An ethics complaint has been filed against a Utah lawmaker who raised concerns about the safety of a Summit County charter school earlier this week.

The Utah State Legislature convened this morning to address hundreds of bills and resolutions proposed this year, and a daunting budget shortfall. KCPW’s Elizabeth Ziegler was at the Capitol for the opening ceremonies and filed this report.

The sponsors of two voter initiatives will need to gather about 95,000 signatures statewide by April 15th in order to get on the 2010 ballot. Utah Democratic Party Executive Director Todd Taylor says local county clerks should allow the sponsors to gather those signatures electronically.

State lawmakers on the Ethics Interim Committee are crafting legislation to be introduced next session. And at its heart is an independent ethics commission. But Committee Co-chairman Senator Sheldon Killpack says the committee is not taking this path in reaction to the Utahns for Ethical Government initiative, a proposed voter referendum that would also create an independent commission.