Ogden Valley Forum again has the latest news on the action in the House Political Subdivisions Committee, where the two HB-466 remedial bills remain pending. According to Representative Gage Froerer (R-Huntsville), there remains some hope that at least one of these bills will be sent to the house floor with a retroactivity provision. As OVF reports, Rep. Froerer intends to make a motion in committee himself, to so amend SB-25. From yesterday's OVC article:
The latest information from Gage Froerer on SB25 and SB53. SB 25 will be pushed out of committee Monday. Gage will be running an amendment to make the effective date Jan. 1, 2008. Gage feels we have a 50/50 chance of passing the bill with his amendment in committee and even less on the floor, but he wants to send a message to the courts in case it goes that far. [...]If SB-25 is successfully amended in committee, it seems to us, (in a best case scenario) that the House of Representatives could conceivably be presented with two alternatives when it comes time for floor debate -- SB-25 (with a retroactivity provision) AND HB-164 (without a retroactivity provision) -- sort of a legislator's choice between door number 1 and door number 2. And these alternatives are not necessarily mutually exclusive, it seems to us. Conceivably, both bills could be passed in the House and sent on to the Senate.
The Attorney General’s office does not review bills prior to enactment. That job falls on the Attorney’s in legislative research who have found it to be constitutional but have said there is case law on both sides of this debate and they feel it could be overturned with a lawsuit.
Gage wants everyone to know he is not backing down on this issue on the basis of the retro. He firmly believes that we need a replacement to HB466 first and foremost, then we can deal with Powder Mountain.
We'll again post a link to the committee audio on Monday morning, for the benefit of those readers interested in listening in.
We'll also note in passing that we find it odd that the State Attorney General seems to have taken the position all along that he doesn't have the resources or political will to defend in court any lawsuits which might arise as a result of the legislature's curing of the defects in the oafishly flawed HB-466. Instead, he would prefer that the very citizens who would be adversely affected by this defective law, which one house member has labeled "a major screw up," would bear the costs of pursuing their own litigation -- financed from their own pockets instead.
Sad times in Utah government these days. Here's hoping the voters will do a better job in November than in the past election.
And a Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat to Rep. Gage Froerer for standing up for his Legislative District 8 constituents in the face of opposition by certain elements of GOP legislative leadership... and the greed-head developers who whisper in their ears. If all goes well, we'll perhaps have to eat our earlier harsh words.
