Recession won't stop lawmakers' travel plans

A third of the Utah Legislature will be in Philadelphia this week for the annual convention of the country's major legislative association.

In times of very tough budgets, one may ask if this is a wise use of state resources.

But legislative leaders — a number of whom will be on the trip — say that the National Conference of State Legislatures' conference is a valuable learning resource, especially for part-time lawmakers, as Utah's are.

House Minority Leader David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, said that because of budget constraints, lawmakers' expenses are capped, and most will probably have to pick up some of the cost of this convention trip. Even so, Litvack said, "I, for one, have found NCSL very valuable. You connect with legislators of both parties from other states and learn from them — like on budgets, health care and other issues. We bring back good ideas and implement many of them."

The NCSL conference will cost the state about $75,000. Six senators (20 percent of the body) and 28 representatives (37 percent of that body) are scheduled to go.

The Legislature cut its travel budget as the state fell into recession.

In fiscal year 2008, the Legislature spent $379,500 on travel. It spent $191,300 for the fiscal year that ended June 30 and has a travel budget of $108,500 for this fiscal year, said Jonathan Ball, the Legislature's top budget officer.

Like other states, Utah's legislative contingent will sit through dozens of general and specialty sessions, listening to discussions on topics ranging from state budget woes (there are plenty of those) to economic development and transportation.

Some of those Utah lawmakers also will be wined and dined by local lobbyists, who routinely fly off to the NCSL host city to entertain Beehive legislators.

A few legislative staff members are also going. Ric Cantrell, chief deputy of the Senate and an expert on Web-based programs, will teach several sessions on how to use the Web to broadcast legislative hearings and otherwise inform and interact with the public on legislative issues.