Day for vets: Utah budget nears completion

Lawmakers had yet to finalize the state budget on Friday evening but said the only major item left to be negotiated was a deal to get an additional $25 million for teachers.

One major item that was formally funded Friday was almost $20 million for a second veterans nursing home, to be built in northern Utah. The funding was actually agreed to by legislative leaders and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. earlier in the session, but they delayed the final vote until Friday so that dozens of veterans could gather at the Capitol to watch.

Several smaller "fiscal note" bills will be debated in the remaining three days of the session next week, but the budget is "pretty well done," said Senate budget chairman Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan.

The Senate and House each released a list on Friday of funding requests and fiscal note bills that are anticipated to be approved next week. Each chamber had $2.5 million to spend, and members cast ballots to decide what items would get money.

Many of the fiscal note bills receiving funding are small expenditures with a big impact for the involved programs. They are often pet projects of legislators, either because of their location or topic.

Funding items for House members include $75,000 for a public education campaign about autism and developmental disabilities, sponsored by Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns. Another bill, from Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, gives $57,000 for cities and counties to post campaign finance information online.

But top on the House list were requests by Sen. DeMar "Bud" Bowman, R-Cedar City, to give money to the Utah Summer Games and a memorial in the Cedar City Veterans Park. Bowman recently underwent surgery to remove a tumor on his kidney and is not expected to return this session.

Another "wish list" item gives $150,000 to fund a study of a road over Utah Lake, as requested by Rep. Kenneth Sumsion, R-American Fork. Members of the transportation appropriations subcommittee declined to endorse this budget request, implying it would be a fruitless study because of environmental concerns with building a road over a lake, but the full House decided to support it.

In the Senate, funding bills will be debated that involve money for outreach for veterans and for meth decontamination of police officers. A Senate priority to get money for a judicial performance evaluation commission, sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, was also on the Senate list.

The measure stands to get $349,000 — the highest item funded by the Senate on its "wish list."

Buttars actually did quite well in the funding requests, as he also received $178,500 for a methamphetamine decontamination program.