Friday Morning 2015 Utah Legislative News Roundup

Lawmakers can't come to an agreement on Medicaid expansion. Legislators approve a gas tax hike. Public schools end the 2015 session as big winners

Via Utah Policy, and upon last night's conclusion of the 2015 Utah regular legislative session, here are this morning's "top ten headlines," folks:

• Lawmakers are unable to come to an agreement on Medicaid expansion. Gov. Gary Herbert announces they will continue working on the issue and sets a July 31 deadline to come up with a plan [Utah Policy, Tribune, Deseret News].
• Gov. Herbert recaps the 2015 session with us and discusses what legislation he's eyeing for a veto [Utah Policy].
• Lawmakers get a hike in the gas tax through the legislature just under the wire [Tribune].
• Public schools end the session with more than $500 million in new money [Deseret News].
• Here are some of the minor budget items lawmakers spent taxpayer money on this year [Utah Policy].
• A bill requiring the full legislature to sign off on relocating the state prison wins final approval and heads to the governor [Deseret News].
• Legislators are unable to find common ground on school board elections, leaving how candidates are nominated in limbo [Tribune].
• Lawmakers approve a pay raise for the governor and other executive offices [Deseret News, Tribune].
• Gov. Herbert signs the non-discrimination bill during a packed ceremony at the Capitol [Tribune, Deseret News].
• Minority report. Rep. Brian King wraps up the 2015 from the perspective of Utah's minority party [Utah Policy].

Don't let the cat get your tongues...

Wednesday Morning 2015 Utah Legislative News Roundup

Via Utah Policy, and with two days remaing in in the 2015 Utah legislative session, here are this morning's "top ten headlines," folks:

• It certainly seems like legislators are on the road to doing nothing on Medicaid expansion during the 2015 session [Utah Policy, Deseret News].
• There are still a number of big issues left in the final two days of the 2015 session [Tribune].
• The non-discrimination/religious liberties bill has one more hurdle to clear after a House committee sends it to the full House for consideration [Tribune, Deseret News].
• A new poll shows a sharp divide in Utah on the issue of religious freedoms [Utah Policy].
• Another survey finds a majority of Utahns oppose moving the prison from Draper. Those results are consistent with a similar poll conducted in December. Surprisingly, Utah's Democrats seem to be changing their mind on the issue  [Utah Policy].
• A measure providing for non-partisan school board elections takes another step forward on the Hill after a Senate committee gives it the thumbs up [Utah Policy,Tribune, Deseret News].
• Lawmakers send a bill allowing police officers to pull over motorists for not wearing a seatbelt to the governor's desk [Deseret News, Tribune].
• The Senate gives final passage to a measure restoring the firing squad as a backup plan for executions if the chemicals for lethal injections are unavailable [Tribune, Deseret News, ABC 4].
• Legislators ask for $500,000 to study how a transfer of public lands to state control could benefit Utah's public schools [Tribune].
• The public tends to side with Gov. Gary Herbert when there's a conflict between him and the legislature according to a new survey [Utah Policy].

The world wide web awaits your ever-savvy comments, folks.

Wednesday Morning 2015 Utah Legislative News Roundup

Count My Vote delay falls in the Senate. Healthy Utah wins Senate approval, but there's not enough support in the House. Lawmakers may sidestep a vote on relocating the prison.

Via Utah Policy, here are this morning's "top ten headlines," folks:

• The Utah Senate kills a proposed delay to the Count My Vote compromise [Utah Policy, Tribune, Deseret News].
• Gov. Gary Herbert's Healthy Utah plan wins preliminary support in the Senate, but House leadership says there is not enough support in their body to pass the Medicaid expansion alternative [Utah Policy, Tribune, Deseret News].
• Lawmakers may let the prison commission make the final decision on relocating the Utah State Prison, allowing them to sidestep a politically risky vote [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune].
• Gov. Herbert says he's still optimistic that lawmakers will go along with his proposal to pump $500 million into public education coffers [Deseret News].
• A new poll finds 55% of Utahns support the fight to win control of public lands from the feds [Utah Policy].
• The Utah Senate passes a bill giving the Utah Attorney General 18-months to file a lawsuit laying claim to public lands within the state's borders [Tribune].
• Gov. Herbert is worried a proposed death with dignity bill could turn into a "Kevorkian scheme" [Tribune].
• A Senate panel approves a bill setting campaign contribution limits clears a House committee [Deseret News].
• Registration fees for alternative fuel cars could see a huge jump under a bill approved by the Senate Transportation Committee [Tribune, Deseret News].

We're toying with idea of making this a regular daily feature during the final 15 days of the 2015 Utah legislative session.  What do you think about this, folks? 

Salt Lake City Weekly: Prison Follies - The Real Reason for Moving the Utah State Prison is Money, and Lots of it

Keep the Joint at the Point!"... that's our take....

They can't tell you the real reason for the move—money, and lots of it—because that would require telling the truth.

