From Deseret News archives:
Utah school board urges vetoes by Huntsman
Education omnibus bill, fed programs targeted
The board has constitutional concerns about the controversial $2.5 billion education omnibus bill.
"I would like this body to go on record ... to say that (the governor) has the power to do line-item vetoes, and because (of) such blatant abuse of items already defeated, he should seriously consider using the line-item veto," board member Kim Burningham said. "To do otherwise encourages future logrolling, it encourages bribery, it encourages bad legislation."
That stance came hours after board chairman Richard Sadler explained that the state board was absent from a news conference by other education groups decrying the bill so that it could better get along with legislators.
The omnibus bill rolled a dozen bills, some of which had been voted down earlier in the session, into the Minimum School Program Act, which includes a 2.5 percent boost to the state's basic student funding formula. and a $1,700 raise for teachers. Those bills include $3.5 million to give software to families to prepare preschoolers for kindergarten and another to require school districts kick in a portion of charter school funding, both of which had been defeated in the House.
The Utah Constitution prohibits "logrolling" unconnected bills into one, the board's letter to Huntsman states.
"Some legislative members are claiming that the omnibus bill is an appropriations bill and thus the bills are legitimately bundled ... However, if so, then you as governor have line-item veto authority. We urge you to consider using that power to veto the language that represents the bills that were earlier defeated in the House," the letter states.
"Most importantly, we urge you to take line-item veto action in order to state without equivocation that an abuse of power is not appropriate. A strong message is needed that action such as this must stop; we strongly urge you to take action on SB2 to ensure that a clarion message is sent."
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