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SALT LAKE CITY — Several GOP lawmakers changed their votes to revive a bill to create a legislative oversight entity, and water task force members will not support controversial legislative reform measures.
For these and other legislative actions listed below, click on the headline to read the full story.
Bill to create legislative oversight entity revived in House committee
A bill that would create a new legislative entity to oversee state and local governments was revived Monday after several GOP lawmakers changed their votes.
HB175 faltered in a House committee earlier this month as a result of "healthy tension" between the branches of government, the bill's sponsor Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, said at the time. Later that day, supporters of the bill held a news conference to pitch the proposed Joint Committee on Governmental Oversight as one that would ensure "transparency, efficiency and accountability."
Are major water reforms poised to take a dive?
At an emergency meeting of the state Executive Water Task Force, members said they will not throw their support behind controversial legislative reform measures and would instead prefer they receive study over the coming interim.
That Monday decision was followed by a legislative subcommittee's endorsement of moving to establishing a working group of "subject matter experts" to take up the issue of extraterritorial jurisdiction in Wasatch watersheds and transparency involving water supply sourcing, cost and service areas.
Supporters of HB124 and HB135 do not believe their efforts at water law reform have been entirely doused this session, however, because enough of their colleagues' attention was sufficiently captured over the need for action.
$2.5 million tech career incentive program wins House committee approval
While the sponsor of legislation that would create a $2.5 million program to offer debt relief to Utah college grads in STEM fields that stay in-state to work would bolster critical workforce needs in the growing tech industry, critics say it's an unfair attack on the fair market.
Sen. Ann Milner, R-Ogden, said her SB104 would create a program similar to a previous effort that retired student loan debt for educators that stayed and worked in Utah schools after graduation.
Utah's Martha vs. Philo debate marches on
In the ongoing saga of suffragette versus scientist, a House legislative committee on Monday voted in support of a resolution to replace a Washington, D.C. statue of Philo T. Farnsworth with one of Martha Hughes Cannon, but the end of the debate seems far from over.
Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, highlighted the extraordinary life of Cannon, a Mormon pioneer who became a doctor, women's rights advocate and the first woman elected to a state senate in the country, in presenting SCR1 to the House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee Monday morning.
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The House Education Committee endorsed legislation Monday that would create a two-year telehealth mental health pilot program that could be accessed by a limited number of public schools.
Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, sponsor of HB308, said there is tremendous need for mental health services in Utah schools such as crisis intervention and to buttress the labors of the extremely limited number of school counselors and social workers. Rural schools have especially limited resources, he said.