This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Republican leaders of the Utah Legislature who sponsored and supported the omnibus education bill, Senate Bill 2, no doubt would like the legislation to set a precedent.
If the bill, which lumps 14 separate bills together - three that were defeated either in committee or in the House or Senate - is not challenged, this underhanded way of making unpopular bills into law would become commonplace.
That's why a lawsuit brought by 38 current and former legislators, educators and others is so vital. It rightly argues that the legislation appears to violate the Utah Constitution, specifically Article VI, Section 22, which states: "Except general appropriation bills and bills for the codification and general revision of laws, no bill shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title."
SB2, says its Senate sponsor, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, contains only one subject: education. While, in a broad sense, that is true, its 14 separate components can hardly be described or "clearly stated" in its title, "Minimum School Program Budget Amendments."
It is, more simply, a pig in a poke.
Neither taxpayers, voters, nor many legislators knew exactly what SB2 contained when it was pushed to a vote in the last days of the session.
But Stephenson; House sponsor Rep. Brad Last, R-St.George; House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy; House Majority Leader David Clark, R-Santa Clara; Senate Majority Leader Curtis Bramble, R-Provo; and other legislative leaders certainly knew.
They knew that SB2 was the only way they could win passage for certain bills they supported. They knew it because those bills had already been defeated before SB2 was introduced. So they rolled those repudiated measures into a complex omnibus bill containing basic funding formulas for education and several popular bills.
And they know if they get away with it this time, they'll be driving an omnibus express.
Curtis and Clark say they are disappointed that the plaintiffs didn't sit down with them to talk over other options. But several plaintiffs felt railroaded into voting for SB2, and have no reason to believe that a meeting with the sponsors would result in disassembling the bill in a special legislative session and voting on each part separately.
That is the only reasonable solution, and only litigation can bring it about.