Lawmakers finishing up spending bills. Your Wednesday morning political briefing from UtahPolicy.com

Local News Highlights: Daily Briefing

Morning must reads for Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Good Wednesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 67th day of the year. There are 298 days remaining in 2017.

Lawmakers finish up spending bills for 2017. Herbert defends extra funding for the new prison. The CIA can allegedly hack phones and smart TV's.

The clock:

• Tomorrow is the final day of the 2017 Utah Legislature (3/9/2017)
• 73 days until the Utah Republican State Convention (5/20/2017)
• 101 days until the Utah Democratic State Convention at Weber State University (6/17/2017)
• 244 days until the 2017 municipal elections (11/7/2017)
• 320 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
• 365 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
• 609 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
• 1336 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL;DR -

• Lawmakers say they expect to have around $12-15 million to spend on the remaining appropriations bills [Utah Policy].
   
• A provision in the education appropriations bill would tie the funding for online education programs used by private and homeschool children to the main unit of classroom funding. The Utah Education Association is concerned about the shift [Utah Policy].
   
• Gov. Gary Herbert defends a quickly passed bill to provide $100 million more for the new prison [Utah Policy]. Lawmakers say the extra money for the prison has always been expected [Deseret News].
   
• Lawmakers approved bonding for nearly $300 million in building projects [Utah Policy].
   
• Legislators may revive a plan to tax counties across the state to help fund homeless shelters in Salt Lake County [Utah Policy].
   
• Rep. Jason Chaffetz sparks outrage when he suggested during an interview that Americans may have to choose between paying for healthcare or buying a new iPhone [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune].
   
• Legislators approve the budgets for next fiscal year, including a substantial bump for public education [Tribune, Deseret News].
   
• A last-minute bill to shape development around the new prison has Salt Lake City lawmakers upset [Deseret News].
   
• Gov. Gary Herbert says the efforts to implement tax reform, which died during the 2017 session, could take two years to complete [Associated Press, Tribune].
   
• Sen. Howard Stephenson is at the center of some controversy after a group of elementary school students witnessed him in an angry discussion with Alpine School District officials [Wall Street Journal].
   
• Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman makes the rounds in Washington, D.C., but refuses to say whether he plans to challenge Sen. Orrin Hatch in 2018 [Tribune].
   
• Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee are at odds over the Republican alternative to Obamacare. Hatch is in favor while Lee called the bill a "step in the wrong direction" [Deseret News, Wall Street Journal].
   
• President Donald Trump met with the Russian ambassador in April of last year despite claiming he had no such contact during the campaign [Wall Street Journal].
   
• Here we go again. Hawaii officials say they will file a lawsuit against President Trump's revised travel ban [Wall Street Journal].
   
• Wikileaks publishes a trove of alleged CIA documents that detail their efforts to hack into mobile phones and smart televisions [New York Times].

On this day in history:

• 1817 - The New York Stock Exchange was established.
• 1913 - The Internal Revenue Service began to levy and collect income taxes in the United States.
• 1917 - Strikes and riots in St. Petersburg marked the start of the Russian Bolshevik revolution.
• 1983 - President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" during a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Orlando, Fla.
• 2008 - President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods on suspected terrorists.

Today At Utah Policy

Legislature preparing to finish up final spending bills
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Lawmakers have been scouring the budget and expect to have at least $12-15 million to spend on the so-called "money bills" before the Legislature adjourns on Thursday night....

Lawmakers want to tie online course funding to classroom funding formula
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
There's an interesting little clause tucked away inside the public education budget that has the state's largest teachers union wary....

Herbert: Governors can help Congress create efficient, resilient Medicaid program
By Golden Webb
In an op-ed, Gov. Gary Herbert urges Congress tolearn from the experience of the 50 states as it overhauls Obamacare and considers needed reforms to Medicaid. America's governors deservea seat at the table, argues Herbert, "because it is the states that actually run the Medi...

Lawmakers set to spend $293 million on building projects
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
While often not talked about much, state revenue bonds are a way to pay for huge construction projects – with some kind of revenue flow from those projects ultimately paying off the bonds....

Weekly survey: The best and worst of the 2017 Utah Legislature
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
What do you think were the best and worst things done by the 2017 Utah Legislature? Let us know what you think in our weekly survey....

