For the most part, the last week of Utah’s legislative session looks like Utah Press Association has fought off most of the damaging bills with success. Here’s a quick wrap up. (Please also see the tracking list below).

HB 189. This bill would have added a broad exemption for “source of water supply” to the Open Meetings Act. With the help of attorney Jeff Hunt, Rep. Patrick Painter limited the language of the bill to “water shares.” That is consistent with Utah Supreme Court decisions which treat water shares as property. UPA supports the amended version.

SB136, SB138 and SJR3. These bills related to ethics complaints resulted in a compromise worked carefully by media coalition attorneys. A legislative ethics complaints commission will be subject to the Open and Public Meetings Act, but may close its meetings. If a complaint is confirmed by the commission then the details will become public and will be forwarded to the House or Senate ethics committee for a public hearing. The Ethics Commission will issue summary reports about its activities. The UPA has supported the amended bills.

HB429. This bill will change the definition of newspapers that can carry legal notices. The UPA board has taken this bill under advisement.

SB60. This bill keeps management plans for canals exempt from GRAMA. New developments would have the ability to notify canal companies, but existing developments have no responsibility to notify residents of unsafe conditions. UPA has opposed this bill. Despite the opposition, the bill is progressing.

SB89. This bill adds additional notices to be required to be posted to the Utah Legal Notices Web site. UPA has supported this bill with concerns about exempting the Utah Department of Transportation bidding process.

HB315. This bill allows small service districts and other entities under $1 million budget to not use the Public Meetings Notice Web Site for two years. After two years they must comply with the electronic meeting notice requirements. It turns out that several small districts have not been in compliance with the law. This allows them time to get into compliance. They still must post agendas and notify media outlets of meetings. UPA has supported this bill.

HB266. This bill would have closed down salary information. A house committee sent the bill back to rules (effectively killing it for this session) and has suggested it be reviewed during the interim. UPA has opposed this bill.

HB278. This bill allows records requestors to receive records in electronic form and requires government entities to respond to requests for expedited responses within 5 days. UPA supports this bill.