Lawmakers first started traveling the state back in the early 1990s. The trips quickly became heady affairs, with local and statewide lobbyists and businesses picking up much of the cost, including free breakfasts, lunches and dinners, as well as local entertainment.

When a fund-raising letter went out to well-known lobbyists asking that they pay up to $5,000 per person to "host" a Wasatch/Summit county tour in 1999, some internal controls were placed on such contributions by legislative leaders, who professed ignorance of the fund-raising letter.

After school buses with no air conditioning were used to transport legislators around St. George — when August temperatures were well over 100 degrees — state vans with air conditioning, along with drivers combed from legislative staffers, started shuttling lawmakers around during the two- to three-day trips.

In some cases, local residents showed up to ask pointed questions. But on more than one trip, public hearings were dominated by local city, county and school-board officials, the same people who usually trek up to Salt Lake to attend regular legislative meetings.

Still, the trips were always heralded as successes, as Wasatch Front lawmakers learned about the problems and opportunities of rural and/or fast-growing areas in other parts of the state.

During the visits this month, Salt Lake and Davis county public officials will get an hour each to speak to legislators during specially hosted lunches.

This trip was partly organized by the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, with one of its clients, the political consulting/lobbying firm of Exoro, planning a number of the site visits.

"While we won't be having a public hearing, there is still the possibility of some kind of Web-based interactive operation, like sending in e-mails to legislators that could be answered over those two days," said Cantrell.

At the very least, residents of Salt Lake and Davis counties can get on the Senate's Web-site blog — at www.senatesite.com/blog/

index.html — to interact with senators about the two-county visit, said Cantrell.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com