So Curtis told the 75 members of the House they wouldn't be traveling out of state if they were retiring voluntarily or were booted out of office by party delegates or primary election voters.

"We just felt if they were leaving, it was wise management by the House of taxpayer dollars" for them not to take expensive trips, Curtis added.

"We won't be back in session this year — it seems," he said, and so any retiring lawmakers wouldn't be able to use their conference-learned expertise in setting state budgets or running pertinent legislation.

With the general election still to come, 14 out of 75 House members won't be coming back next year, either because they are retiring voluntarily or were defeated through convention or primary votes in their re-election bids. Seven of 29 senators won't be back.

Curtis also made sure House members could only attend one conference.

Three senators — Curt Bramble, R-Provo; Mike Dmitrich, D-Price; and Carlene Walker, R-Sandy — are attending two conferences this summer, according to attendee lists provided by legislative staff.

"Because of our (small) numbers in the Senate, some senators have to take on double duty because of their assignments within these organizations," said Valentine.

"Traveling may sound like fun, but often it ends up being more work than pleasure," he added.

Valentine is not attending any of the summer conferences.

"I had some family vacations planned, and I couldn't take any more time off from work," he said.

Curtis said, "We told representatives that if they choose to be leaders on a conference committee, they may attend that one conference. Or they could substitute their appointed committee with another conference, if they preferred, but not go to two conferences.

"It costs a lot of money to go to these conferences," Curtis added.

Twelve senators are going to summer conferences of the NCSL, ALEC or CSG-West, while 31 House members are attending. Coincidentally, that is 41 percent of both the Senate and House memberships. All told, 43 out of the 104 legislators have signed up to travel this summer.

August is a busy travel month: The whole 104-member Legislature is going to the Uinta Basin for several days to see the needs there first-hand. Besides the August Nashville meeting of the NCSL, the CSG is meeting in Breckenridge, Colo., next month. The ALEC is meeting in San Francisco in late July.

Like in other states, more Utah legislators tend to go to conferences when they are held in vacation-attractive places. In 2002, 56 Utah legislators flew to an NCSL convention in Orlando, Fla., with four lame ducks on board.

---

E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com