Historically, the Utah Legislature has seen a number of lame ducks flying off to out-of-state conferences just months before they left office.

Critics claim thousands of taxpayer dollars are wasted by the retiring/defeated legislators' late-term travel.

But only one Utah lawmaker who is leaving office in January will be attending a legislative convention this summer — a clear change from election years past.

Said House Speaker Greg Curtis: "We met as a (GOP) leadership team and decided (House) members shouldn't be attending these conventions if they are leaving" the Legislature.

"We made one exception: Rep. Dave Hogue said he had already made plane reservations for himself and his wife, so he is going" to a five-day meeting of the National Conference of State Legislators in Nashville, Tenn., in mid-August, Curtis said.

The state doesn't pick up the travel cost for spouses, only for the legislator.

Hogue, R-Riverton, did not file for re-election to his House District 52 seat this year. Instead, he challenged Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, in Stephenson's southern Salt Lake County/northern Utah County seat.

But Hogue was eliminated in the early May state GOP convention. Hogue said he asked Curtis if he could go to NCSL after his defeat "because I'm co-chair of a special task force on education technology. I helped found the task force, and the final meeting is at this conference. I'd made my airplane reservations before the (GOP) convention — where I was eliminated — because I felt it was critical to the people of Utah that I go to this convention no matter what."

No lame-duck senators are going to the summer conventions of the NCSL, the American Legislative Exchange Council or the Council of State Governments. Those three legislative associations are the main groups to which Utah lawmakers belong.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said Sen. Dave Thomas, R-South Weber, was scheduled to go to a conference, but then Thomas lost his primary election June 27 "and on his own, he pulled out" of the trip. No money was lost in the canceled reservations, Valentine added.

Valentine said he discussed the issue of lame-duck travel with his GOP caucus, which decided lame ducks shouldn't fly this year.

In other election years, as many as half a dozen lame-duck lawmakers have flown off to summer legislative conventions, costing state taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars just months before those legislators walked out the Capitol doors.

"We talked about what was appropriate," said Curtis, R-Sandy.

"And we decided if a (legislator) is not coming back (to the House in 2007-08) that they should not go. "