Leaders OK interim studies
Details of reviews of teacher pay, taxes, tech centers are approved
But in at least one case — performance pay for public education teachers — the payment policies, and actual payments, may be made before the special legislative study is finished.
The Legislature's top leaders, both parties in the House and Senate, met as the Legislative Management Committee. Starting an hour late — keeping staff and public waiting while GOP leaders met privately over pending litigation — the leaders decided to study immigration, teacher performance pay, property taxes and governance of the state's applied technology centers in different committees.
Two of the regular interim study committees will just meet extra days on two of those issues, while there will be separate task forces on immigration and higher education/applied technology control.
The tens of thousands of dollars it will cost in extra legislative pay and travel for these four groups is already in the Legislature's budget. That's because the task force-like meetings were placed in a budget bill, and passed, even though a separate task force bill died the final day of the 2008 Legislature. That bill, HB490, outlined specific study areas for the four task forces that, in the end, were not authorized by the whole Legislature. Now through leadership's decision, those studies will still take place.
But the extra study by the Education Interim Committee — authorized by leaders Wednesday — won't have its study done by then. But that is OK, said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, who suggested that the committee "have a few meetings before" the State Board sets the merit system "and a few meetings afterwards" to see how that merit system was working.
It is the second year in a row where the management committee approved task force-like studies that, while discussed in the general session, actually were not approved by all legislators.
In a related matter, leaders decided that the public and higher education interim committees will meet in mid-July in Cedar City, along with the separate governing boards of colleges and public education.
It has become a tradition that those legislators go to the joint meetings — and at a time where they can attend Southern Utah University's Shakespeare Festival. In years past, some lobbyists have also shown up in Cedar City at the same time to provide festival tickets to lawmakers.
A note of warning this year, however, from the legislative leaders. Leaders approved 11 senators and 31 House members to attend the official Cedar City meetings. An official quorum in the Senate is 15 senators, while the House's quorum is at 38.
It would be illegal for a majority of senators and House members to meet in official work without Huntsman calling a special session of the Legislature, which of course he's not doing for the Cedar City meetings. So extra lawmakers had better not show up for the meetings, leaders said.
"Off to Shakespeare again," one House Democratic leader muttered as the management committee approved of the special Cedar City meetings.
Leaders also agreed that there would not be an official site visit by the whole Legislature this year because too many other meetings are scheduled for this summer. Usually all 104 part-time lawmakers visit a part of the state to conduct town meetings and learn about the locale's issues.
Joked House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy: "Since almost half the Legislature will be in Cedar City in July anyway, maybe they can hold some town meetings and we'll just call it good."
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com
Recent comments
I know they had business to finish, but the public showed up on time...
Late Start to Meeting | March 27, 2008 at 8:29 a.m.
The Governor Doesn't have to approve a meeting of the Legislature...
Correction | March 27, 2008 at 6:17 a.m.
