Students may get $300 tax break

A Senate panel Monday advanced a bill that would allow college students to receive a $300 refundable tax credit for tuition. Total price tag: $8.4 million. The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, is intended to offset tuition increases at Utah institutions of higher education.

Next step: Moves to the full Senate.

- Sheena McFarland

Voter registration at polls shot down

House Government Operations Committee members killed legislation Monday that would have allowed voters to register at their polling place on Election Day. "This is about allowing our citizens the constitutional right to cast their ballot," said Ogden Democratic Rep. Neil Hansen. But others warned opening up voter registration would encourage fraud. Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, worried candidates could load up renters in a last-ditch attempt to get votes. "Seems like if you're running behind, you could take a bus to an apartment complex," Oda said. The bill died on a 5-5 vote.

Next step: The bill will be filed with dead bills.

- Rebecca Walsh

SB50

Rehabilitation bill gets initial OK

Legislation targeting drug-addicted prisoners received initial unanimous approval from Utah senators Monday. West Jordan Republican Sen. Chris Buttars is hoping to make his 2005 Drug Offenders Reform Act more permanent, taking the program statewide with $17 million in annual funding. Two years ago, lawmakers approved a $1 million pilot program in Salt Lake County. DORA emphasizes treatment over incarceration. The program would cost $4,000 per person, rather than the $24,000 annual bill for locking up a drug felon. . And the really small cities will revert to simple paper ballots. A House committee on Monday approved a bill that would move up the primary election one month - from October to September - and ease early voting requirements.

Next step: Goes to the full House.

- Matt Canham

SB56

Senate OKs teacher union bill

Legislation meant to give all teacher unions equal standing in public schools passed the Senate on Monday. Sen. Mark Madsen says his legislation would provide "equal access to the marketplace of ideas." Madsen, a Republican homeschooler from Lehi, would require school districts to allow all teacher associations to solicit teachers for membership. School administrators could not show favoritism toward one group and calendars could not refer to any school holiday by the name of a teacher union. Critics say the bill is would undermine the Utah Education Association, to which most Utah teachers belong.

Next step: Moves to a House committee.

- Rebecca Walsh

SB81

Opening teams to charter students

A Senate committee Monday endorsed a plan to allow charter school students to participate in athletic or other extracurricular activities at traditional public schools. Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, sits on American Leadership Academy's board, and said the Utah High School Activities Association has challenged "every one" of the school's students who tried to play a sport at a traditional public high school. The bill he is sponsoring would allow students to continue playing sports while new charter schools establish athletic teams. His bill also would apply to students who attend private schools or who are home-schooled.

Next step: Goes to the full Senate.

- Sheena McFarland

Proposal

$326,000 would help road suit costs

The Natural Resources budget committee on Monday approved spending $326,000 that would help a pair of southern Utah counties defray the costs of ongoing lawsuits over road ownership claims and grazing rights in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. "This isn't about making them whole, but a way to make it more palatable, so that a county of 5,000 to 6,000 people doesn't have to carry the legal load of the entire state," said Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, and the Legislature's most ardent backer of rural road and grazing claims. But Rep. Ben Ferry, R-Corinne, the committee's co-chairman, was dubious of reimbursing the counties for past expenses, rather than looking forward to future legal costs.

Next step: Goes to Legislature's main budget committee.

- Joe Baird

Proposal

Water testing funds clear committee

A proposal that would allocate $2 million to the Utah Geological Survey so it can begin testing and monitoring groundwater resources in the West Desert cleared a budget committee Monday. State officials call the testing program vital as Utah goes forward in negotiations with Nevada to forge a water sharing agreement in Snake Valley, which straddles the border. The Southern Nevada Water Authority has proposed drilling wells on the Nevada side of the line as part of a massive project to pump groundwater from the state's eastern valleys to Las Vegas - a measure that has been vigorously opposed by West Desert residents. The groundwater testing allocation, which wasn't part of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s budget, will likely face tougher votes as it moves forward.

Next step: Moves to the Legislature's main budget committee.

- Joe Baird

SB200

Bill would require 'fire-safe' cigarettes

West Valley Democratic Sen. Ed Mayne hopes Utah will adopt the same laws as six other states to reduce the rate of residential fires. And a Senate committee agreed Monday, unanimously endorsing his bill that would require tobacco manufacturers to use slow-ignition technology. Mayne said residential fires are the most common blazes and are often are ignited by a partially lit cigarette. Andrew Mcguire, of the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes, said the technology has been around for decades and "is so simple that it's almost laughable." Mcguire said "fire-safe" cigarettes are made by doubling the paper on the igniting part of the band. The double layer blocks the burning ember and causes the cigarette to self-extinguish.

Next step: Goes to the full Senate.

- Kelly Keiter