Bills I'm Watching

UPDATE 3/8: The legislative session is now over. If there's a special session and any of these bills get taken up, or if any that passed get vetoed, I'll see about resurrecting this post. But for now, here are the final results.


Here is a list of bills I'm watching in the Utah Legislature's 2005 session:

HB4 (requires mediation in certain divorce cases)
My opinion
Status: passed

HB25 *substituted (allows licensing and practice of midwives)
My opinion
Status: passed House, circled in Senate (twitching, but not completely dead?)

HB 84 (Holding students back if they can't read on grade level)
My opinion
Status: passed House by a slim margin, died in Senate

HB 129 (Permits school uniforms and dress codes in public schools)
I'm fer it.
Status: passed House, died in Senate

HB 131 (Makes expressing certain points of view within 100 feet of a health care facility or place of worship subject to civil lawsuits and punitive damages)
My opinion
Status: died a merciful death in the House

HB136 (Allows charter schools to give admissions preference based on geography)
I think it's a good idea but needs to be more flexible in how the boundaries are drawn; I've already e-mailed my opinion to the legislator that drafted it.
Status: passed

HB198 (Kicks the MD's off the naturopathic formulary advisory peer committee, and replaces them with naturopaths)
Sounds like a good idea to not have on the committee people who don't know jack about what the committee is discussing and are likely to be hostile to the committee's purpose.
Status: passed

HB223 (allows Utah residents/foreign citizens who are here legally to get driving privilege cards with proof of foreign citizenship)
My opinion
Status: passed

HB260 (attempts to set up a database of pornographic websites and bully ISP's into being scared to allow any pornographic content on their servers)
My opinion
Status: I think it's dead.

HB316 (creates driving privilege cards specifically for illegal aliens, along with a program to educate them on Utah driving law and English language)
My opinion
Status: died

SB83 (Stronger standard for the state to prove negligence in medical decisions by parents)
My opinion
Status: passed

SB227 (establishes a driving privilege card for non-citizens)
My opinion
Status: passed and signed

I've only gotten through scanning about half the house bills and none of the senate bills, so I'll be updating this post and bumping it to the top for all the rest of you Utah legislature watchers (how many of those are there? One? Two?) If a bill comes up for a vote, I'll let you know the results.

UPDATE 2/21: I don't think I'll be having any more time to devote to reading additional bills, but I'll keep these updated until they all are voted on, or the end of the legislative session, whichever comes first.