John Saltas - City Weekly
Prison Follies
December 23, 2014

Really, the moving-the-prison idea just stinks. If construction costs are low, then modification costs at the current location would also be low. Just fix the damned thing.

John Saltas - City Weekly
Prison Follies
December 23, 2014

With Utah's 2015 legislative session looming a little less than one month hence, we'll revive our discussion of one 2015 legislative issue which is bound to find itself on the front burner, once the Utah legislature convenes on January 26, 2015. Specifically, we're referring to the pending proposal to re-locate the Utah State Prison.

In that connection we're delighted to present the below-linked December 23, 2014 Salt Lake City Weekly editorial, authored by none other than the ever-savvy John Saltas, City Weekly's publisher, which provides an ideal introductory prelude to the frantic action which we expect to see boiling in our real estate industry dominated legislature next year:

• Prison Follies - The real reason for moving the Utah State Prison is money, and lots of it

Check it out folks; it's an exceedingly "delicious" and "chewy" read.

"Keep the Joint at the Point!"... that's our take....

Salt Lake City Weekly: Senate Pres Could Profit From Prison Relocation

Sodden Question: "Is there anyone out there in WCF Readerland who's the least bit surprised about this suspiciously odoriferous political scenario?"

Property even four miles away from the prison will see a huge upswing in value if the prison is relocated and replaced with a major commercial development. That does raise concerns that Niederhauser would be too closely tied to the prison relocation plan.

Buzz Welch, Director, U. of U. Ivory Boyer Real Estate Center
Senate Pres Could Profit From Prison Relocation
February 28, 2013

I haven’t even thought about how the prison might affect us, because prison relocation is so far down the road. We’ll be done and won’t own any property in that area by the time that happens

Wayne Niederhauser, Utah Senate President
Senate Pres Could Profit From Prison Relocation
February 28, 2013

We'll dirct our readers' attention to potential blockbuster Utah legislative conflict of interest story simmering on the Utah news front-burner this morning, as City Weekly carries a 2/28/13 story reporting that Utah State Senate President Wayne Niederhauser (R-Sandy) possibly stands to reap a substantial financial windfall if the state legislature ultimately decides to move the Utah State Prison, a prospect that's been floating around in the public forefront for the entirety of the 2013 legislative session. CW Reporter Eric Peterson's lead paragraphs provide the gist:

A bill passed favorably out of committee Wednesday to create a special board to consider the economic worth of relocating the Utah State Prison in Draper and developing the land underneath it. The bill would allow Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, to assign three senate members to that group, which raises ethical concerns, considering that Niederhauser operates a holding company that owns more than 30 acres of undeveloped property near the prison that could increase considerably in value if the board decides to move the prison. [Emphasis added.]

Get the full lowdown here, O Weber County Forum Legislative wonks:

•  Senate Pres Could Profit From Prison Relocation

"Under Senator Scott Jenkins’ SB72, Niederhauser won’t be able to stay away from his duty in appointing senators to the Prison Land Management Authority. Niederhauser says that, unfortunately, he can’t get around his own conflict of interest but says such things are unavoidable in a citizen-run Legislature," yesterday's SL Weekly story further reports.

Astonishingly, faced with an arguably blatant conflict of interest in this matter, Niederhauser nevertheless seems entirely unwilling to recuse himself from his prospective Prison Land Management Authority board member appointment role; and here's another eye-popping Niederhauser quote: 

“I don’t make a living being a legislator, and I don’t think the people want me to make a living being a legislator and, consequently, all of us have conflicts of interest and we try to deal with them the best way possible, by [merely] declaring all of our conflicts,” Niederhauser says.

Niederhauser evidently thinks it his overriding, unavoidable duty to act, you see, O Gentle Readers, despite his admittedly conflicted position. Thus, in our "blessed" Utah legislature, "duty to stack an legislative expolaratory committee" apparently trumps "scrupulous avoidance of the appearance of impropriety."

Complicating the narrative, City Weekly further reveals that Niederhouser's own "business partner lobbied" SB72's Senator Jenkins "for the relocation," even though Niederhauser claims, with a completely straight face, that he hadn't "even thought about how the prison might affect [he and his real estate development partner]." Jenkins, of course just goes right along with  the Senate President (with an equally straight face, we guess) and says that he didn't know "nuttin' from nuttin'" about Niederhuser's property interest prior to drafting his pending bill.

Adding further grist to the discussion mill, at least one other Utah blogger has also latched onto this story, and suggests that it's not just Niederhauser, but also Jenkins himself, who may sit in the conflict of interest hot-seat with respect to this convoluted legislative transaction:

• Bill sponsor and senate president could both profit from prison relocation

We'll be keeping a close on this story as developments continue to play out; but in the meantime we'll ask the sodden question:

"Is there anyone out there in WCF Readerland who's the least bit surprised about this suspiciously odoriferous political scenario?"

Whatever you do, don't let the cat get your tongues.