Utah Legislature 80422POL

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Political Subdivisions Interim Committee

MINUTES OF THE
POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS INTERIM COMMITTEE
Wednesday, April 22, 1998 - 2:00 p.m. - Room 414 State Capitol

Members Present:
    Sen. R. Mont Evans, Senate Chair
    Rep. David Ure, House Chair
    Sen. Leonard M. Blackham
    Sen. George Mantes
    Rep. Brian R. Allen
    Rep. John B. Arrington
    Rep. DeMar "Bud" Bowman
    Rep. Craig W. Buttars
    Rep. Blake D. Chard
    Rep. Marda Dillree
    Rep. David L. Gladwell
    Rep. James R. Gowans
    Rep. John E. Swallow
    Rep. Richard L. Walsh

Members Absent:
    Rep. Greg J. Curtis

Staff Present:
    Mr. Joseph Wade,
        Research Analyst
    Mr. Robert H. Rees,
        Associate General Counsel
    Ms. Joy L. Miller,
        Secretary

     Note:    A list of others present and a copy of materials distributed in the meeting are on file in the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.

1.    Call to Order and Committee Business - Chairman Evans called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m.

     MOTION: Rep. Ure moved to approve the minutes of November 19, 1997. The motion passed unanimously.

2.    Study Item Priorities - Chairman Evans stated committee members were asked to complete and submit a questionnaire prioritizing study topics for the 1998 interim. He asked that the questionnaires be given to Mr. Wade.

    Mr. Wade referred to a letter from Legislative Management Committee which requests each committee to prioritize it's top five issues and submit them to management by May 5th. Mr. Wade distributed a copy of the Master Study Resolution and a list of Bills Not Passed. Also distributed, at the request of Utah Tomorrow, is a list of the benchmarks and performance measures that relate to local government to use as a guide in prioritizing study items.

    Chairman Evans stated he felt the issues of special districts and optional forms of county government should be priorities.

3.    Special Districts - Mr. Rees explained that several bills relating to special districts were passed in the 1998 General Session. Summaries of these bills were mailed to committee members. He briefly reviewed S.B. 80 which is the first stage of the recodification of the statutes relating to special districts. Mr. Rees distributed a summary of the new uniform process for creating local districts. He discussed the new procedure to create special/local districts and which districts it will and will not apply to. It is a two-pronged approach for creating local districts by petition of registered voters or property owners or by a process started by the municipal or county legislative body. He reviewed the template for recodification of special district statutes.

4.    Optional Forms of County Government - Mr. Rees gave a brief historical overview of Utah's law concerning optional forms of county government. In 1896, the Utah Constitution was adopted and stated that the Legislature is required to provide that county government be uniform throughout the state. In 1973, the Utah Constitution was amended to provide that the Legislature may prescribe optional forms of county government, allowing each county to select the prescribed optional form which best serves its needs. In 1975, 1981, 1987, and 1989 the Legislature added new optional forms and made other minor modifications to the law. During the 1998 General Session, S.B. 133 repealed and reenacted Chapter 35a of Title 17. Mr. Rees distributed a comparison between S.B. 133 and the law that existed prior to its enactment.

    Mr. Rees reviewed the status of efforts in Utah counties to adopt optional forms of county government. Cache and Grand Counties have already adopted a 7-member council. Morgan County is proposing to put on the November ballot a proposed 7-member council with an appointed administrator. Weber County has proposed a 7-member county council with an elected executive that will likely be on the November ballot. Mr. Rees distributed and reviewed a list of potential issues for further study relating to optional forms of county government.

    Mr. Alan Dayton, Staff Counsel to Salt Lake County, explained that early last year, Salt Lake County began the process of developing a new plan for an optional form of county government. The plan was set to go to ballot on a special election, however, later in the year the Salt Lake County Commission decided to pull the plan and appoint a citizen's committee to review the issue. The study process revealed some flaws with the state statute. The county proposed some changes to the statute to help make the act more user friendly. Throughout the past six months, the citizen's committee has been working on reviewing Salt Lake County's form of government. The committee concluded that Salt Lake County should change its form of government to the council-executive form outlined in the act. The committee voted for a nine- member council. The executive would be a single executive. All members of the council would be elected through partisan races. The county executive would be given veto power but the council is given power to override the veto by a 2/3 majority. Mr. Dayton stated the interim committee may want to consider looking at the various legislative and executive powers

generally given county government and spell out what it believes is a legislative power and what is an executive power.

5.    Condemnation Process of Government Entities - Mr. Craig Fox, Utah Department of Transportation, stated when the Bangerter Highway project was begun, the department did not realize that there would be such a demand for salvage rights. The department's policy at that time was that if the property owner wanted to, the department allowed them to retain the salvage value on the condition that the owner pay a salvage value price, which at the beginning of the project was set at $0. The owner also had to agree to remove all improvements. A $15,000 deposit was held out of the purchase price. If the owners did not live up to all the conditions, the department would keep that money to defray its costs of clearing the property. The owners were given 105 days from the date they signed the contract to relocate and complete the work.

    Chairman Evans indicated that when an individual's home is condemned, their property rights are taken away from them and they are forced to move. That process that can be very expensive. By allowing individuals to retain their salvage rights, it allows them to recoup some of the cost of moving.

6.    Voter Registration Lists - Ms. Kelleen Potter, Director of Elections, Office of the Governor, distributed information on the statewide database of registered voters. She explained that Utah Code 20A-2-109 requires the Lt. Governor's Office to create a statewide database of registered voters. The database is now complete and is being updated regularly. Political parties, candidates, political consultants, and others who use this data no longer have to obtain it from the 29 different counties and convert it to a consistent format. However, the code does not address the questions of what information should be provided, who should be allowed to purchase the list, and how much should be charged.

    Ms. Potter stated the 29 counties vary dramatically in: 1) what information is made available; 2) who is allowed to purchase the information; and 3) the cost charged for the information. The most restrictive counties only provide name and mailing address. The least restrictive counties provide everything but place of birth, social security number, disabled, and driver license number. Some counties will not sell their lists unless the requestor signs a form stating that they will only be using it for political purposes. Others sell it to non-political groups but charge a higher rate. Others sell it to anyone who requests it and pays the fee. She indicated her office has determined that everyone will be treated the same and anyone can buy the information that pays the fee and requests it. Ms. Potter stated the charge by county ranges from .025 cents per name to .0006 cents per name. Her office agreed with the counties that they would never sell only one county. They will sell a multi-county information or a statewide list. They also agreed to give the counties half of the revenue they received from any sale of the voter registration list. The Elections Office developed a fee of one quarter of a cent per name and a

$50 set up fee. That amounts to approximately $2,500 for the entire statewide list. Ms. Potter felt their action was something the committee would be interested in reviewing.

    Ms. Joyce Barnes, League of Women Voters of Salt Lake, expressed concern that there may be many registered voters who don't want that information shared in any way.

    Ms. Potter stated there is an option for an individual to request that their record be secured. The Legislature could specify exactly what information could be released from the voter registration list.

    Chairman Evans felt the Legislature should make an exception in the GRAMA act to allow political candidates the opportunity to access the information.

    Rep. Ure stated he would like to have the issue put on the agenda for the next meeting. This would give the committee time to consider it and allow Ms. Potter time to develop different options.

     MOTION: Rep. Bowman moved to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously. Chair Evans adjourned the meeting at 4:00 p.m.

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