The system - proposed for telecast online and in some Capitol overflow rooms - is scheduled to be accessible during the 2005 general session.
"Many of us are concerned about the access of the public" to debates, said Sen. Karen Hale, D-Salt Lake City, who supported the allocation. During the next four years, the Capitol will be closed to the public and legislators will meet in two new offices behind the building.
The request for funds passed with only one vote in opposition.
In other business, it turns out Utah's tax revenues are higher than previously reported - by about $4 million.
State economists recently reported a $106 million surplus for fiscal 2004. But that number didn't include a legislative appropriation for settlement of a court case that wasn't paid in 2004.
Utah lawmakers on Tuesday asked state economists to amend the report to show a $110 million surplus.
- Kirsten Stewart and Nicole Warburton
