A couple of observations as the 2014 Legislature wraps up its second week.
— Is it just me, or do the senators and representatives seem a little more relaxed, even happier, this session?
I haven’t seen so many smiles and general joking around for some time.
Ronald McDonald was up in the House and Senate on Thursday (McDonald’s provided the morning treats in the bodies’ kitchens), and Ronald was not even the guy with the biggest smile – several lawmakers were beating him to that punch.
— Odds were in favor of no gas tax/revenue bills passing this session.
But now I’m not so sure.
Both Rep. Johnny Anderson, R-Taylorsville, and Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, have “revenue neutral” bills that would raise more money for Utah roads and bridges down the old turnpike.
It’s risky voting for any bill that could be termed a tax hike by a political challenger in an election year.
All 75 House members and half of the 29-member Senate are up for re-election this fall.
We’ll see how this shakes out.
— I realize that the Utah Legislature has won national awards for the “transparency” of their work.
If you can move your way around a complex web site (and, boy, is that not me) you can find out just about anything about Utah government – from the salaries of employees, by name; to the complete Utah annual budget; to bill files opened; to watching or listening to floor debates and committee hearings live over the Internet.
You can track bills, and have e-mails notify you when a bill has moved from one committee to a floor vote and so on.
You can quickly and easily find your House and Senate member and send them an email.
So with so much openness I’m still stymied why legislators cling to keeping “protected” – they are really secret – bill files.
When a legislator calls up a legislative drafting attorney and asks him or her to open a bill file and start writing a piece of legislation, the first question the attorney asks is whether the work will be public or secret.
More and more, I’m told by staffers, legislators are saying: “Protected.”
This means that not only doesn’t the public know that that legislator has started work on this or that piece of legislation, other lawmakers can’t be told as well.
So five lawmakers could be drafting a bill on religious freedom, and none of them know that others are working on the same topic.
Worse, legislators can open a bill file either before the session starts, or within the two-week time frame to open bills once lawmakers gather, and keep that bill secret until late in the session.
The bill is “dropped,” as the saying goes, as the session winds down. And if the lawmaker has enough pull, it is rushed through public hearings and into floor votes.
Of course the now-infamous HB477 in the 2011 session is the most noticed abuse of “protected” bills.
Yeah, I know HB477, the GRAMA rewrite, was properly agended 24 hours before hearings in both the House and Senate.
But within 72 hours that foul piece of legislation was rushed through the process – much to the later embarrassment of Gov. Gary Herbert (the Salt Lake Tribune in a front page editorial called Herbert a political hack) and GOP leaders and rank-and-file.
So, why have secret bills at all?
Rep. Kraig Powell, R-Heber City, has a bill that would require that when any bill file is opened, the name of the sponsor and a short title of what the bill is about must be made public.
Good luck with that, Kraig.
It is clear to me that no matter how many awards the Utah government and legislative web sites may win, when you can spend taxpayer dollars on secret bills that may or may not ever be made public, with the possibility of bending the legislative process to pass a new law within 72 hours, something is not right. And the so-called transparent legislative process is anything but.
— SB100, the bill that would stop discrimination against gays and lesbians in housing and employment, was “officially” killed by the Senate GOP caucus this past week.
And killed in a closed caucus meeting at that.
Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, didn’t take the hint when other Republican senators told him earlier this session that no same-sex or religious freedom legislation would be passed, or even debated, this year.
He called a press conference and encouraged SB100 supporters to put up post-it notes on Senate doorways – kind of like Martin Luther did when he demanded reforms to the Catholic Church way back when.
Well, the pope didn’t find Luther’s notes very productive.
And neither did Republican senators.
— Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, and Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, aren’t taking the hints – OK, they were more than hints – from LDS Church leaders when the church bosses told lawmakers no changes to state liquor laws this session.
Lockhart still thinks the so-called Zion Curtain – a seven-foot, two-inch barrier required in new restaurants to keep children and offended adults from seeing liquor drinks mixed and beers poured – is “weird.”
Wilcox says it is unnecessary and, considering there is absolutely no evidence that the wall keeps kids from becoming drunkards, the curtain should permanently be removed.
He has a bill to do that.
But, says Valentine, a non-drinker who has become an expert on Utah liquor law, a deal was made several years ago with “all parties” – i.e. church leaders – and the curtain was part of major liquor reform effort.
So, apparently, if you make a deal with the men at 50 East South Temple (church HQ) you had better keep it.
I say way to be brave, Lockhart and Wilcox.
If I was in a restaurant I’d make a toast to your courage – as long as I didn’t have to see my drink mixed in front of me.
