrow amendment addressing how property-tax levies are shared when school districts split; the House approved that measure 72-0.
Other non-budget items moved by committee report or third reading included a reviser’s (syntax) bill (Senate Bill 104, 72-0), a transportation-name bill renaming the corridor-preservation revolving loan fund (SB 14, 74-0), and disposition and jurisdiction transfer bills affecting state highways (SB 26 passed 71-0; SB 29 passed 68-0).
On committee business, multiple standing committee reports were adopted by voice votes and several bills were placed on second- or third-reading calendars or the consent calendar for later consideration.
Not everything advanced. Representative Barris’ House Bill 208, which would explicitly add recreational aviation and backcountry landing strips to Utah’s recreational-use statute and protect landowners from liability in most non-malicious cases, was taken off the floor for later consideration after the chamber experienced technical problems with its bill-calendar system and website. "Our computers are down," members reported from the floor; after the interruption the body voted to "circle" the bill, deferring it for further consideration.
The House adjourned until Feb. 2 at 10:00 a.m.
Votes at a glance (selected items): SB 4 — passed 74-0; SB 5 — passed 73-0; SB 6 — passed 73-0; SB 7 — passed 74-0; SB 8 — passed 74-0; HB 214 — passed 71-0; HB 261 — passed 72-0; SB 11 — passed 73-0; SB 14 — passed 74-0; SB 26 — passed 71-0; SB 29 — passed 68-0.
