Here is an article about the accident: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865555301/1-dead-2-critical-after-collision-in-Provo-Canyon.html

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Draper family, as well as the other family involved in the accident. Val was very committed to his work as a council member and represented his constituents well, he was also a huge fixture of support at the Association. He will be greatly missed by many.

Now in its second season, the show has produced dozens of episodes that can all be found online and watched on-demand at http://thecountyseat.tv/

The program airs Sunday mornings on ABC Channel 4 in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas Sundays at 8:00 a.m. It also airs on Channel 10 in Richfield on Monday at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday at 5:00 p.m., Wednesday and Friday at 9:00 a.m.

Here’s a digest of the episodes shown during the first quarter on 2012:

County Seat First Quarter 12

You can view it here:

In the end, the 2012 Legislative Session turned out alright for county government. Of the three compromise bills I wrote about on Tuesday, two were further amended to the counties’ liking (HB 502 and SB 174) and one was defeated altogether (HB 41–a happy surprise). On the appropriations front, UAC received the funding to jails and health and human services that we were requesting and we even saw a $2 million increase to jail contracting thanks to the passage and funding of HB 442.

Thanks to all of the county officials who contacted legislatures over the past 46 days. Any success county government experienced this year is due, in large part, to you. If you’re interested in specific legislation, please don’t hesitate to contact any member of the UAC legislative staff, we’d love to hear from you.

Finally, please make plans to participate in UAC’s Legislative Recap meeting. It’s scheduled for Wednesday, March 21 starting at 10 AM. The meeting will be held at the UAC office, but will be broadcast throughout the state and streamed online. There we’ll cover all the highs and lows of the 2012 Legislative Session.

Over the years, the class has been incredibly helpful to local government officials interested in better understanding Utah’s complex property tax system. Not only does it aid in creating better understanding, it also fosters better communication between all the local governmental entities who are involved in the process. Participants also report that they are better able to explain the process to constituents and others who express an interest.

Seated is limited so register early if interested as it is usually only offered once a year. Go here to learn more or register: http://www.uacnet.org/event/property-tax-administration-in-utah/

HB 41 is a bill that moves the exemption on business personal property tax up. Originally, the bill would have moved the exemption up to $25,000, it was then amended down to $15,000, and finally, UAC has agreed to an exemption of $10,000. The bill is in the Senate having already passed out of the House.

HB 502 lowers the threshold necessary to incorporate a city or town. I’ve written extensively about this bill on this blog (see here, here, here, and here; for examples), but it’s come a long way from where it began. The latest version of the bill lowers the number of petitioners needed to start the incorporation process, but still provides the feasibility study and blocks against cherry picking. UAC pushed hard to ensure that important protections to both the citizens within and without a proposed incorporated are were included in the latest version of the bill. HB 502 passed out of the House yesterday and now moves onto the Senate.

SB 174 is a county land bill that popped up late last Friday and was added to a specially convened Senate Education Standing Committee scheduled to meet Monday morning. While the intent seems to have been to sneak the bill under the counties’ noses through a committee hearing, we caught the bill and were able to work with the bill’s sponsor (who was running the bill at the request of another) over the weekend to amend the bill in a manner that it doesn’t harm county planning.

These three bills highlight the constant need to be flexible during the legislative session. While it’s possible that UAC might have been able to kill any number of these bills as they were originally drafted, it’s unlikely that we would have killed all of them. As it stands now, all three have been amended enough that UAC can drop its opposition to all three bills.

Some of these bills include: HB 152 – Emissions Amendments, HB 278 – Arrested Persons’ Health Insurance Provisions, and SB 163 – Local Government Real Property Amendments.

UAC took a position to support the following bills:

UAC changed it’s position from opposition to a neutral position on the following bill: