Special-session agenda taking shape

Lawmakers will meet in special session sometime next month to fund improvements at the Utah State Prison at Point of the Mountain as well as exempt troops from having to pay state income taxes on their active-duty pay.

But Gov. Olene Walker won't ask them to consider her veto-compromise plan on a controversial special-education voucher bill, her spokeswoman, Amanda Covington, said Wednesday.

Walker met for more than an hour with legislative leaders to hammer out what would be considered during the special session, the second called by the governor since the 2004 Legislature adjourned in March.

No date has been set for the special session, but Walker expects to finalize the list of legislation the Labor Day holiday, Covington said. She declined to confirm any of the issues agreed to by the governor during Wednesday's meeting.

Senate Majority Whip John Valentine, R-Orem, said at least two issues will be dealt with at the special session. One is a proposal to exempt the active duty pay received by members of the National Guard and military reserve units from state income tax.

"It's the right thing to do," said Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo. He said the cost of the tax break would be about $5.5 million, an amount that could come from the state's estimated $110 million surplus.

The other issue expected to appear on the call is money to build new security fencing at Point of the Mountain as well as to free up space for female inmates now housed in county jails. The Department of Corrections estimated the price tag at nearly $4 million.

Valentine said lawmakers had not agreed on a proposal by the prison system to spend existing federal funds to build 300 new beds in Millard and Beaver counties that the state would contract to use to house its growing inmate population.

"We're not certain yet this is the direction we want to go," Valentine said. "It represents new construction and there are lots of other alternatives that need to be explored before we do that. It's probably not appropriate for a special session."

Members of the Joint Executive Appropriations Committee heard a plea Tuesday from Corrections Department officials for permission to use some $1.5 million in funds for the county projects that included the warning that prison capacity could be reached by October.

Walker liked the proposal but knows she needs legislative support for it or any other item to be considered in special session. The governor apparently does not have support for her plan to use money set aside for a bill on special-education she vetoed earlier this year.