By Jeremy Duda
Daily Herald
Sunday, February 11, 2007

It was a busy week in Salt Lake City. Illegal immigration, Real Salt Lake's stadium and the status of Utah Valley State College took their turns at the top of the legislative agenda.

But on Friday, the state Senate passed a bill regarding an issue that Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, said is one of the state's most emotional -- school vouchers. Dayton said she talked to people in Gov. Jon Huntsman's office who said the governor will sign the bill into law, allowing Utah students to attend private school using publicly funded grants of up to $3,000.

"We have increased the size of the education funding pie," said Dayton.

Utah County's legislative delegation delved into school vouchers and other issues at Saturday's "Eggs and Issues" breakfast, where members of the public get an opportunity to discuss issues with legislators.

Dayton said it is difficult to provide specifics as to what the vouchers will cost because there is no indication of how many people will take advantage of the program.

Rep. Chris Herrod, R-Provo, talked about a bill that removes the need for political leaders to get involved during changes at EnergySolution's radioactive waste landfill in Tooele County. Herrod said the bill is necessary to guarantee that institutions such as Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, where the breakfast was held, to dispose of class A waste.

Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, said she is sponsoring a Senate bill that would increase child support payments. Utah has not changed child support guidelines since 1993, she said, and the bill would raise single-child payments by 25 percent.

Fowlke also said legislators are working on a bill that would increase protection for children who are kicked out of their homes in places such as Hildale, where the polygamist Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is known to exile male children.

"You have 13-, 14-year-old boys who are being thrown out on the street," Fowlke said.

One issue of disagreement between legislators was the Real Salt Lake stadium. One questioner asked the legislators to raise their hands to indicate whether they voted in favor of various bills, and when the subject of the bill that puts $15 million in tourist taxes toward land for a new stadium in Sandy came up, the hand count was not unanimous.

Rep. Bradley Daw, R-Orem, said he voted for the bill as a matter of compromise. The stadium was the governor's issue, he said, and he voted for it to help ensure support for Utah Valley State College's efforts to gain university status.

"Do I like public money going in any form to private business? No. But am I in a political arena? Is this the first time I've experienced the sausage making? Yes. That's how I made my decision," said Daw.

Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, said he voted against the bill because of philosophical issues, but is supporting the stadium now that the bill has passed.

While his colleagues spoke mostly of the past week, Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, spoke of the weeks to come. Tax cuts will be a major focus of the next two and a half weeks, Dougall said, and the House of Representatives and Senate have agreed on an aggregate number of about $210 million. The next step will be figuring out what to cut.

"Income tax will be a major component of that," he said.

The week ahead may bring bad news to Sandstrom, who said he was told by the speaker of the House that some Republican legislators are pulling their support for his bill that would greatly restrict abortions. Sandstrom said the defections are due to wariness over the cost of defending the bill in court. That bill was introduced as a substitute to a trigger bill that would ban abortions in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

"I think they're caving to some political pressures," Sandstrom said. "A trigger ban is just a feel-good measure. It would do absolutely nothing."