Herbert defends $100 million in additional prison funding
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
Rarely does GOP Gov. Gary Herbert chide the press, but he did so Tuesday, saying the new state prison was “always” going to cost around $650 million, and media reports that a new $100 million in bonding was, in fact, not new at all....

Lawmakers may revive bill to tax statewide counties to fund homeless shelters in Salt Lake
By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor
There’s a hiccup with a bill GOP leaders want to help local governments accept – and pay for – homeless resource centers....

Chaffetz: Invest in healthcare instead of a new iPhone (with video) - UPDATED
By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor
Rep. Jason Chaffetz says the newly unveiled Republican replacement for Obamacare will require some financial sacrifice for Americans....

Policy News

Lee statement on American Health Care Act
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) issued the following statement Tuesday in response to the release of the American Health Care Act:...

Senate passed Hatch-sponsored bill to repeal BLM Planning 2.0 rule
The Senate passed major legislation to repeal the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Resource Management Planning rule, which is commonly called “Planning 2.0.” Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the senior Republican in the United States Senate, served as a ...

Local Headlines

Salt Lake Tribune

Editorial: Chaffetz suffers a barrage of mean tweets for nothing

Legislature approves state budgets, bulk of new funding reserved for education

Watered-down UTA reform bill advances

Senate approves $5,000 bonuses for teachers at high-poverty schools

Bill OKs liquor stores keeping some profits

Medical marijuana research authorization advances in Utah Capitol

Sen. Mike Lee among small band of conservatives fighting against the Republican health care bill

Bill to allow suing porn distributors for harm to minors advances

Utah Senate gives early OK to allowing ATVs on Salt Lake County roads

House approves removing so called 'no-promo homo' law

Complaints accuse Utah lawmaker of bullying, berating school officials in front of students

Deseret News

Ralph Hancock: Fairness, merit and identity politics

Richard Davis: Our legislators have failed Utah's children once again

Final-hour bill to control prison area development raises red flags for Salt Lake City

Lawmakers say $100 million prison bond for infrastructure was expected

Ex A.G. Mark Shurtleff filed misconduct complaints against federal, state agents

Hatch, Lee disagree on House GOP plan to replace Obamacare

Legislature commits nearly $240 million in new money for public education

Legislature approves $1.2 billion in bonds for roads, liquor stores, new U. med school

Teachers in high-poverty schools to get bonuses under bill

Legislature boosts penalties for prostitution-related crimes

House rejects move to eliminate school grades from school accountability legislation

Utah moves for greater scrutiny, testing of sexual assault kits

Bill to help wrongfully convicted people use post-conviction DNA testing passes Legislature

Bill allowing lawsuits against porn suppliers for harm to minors clears Legislature

Lawmakers approve bill to criminalize sexually motivated extortion

Did call reveal revenge plot against Shurtleff, Swallow?

Other

Utah Legislature passes bill to bond $1 billion to speed up transportation projects (Daily Herald)

Editorial: Utah's poor aren't a revenue stream for state lawmakers - yet, anyway (Standard-Examiner)

Utah House of Representatives kills animal shelter amendments (Park Record)

National Headlines

Trump tells lawmakers 'no more excuses' on replacing Obamacare (Washington Times)

Camille Paglia Predicted 2017 (New York Magazine)

Ivanka Trump clothing line reports record sales (The Hill)

Right revolts on ObamaCare bill (The Hill)

US Intelligence Officials: Latest WikiLeaks Drop 'Worse Than Snowden' Docs (BuzzFeed)

As more Jewish facilities get threats, all 100 senators ask Trump administration for 'swift action' (Washington Post)

Public Clinics Fear Federal Cuts To Planned Parenthood Would Strand Patients (NPR)

To fund border wall, Trump administration weighs cuts to Coast Guard, airport security (Washington Post)

Nineteen States Urge EPA To End Obama's Federal Overreach (Daily Caller)

Dakota Access Pipeline Court Challenge Denied, Oil Could Flow As Soon As Next Week (NPR)

Trump renominates FCC chairman (The Hill)

Wise Words

Wanting
"Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants." Benjamin Franklin

Lighter Side

Good Idea
"A new financial app from JP Morgan can now do in seconds what it once took Wall Street financiers 360,000 hours to accomplish. That's right, the app wrecks the global economy." Conan O'Brien