Curtis may back off on bill that disturbs Huntsman

After a personal meeting Thursday between Utah House Speaker Greg Curtis and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Curtis said he's unsure whether he'll pursue a bill this session that according to Huntsman shifts budgetary powers in favor of the Legislature.

And Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said while the policy decision of how to handle a gubernatorial veto of a major budget bill is an important one, it doesn't have to be done this year.

"We don't know how to read this," Huntsman legislative aide Mike Mower told a Thursday morning House committee hearing on Curtis' HB97.

Comparing the new governor with new leadership in the House and Senate, Mower said Huntsman feels like one partner in a newly married couple who is "served with papers for divorce or separation." From the governor's side, he said, "we're still in love."

Saying he values the good relationship he has with Huntsman, who took office the first of the year, Curtis invited him over to his office at noon. After the brief meeting, which both sides said was private, Curtis was asked if he still plans to go forward with HB97.

"I don't know. (Huntsman) sees this as a winner or a loser, and it's unfortunate that it's seen that way," said Curtis, R-Sandy. The speaker said he would talk with other members of House and Senate Republican leadership to see what they want to do.

The issue blew up earlier this week when HB97 was made public as a whole slew of new bills were filed for the 45-day session, which ends March 2.

Curtis said he'd been thinking about the issue for nearly a year — since former Gov. Olene Walker threatened the 2004 Legislature with vetoing the whole budget if she didn't get $30 million for her public school reading program. She got the money.

Curtis still believes something needs to be done to stop such heavy-handed actions by governors in the future, adding, however, that HB97 is not aimed at Huntsman.

The core of HB97: If the governor vetoes all the budget bills, or just one budget bill, then current spending in that area continues and there don't have to be any compromises between the two branches of government.

Mower said he accepts Curtis' statements and doesn't see HB97 as a way for GOP leaders to force Huntsman this session to give up his demand that less money be spent on roads, more on employee pay raises and other state programs.

Still, feelings have been running high for several days. And Curtis told the House Business and Labor Committee Thursday morning that, in hindsight, he probably should have pre-filed the bill and talked about it publicly previously.