Some of the more interesting debates you’ll hear in the Utah Legislature occur when basic rights bang up against political partisanship.
That seemed to be the case Tuesday when House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake, got his HB178 passed in the House, but only after Republicans amended it to exempt Ogden and West Valley City.
“This is not a convenient position to be in,” said Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab – for he was supporting a bill sponsored by King on a property rights stand.
The two have come to harsh words in the past, and probably couldn’t be further apart politically.
“Isn’t that cool?” King shouted into his mic after Noel spoke.
King’s HB178 is a short, technical bill – but has large impacts on the dozen cities that operate the “Good Landlord” program concerning convicted felons coming out of prison or a halfway house and where they may live, whom landlords may rent to.
King says the program should be dumped, for it harms the state and society’s attempts to get former felons into affordable housing and help him or her change their futures.
Rep. Steven Eliason, R-Sandy, says he wears two hats – lawmaker and landlord. He said his city basically thinks he is not a good landlord because he does rent properties to former felons – and so pays higher city fees for not being in the Good Landlord programs.
“I want to give people a second chance,” said Eliason, a co-sponsor of the bill. “I’m a strong advocate for the homeless.”
The Good Landlord statutes – which push felons into certain areas of the city, and an amendment that narrowly passed — “is like hitting the gas and the brake at the same time,” Eliason said.
“It is duplicitous to say they have paid their debt to society, but you can live only in a certain area, and then penalize landlords who give you a break” to get back into society, said Eliason.
Rep. Jeremy Peterson, R-Ogden, got Ogden and West Valley City exempted from King’s bill – for having half-way houses in their boundaries — so those two Good Landlord cities can still use their Good Landlord programs to force felonious individuals to live in certain areas.
The amendment exempting Ogden and West Valley passed 38-34, the bill passed, 62-9.
The bill now goes to the Senate.
