Dozens of advocates and religious leaders gathered at the state capitol yesterday afternoon, urging House Speaker Becky Lockhart and her colleagues not to increase the food tax. And as KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, Lockhart isn’t fond of the idea herself.
Three anti-abortion bills sponsored by Republican Representative Carl Wimmer passed a house committee this morning, including one that would require the state to inspect abortion clinics more vigorously. But as KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports… many are calling the new inspections unnecessary.
A bill that would shift charter school funding to local school districts won the approval of the House Education Committee this morning. Republican Representative Merlynn Newbold’s bill requires school districts to gradually pay for more and more students attending charter schools over the next 13 years.
While Utah lawmakers aren’t eager to raise most taxes, a Senate committee approved a bill this morning to increase the gas tax by five cents, making it nearly 30 cents per gallon. Republican Senator Kevin Van Tassell said the state doesn’t have the funds it needs to adequately maintain its highways.
The discussion on cap and trade began long before Congress considered measures to reduce greenhouse gases. In fact, Fred Krupp, President of Environmental Defense Fund, helped get an emissions trading mechanism put into the Clean Air Act of 1990. Tomorrow night, Krupp will deliver the keynote lecture of the 2011 Nature of Things Lecture Series, presented by the Utah Museum of Natural History.
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