When lawmakers created the Center for Multicultural Health last year, it was only partially funded. This year, Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, hopes to not only fully fund, but to increase the budget of the center tasked with addressing Utah's multicultural and minority health discrepancies.

The center, within the Utah Department of Health, was created with a budget of $100,000 for fiscal year 2004 to 2005. However, it was only appropriated $50,000.

"We've put this boat on the water with half a paddle," Buttars said, describing the center, which is currently staffed by just one part-time employee.

Buttars said he wants to up the center's total funding to $300,000. He is working closely with Utah Issues, and plans to introduce a bill by early next week.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said Buttars' proposal is one of many that has a good chance this session because of a budget surplus of about $600 million in new ongoing and one-time funds.

"We haven't decided a priority," Valentine said. "We are allowing the bills to move forward to be debated on their merits."

Luz Robles, multicultural health policy analyst for Utah Issues, said the center's budget makes it difficult to meet its goals, such as research, education and developing programs to address multicultural and minority health issues.

One of the most prominent disparities is early prenatal care, Robles said. Only 60.4 percent of Hispanic women received early prenatal care in 2002, compared to 80.9 percent of non-Hispanics, according to the state health department's Office of Vital Statistics. By race, 79.1 percent of whites received prenatal care, while only 57.2 percent of the blacks and 48.1 percent of native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders did.

Minorities are also less likely to have a regular health care provider or have health insurance than non-Hispanic whites, she said.

"Health disparities, in the end, have a fiscal note to the state," Robles said. "When we're not addressing this, more people are using the emergency room . . . it costs more for everyone."

The center replaced the Office of Ethnic Health, which was shut down during a state budget crisis, though a health advisory council remained, Robles said.

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com