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2005 Utah Legislature's Winners and Losers
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Winners:

Utah County motorists: Likely to get more than their share of road funding.

It's now a felony to torture them,

Parents of disabled children: Carson Smith

Special Needs Scholarship provides a break on private school tuition.

Greg Curtis and John Valentine: The new legislative leaders kept things civil and mostly noncontroversial.

IHC: Faced with paying taxes or spinning off its insurance arm, instead it gets a task force.

Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert and 11 other Cabinet members: They will see a big boost in their paychecks.

Voters: Even when punch-card ballot machines are gone, lawmakers say, you still get to have some type of paper ballot.

Home-schoolers: No school board regulation, just a signed affidavit to say they are responsibly educating their children.

Surrogate mothers: They will be able to give birth in Utah.

Lighting up in bars is still legal.

Antelope Island's deer and big horn sheep: They are still safe from hunters.

Midwives: Will be able to attend home births and do more than "catch" the baby.

Losers:

Corporations: Sorry, you're still paying state income taxes.

Public education: Got a $126 million boost, but transportation siphoned off other funds.

Unmarried, longtime couples: No marriagelike rights.

Nonsmokers: You still have to put up with smoke-filled bars.

IHC: Must endure two years of legislative scrutiny after some legislators are upset with billing practices.

Undocumented residents: Your driver license is gone, but you will get a "driving privilege card."

State employees: Got a 2.5 percent salary boost, but lost a battle to be able to cash in unused sick leave for medical benefits.

AIDS patients: They didn't get enough money to cover medication.

Minorities: Utah lawmakers don't consider hate crimes to be unique.

Prison inmates: No drug rehabilitation behind bars.

Veterans: No new nursing home, despite a waiting list.

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