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Richard Piatt ReportingOn Utah's Capitol Hill today lawmakers gutted a bill designed to target gay-straight alliance clubs, but the change may not last as the bill heads to the Senate.
Originally this bill was designed to heavily regulate all after-school clubs. After the changes in the House today, it would only require students to get their parents' permission to join a club.
This year, Representative Aaron Tilton sponsored the school club bill. He tried to defend his proposal before it was changed. But debate on the House floor focused on the state interfering with local school boards in general. Others voted for the bill because of what it would do to gay-straight alliances.
Rep. Ralph Becker, House Minority Leader: "There's no question it's targeting the gay-straight alliance clubs. People can talk about it as long as they want, but it is the motivation for the bill."
Rep. Sheryl Allen, (R) Bountiful: "I do think 16 pages of regulations are too much. Yes parental participation, parental oversight, but let's not have all these regulations."
Rep. Aaron Tilton, (R) Springville: "If a parent consents to letting their child join a club, they'd like to know who else is attending."
Representative Tilton told me he plans to get the bill changed again in the Senate. That's where Senator Chris Buttars originally sponsored it a year ago. It never made it through.
