Rule for teachers passes the Senate

Science teachers would have to tell their students evolution is a debated theory not endorsed by the state under legislation that passed the Senate on Monday.

Sponsoring Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, was not present for the 16-12 vote. He was hospitalized Friday with an undisclosed medical condition. He was released Monday and talked with Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, by phone.

Bramble presented Buttars' bill to the Senate and will keep tabs on Buttars' other proposals until his return, late this week or early next week.

Buttars has previously been absent from the Legislature because of diabetes.

SB96 is now headed to a House committee.

The bill requires teachers who discuss the "origins of life, or the origins or present state of the human race" to say scientists don't agree on any one theory.

Education officials say no "origins of life" theory is now taught. Teachers and professors have expressed concern that the bill would require them to teach about the origins of life.

Bramble offered an amendment that removed any such requirement.

-Matt Canham

Reunions

Panel backs helping adoptees find parents

A bill that would make reunions between adoptees and birth parents easier for adoptees to arrange cleared its first legislative hurdle Monday.

Unanimously endorsed by the House Health and Human Services Committee, HB89 would allow any adoptee 21 or older to obtain a copy of his or her original birth certificate, unless the birth parents have filed an affidavit requesting that it not be disclosed.

Under current Utah law, original birth certificates carrying the birth parents' names are sealed after an adoption is finalized and a new birth certificate is issued.

Nothing prohibits adoptive and biological parents from pre-arranging reunions on their own. But Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, argued Monday for "flipping" the default position and make it easier for adoptees to know more about their genetic and family history.

The measure would apply only to adoptions occurring after Jan. 1, 2007.

- Kirsten Stewart

Injury or death

Bill would increase government liability

A state senator used a brief ceremony Monday honoring the families of the eight Utah State University students and one faculty member who died in a September van rollover to advocate for raising the dollar amount for which victims can sue governments in Utah.

As dozens of family members lined the Senate floor, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, addressed state legal limits on how much money relatives can win in court.

Stephenson's bill would raise the limit anyone can receive from a government body after injury or death from $553,500 to $1 million.

-The Associated Press