Things are moving quickly up at the Hill, and I have had some ups and a lot of downs with my bills. Here are the downs. (I am writing this it the end of a long day–please forgive any grammatical errors.)
HB 485 Special Education Amendments was passed unanimously out of the House Education Committee and also passed on the House Floor. It is the result of many meetings during interim with educators, parents, board members, and administrators where we discussed special education. I asked them what their dream for special education was in Utah, and this bill is the result. It creates the Special Education Co-teacher Pilot Program, which is what a best practices inclusive classroom looks like. This evidence based teaching model shows improved academic outcomes not only for special education students, but general education students as well when done to fidelity. You can learn more about this program, and another of my bills, on this KSL at Night interview.
Sadly, I found out today that this bill did not received funding and so will not pass. This is very frustrating when I look at some of the things that did get funded.
HB 139 Mental Health Treatment Study and HB 321 Eviction Records Amendments are two really good bills that also passed through the process but didn’t get funded.
HB 130 Animal Fighting Penalties passed unanimously out of the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee and is also on the House 3rd reading calendar. Currently, unless law enforcement finds significant evidence of fighting or catches fighting in the act, they can only charge under federal statute, which is what they have been doing. This bill amends the current statute to mirror more closely Utah’s dog fighting statute and federal laws, except with lower penalties.
There is a direct relationship between the criminal acts of animal fighting and other serious felonies, such as illegal firearms and gambling, drug distribution, money laundering, aggravated assaults, child pornography, child abuse and neglect, human trafficking, and gang activity. You can read about a couple of large cock fighting rings that affected our community HERE and HERE.
This bill was not allowed to come to the Floor to be heard. Dang!
HB 166 Restricted Persons Amendments. This bill passed almost unanimously out of the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee, but it failed on the House Floor with a vote of 24 to 48. Some legislators thought it was a gun bill and so voted no. It isn’t and the gun lobby was neutral on it, but it does deal with federally restricted individuals who have been convicted of domestic felonies and of domestic violence assault and aggravated assault. Federal law already restricts these individuals from owning, possessing, buying, or selling a firearm. This bill changed the charge for a violation of this restriction from a 3rd degree felony to a 2nd degree felony. Individuals who have been convicted of violent felonies other than domestic violence are already in this 2nd degree category.
Studies on intimate partner violence have shown that access to firearms makes domestic violence deadlier, with women five times more likely to die if their abuser owns a gun, and 20 times more likely to die if they have been previously threatened with a firearm. As a matter of fact, 25% of homicides in Utah are domestic violence related. I have heard from women who are afraid to turn in their abuser for firearm possession because they know it is only a 3rd degree felony and likely would be pled down to a misdemeanor. This bill would have made it more likely that the abuser would have received jail or prison time.
You can read more about HB 166 in this KSL interview. I was shocked that so many legislators voted against it.
HB 355 Rental Housing Modifications was killed in the Senate Business and Labor committee last week. This bill was supported by the Rental Housing Association, the Realtors Association, and housing advocates. It provided for an industry best practice of providing tenants with advance notice of a rent increase – while at the same time providing enough exemptions so that we didn’t frustrate the private practice of providing rental housing and was very simple: If you have a lease agreement with a renter you would like to keep, and you want to increase rent at the end of that agreement by just “serving a notice of rent increase” – this bill requires it be served 60 days in advance.
- 60 days allows the tenant 30 days to figure out if they can absorb the increase into their budget. If they can, great! They can sign a new lease.
- If they can’t, they have 30 days to find a new place to live. Finding a new place takes time and can be very difficult, especially for those with disabilities, on fixed incomes, or with other special needs.
- The 60 day timeframe is also beneficial to the landlord because keeping a good tenant is a priority. If the rent question is dealt with early, it is easier for the landlord to plan ahead.
- This bill does not affect landlords who sign a new lease agreement with their tenant.
- This bill does not affect landlord’s whose tenants are on a month to month agreement.
- This bill does not affect a landlord who’s tenant previously agrees to the rent increase in writing.
- This bill does not affect a landlord’s ability to terminate a lease agreement, which under Utah law requires 15 days notice.
I feel this is more than fair. However, the Senator who chairs the Business and Labor committee that killed the bill said he didn’t want to have to give 60 days notice to his renters.
I have had a couple of ups with my bills
HB 224 Medical Surgery Amendments: Last session, the legislature passed a medical surgery procedures bill prohibiting primary and secondary sex characteristic surgeries on minors with gender dysphoria. We determined, as a legislature, that a minor was too young to be making these life and body altering medical decisions. This bill creates a consistent policy for these surgery restrictions by banning primary and secondary sex characteristic surgeries for all minors, unless these surgeries are medically necessary or indicated.
This bill has passed through the House unanimously and hopefully will be heard in the Senate.
HB 197 Requirements for Supported Decisions Making Agreements is now on the Senate side and will hopefully be voted on soon. Supported Decision-Making is a step between nothing and guardianship that lets adults with disabilities make their own decisions with the support of people they trust.
This bill creates a legal framework for these agreements but do not require going to court. They are entered into voluntarily by a supporter or supporters and the person with disabilities, and they have to be notarized and have two witnesses. If the principal is under a guardianship, it requires the written permission of the guardian. This is an important bill to the disability community. They can currently have people who support them informally, but this bill gives legal backing for their supporters.
Facebook Fridays and Mondays with Marsha!
Every Friday I discuss the week’s highlights and talk more in-depth about exciting issues! I’d love to have you join! Unfortunately, I’m not sure when I will have time during each Friday to do the Live video–it is usually in the afternoon or early evening–but you can always watch them later on my page.
Click HERE. to watch one from yesterday about the budget process.
You can click here for my Facebook page to watch all from this session: https://www.facebook.com/marshajudkinsUT61/
In addition, every Monday, I post a short video on Instagram about the legislative process or a current issue. You can view those on Instagram by searching for marshajudkins.
How to watch the exciting action on the House or Senate Floor live! 🙂
1. Click HERE
2. Click on the + to expand any of the sections. The video section shows what is happening on the Floor
You can also listen to any of the past presentations of any bills in committee
1. Go to le.utah.gov
2. Click on Committees
3. Select the Committee you are interested in
4. Click on the date of the committee you want to listen to
5. Click on Audio/Video and then you can click on whatever bill you want to listen to.
Every legislative committee meeting and Floor time can be accessed live or watched/listened to later.
Only three days left! I hope we don’t mess anything up to badly! 🙂