• If your property is damaged by a natural disaster, you will now pay property taxes only on the value of the damaged property/house, not on the value of the property before the disaster (HB324).

• If you lie to a state agency about another person, with the intent of harming that person's state license or certification, it's a Class B misdemeanor (SB43).

• The State Board of Education must excuse a school-age child from public education for home schooling if the parent says in writing that the student will study subjects required by the state, putting in the same time as required in public schools (SB59).

• Military personnel or others who can buy liquor at Hill Air Force Base stores can now legally take that liquor off of the base (SB65).

• The so-called Parker Jensen bill becomes law, meaning parents are not guilty of child abuse or neglect in making a medical decision for their child unless there is "clear and convincing" evidence that the medical decision is not informed or reasonable (SB83).

• A local government must show a "compelling government interest" in land-use zoning before it can restrict the free exercise of religion. Nicknamed the "steeple" act, the bill will allow LDS Church buildings and steeples, as well as other faiths' buildings, in residential areas (SB106).

• It's a Class C misdemeanor to knowingly possess a false Utah driver's license or state I.D. card. It's a Class A misdemeanor to use a false driver's license or state I.D. card to buy tobacco or alcohol, or to get into an establishment where alcohol is sold (SB167).

Finally, another bill that takes effect Monday, HB217, allows Utah Public Safety Commissioner Robert Flowers to collect retirement benefits while continuing to earn his salary as the state's top cop.

"He intends to take advantage of that new bill that was passed as many of the chiefs and sheriffs in our state already do," said Lt. Doug McCleve, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. So Flowers will "retire" and get a monthly retirement check as well as his regular $102,000 a year salary.

Law enforcement personnel typically can collect retirement benefits after 20 years on the job, even if they are still working, McCleve said. Until the law was changed, however, he said the public safety commissioner was an exception.

"It's just motivation to keep good law enforcement officials in place," McCleve said.

Flowers had worked for the department for 14 years before leaving in 1997 to become the St. George police chief. He took over as public safety commissioner in 2001, after being appointed by former Gov. Mike Leavitt.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com; lisa@desnews.com