KUER's Coverage of the Special Session of the Utah Legislature

KUER reporters spent the day at the Utah state capitol covering the ins and outs of the special session. Follow their tweets and stories to get a much broader picture of all the action.

  1. KUER's newest addition, reporter Whittney Evans, started the day off by attending the Education interim committee.
  2. RT @WhittneyE $25 mil ed budget gap will be filled with one-time funds. State now faces $25 mil structural deficit next year. #utleg #uted
  3. No programs cut. All funding and approvals remain for fy12.
  4. Sen. Stephenson - "Universally, we all agree we don't want UBSCT." Ed. Interim Committee now discussing alternatives. #uted #utleg #utpol
  5. Rep. Nielson says he has never heard his kids mock SAT or ACT, but every one of them has mocked UBSCT as a meaningless test. #uted #utleg
  6. Andrea Smardon, however, attended the Business and Labor interim committee meeting where they looked at Senator John Valentine's bill that, among other things, would increase the number of available liquor licenses.
  7. Interim committee unanimously approves Sen. Valentine's bill that increases the # of available liquor licenses #utpol kuer.drupal.publicbroadcasting.net/post/interim-c…
  8. Continue to check kuer.org throughout this evening for updates on what's happening at today's special legislative session #utpol
  9. After the morning interim committee meetings were over the bills moved to the Senate and House floor for more debate. First, they tackled the $25 million education budget gap.
  10. Sen. Hillyard explaining where the $25M to fix the mistake comes from. Says they found left over money from this year's budget. #utpol
  11. Sen. Hillyard: I appreciate the State Board of Education because they have stepped forward and accepted responsibility. #uted #utpol #utleg
  12. Sen. Osmond: There will be no cuts to any education budget allocations from previous legislative session. #uted #utpol #utleg
  13. SB4003 passes to fix $25M education budget shortfall. Bill now moves over to House of Rep. #uted #utpol #utleg
  14. After it passed through the Senate, they moved on to SB4001, Alcoholic Beverage Control Act amendments.
  15. SB4001 will also add 4 alcohol compliance officers in addition to funding for Utah Highway Patrol to carry out more DUI blitzes. #utleg
  16. Senate passes SB4001 to add 90 additional restaurant liquor licenses and increase license fees by 10%. Bill now off to House. #utpol #utleg
  17. Bills moved to the fllor of the House of Representatives.
  18. SB4003 passes the House of Representatives unanimously to fix $25M ed budget shortfall. #utpol #uted #utleg
  19. Rep. Cox attempting to substitute liquor bill by not requiring licensees to pay the 10% higher fee. #utpol #utleg
  20. Motion from Rep. Cox to remove increase in liquor license cost fails. #utpol #utleg
  21. Rep. Draxler says its time to reevaluate the purpose of the state's alcohol policies. Shouldn't be tied solely to economy #utleg #utpol
  22. Rep. Chavez-Houck: I want to support our restaurants, but at some other time, think of other small businesses who have been waiting. #utleg
  23. SB4001 to increase amount of liquor licenses passes House of Representatives 57-10. #utpol #utleg
  24. Then our reporters came back to the studio and filed these excellent stories:

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Brian Grimmett

Online/Social Media Editor for KUER News 90.1 FM in Salt Lake City

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