Despite some Republican opposition in the Senate, Utah Governor Gary Herbert is confident lawmakers will vote to repeal HB 477 when they convene for a special session tomorrow. The divisive bill eliminates access to several types of records sent or received by public officials, including text messages and voice mails.
Lawmakers, community leaders and media representatives from across the state met for the first time Wednesday to discuss HB 477, the controversial bill that restricts public access to government records. They’re working on a compromise to come up with a new proposal if and when HB 477 is repealed. But as KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports, some aren’t happy with how the group was set up.
With four days’ notice, the state legislature has been asked to reconvene at the state capitol this Friday for a special session called by Governor Gary Herbert. But as KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports, some think the call for a special session was just as rushed as the passage of the controversial HB 477, and want the Governor to hold off until a replacement for the bill can be drafted.
State lawmakers will be back to work this Friday. Last night, Governor Gary Herbert called the legislature into a special session to repeal HB 477, the controversial bill restricting access to many government records. Jeff Hunt, attorney for the Utah Media Coalition, was one of many people chosen to sit on a working committee to offer input to future changes to Utah’s public records law.
While a heated debate over access to public records rages on in the state legislature, Utah’s second-largest city wants you to know where it stands on transparency. Yesterday, West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder joined the city council in announcing a new transparency standard. Regardless of what Utah lawmakers do, it means that you’ll continue to have access to text messages and other forms of electronic communication sent or received by city officials.
The debate over HB 477 isn’t over, in fact, it has hardly begun. The controversial new law bars access to all text messages, voicemails, and instant messages sent by elected officials, raises fees, and puts the burden of proof on the public to argue why a record should be made available.
A Republican state lawmaker is pitching a bill that would require the House and Senate GOP to keep their caucus meetings open. Currently, House Republicans sometimes close their meetings, while Senate Republicans always close them.
With higher education taking a hit in the 2012 budget approved by the Utah legislature, the costs are likely to be passed on to students. David Buhler, Associate Commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education, says schools have saved as much as they can over the past three years, but students will ultimately see the effect in their wallets.
Salt Lake City was the target of a moratorium on local historic districts during the legislative session, creating a conflict between residents and lawmakers. We got Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s thoughts on what the legislature did this year.
Thursday night marked the end of 45 days of budget, education, and open records debates at the Utah Legislature, as Senators and Representatives held their 2011 general session. We spoke with Democratic Senator Luz Robles, Republican Representative Brad Last, and Democratic Representative Brian King.
Additional Programming Provided by
