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House approves $463 million supplemental budget; amendment to cut wolf-lobby funds fails
Summary
The Utah House passed SB 2, a new fiscal-year supplemental appropriations act totaling about $463.4 million, after debate over targeted restorations and a failed amendment that would have reallocated $300,000 reportedly intended for wolf-related lobbying to education and environmental monitoring programs.
The Utah House passed Senate Bill 2, the new fiscal-year supplemental appropriations act, on March 12, 2013, after lengthy debate over funding priorities and a defeated floor amendment. Sponsor Representative Mel Brown told colleagues the bill appropriates roughly $463,392,700 in operating and capital budgets for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2013, including general fund and education components.
The most contested floor move was Amendment No. 3, offered by Representative Arendt, which would have restored $132,300 for the Division of Environmental Response and Remediation, funded the Utah Women in Education Initiative, and paid for air-monitoring equipment. Representative Arendt framed the amendment’s funding source as eliminating a $300,000 contract she described as a lobbying expense related to federal gray-wolf delisting and said she had questions about accountability for prior contract payments. “The circumstances behind the contract were questionable at best last year,” she said. Sponsor Mel Brown and several supporters pushed back, saying federal-level activity had delayed delisting and that prior work and pending actions justified continued expenditures.
The amendment failed on the floor, with the motion to amend receiving 23 yes votes and 42 no votes. Members also questioned whether the bill included additional deposits into the state’s rainy-day fund; Brown replied there is not an explicit deposit in this bill, though an automatic transfer mechanism exists and the rainy-day fund has been increased in prior years.
Representative Brown summarized fiscal elements and fielded technical questions about the bill’s fiscal note. After debate, the House closed debate and approved SB 2; the clerk’s record shows the bill passed and will be transmitted to the Senate for further action.
Votes at the time of passage were announced from the floor; formal enrollment and return to the Senate were directed by the Speaker.
What’s next: SB 2 will be transmitted back to the Senate for signature and any further action required to enroll the bill. Members who asked for additional detail on specific items (for example, retirement actuarial rates raised elsewhere during the day's session) said staff would follow up with numeric clarifications.
