This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
As the Legislature's midnight Wednesday deadline became minutes away instead of days, lawmakers fought hard to have their bills heard.
Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, tenaciously fought to clarify weapons law, pushing a bill that would allow open carry in all areas but college campuses.
His colleagues in the House approved the bill, but it died at midnight, the magic hour when lawmakers must - by constitutional mandate - stop passing bills.
"I wanted to see us resolve the issue, but the tyranny of the clock caught up with us in the Senate," Senate President John Valentine said Thursday.
The same can be said for several other bills, ranging from exempting university housing from eviction laws to the prohibition of gang activity.
But others slipped in during the waning hours of the session.
A bill that would increase the minimum auto insurance liability coverage amounts passed late Wednesday night, much to opponents' chagrin.
"Anytime you raise the coverage amount on a person's motor vehicle policy you impact the premium because you are buying more coverage," said Chris Purcell, a claims attorney for State Farm who lobbied against the bill. "People at the current minimum required level won't have a choice."
Lawmakers drafted an omnibus bill with several different task forces. It passed the Senate, which added an extra task force for public education, but the House would not agree to the change.
"We felt that we spent all last summer looking at public education policy and reform," said House Speaker Greg Curtis. "We in House leadership felt this summer was one to stand down and focus on some other things."
He and Valentine, though, plan to take another route to form an immigration task force this summer, he said.
Also, the Senate allowed a bill that had drawn the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union and the League of Women Voters to die on the calendar. The legislation would have required proof of citizenship to register to vote, and many worried it would deter eligible voters from registering and hamper registration drives.
In another late-night move, the seventh version of a bill to regulate licensed midwives passed just under the deadline.
Legislators also decided to shift some funding away from detoxifying police officers and to houses and buildings exposed to methamphetamine.
The Utah Department of Public Safety expected to receive $178,000 to fund treatments for police officers sickened by meth. But in the legislative session's closing hours, lawmakers sent those funds to the Utah Department of Health and instructed that department to create standards for decontaminating buildings exposed to the drug and an education campaign.
Legislators did appropriate $240,000 to the Attorney General's Office for detoxifying police officers.
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* NATE CARLISLE contributed to this story.
* Open-gun-carry bill: HB473
* Dorm-eviction law exemption: HB343
* Gang-activity prohibition: SB75
* Identification required for voter registration: SB210
* Police officer meth detox: SB209
* Increased auto insurance liability: SB149
* Immigration task force: HB49
* Midwife license regulations: SB93