Lawmakers mull electronic drivers' licenses; Trolley Square survivor urges Medicaid reform

Lawmakers mull electronic drivers' licenses; Trolley Square survivor urges Medicaid reform

(Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News/File)


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SALT LAKE CITY — A state lawmaker is asking legislators to consider using electronic drivers' licenses, a bill to allow tastings at liquor distilleries advances and a Trolley Square massacre survivor urged Medicaid reform. Here's what's happening on the hill:

Law enforcement, advocates raise united cry to expand life-saving domestic violence initiative

In the wake of compelling success stories and growing demand from communities across the state, advocacy groups and law enforcement made a united request Tuesday for legislative funds to expand a program they say is identifying domestic violence risk and preventing homicide.

Utah is making one of the biggest pushes in the country to enact the Lethality Assessment Protocol, a series of about a dozen questions designed to help first responders in a domestic violence call determine in minutes whether there is a greater risk to address, and then refer the victim to help.

Rolled out across four areas as part of a pilot program last fall, representatives from participating agencies testified Tuesday that the protocol is saving lives.

"It's going incredibly well, and frankly, as the coordinating agency, we're a little overwhelmed. We're having a hard time keeping up with the demand," said Jenn Oxborrow, executive director of the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition.

Funding recommendations from the subcommittee are expected Friday.

Proposed Utah law would treat child prostitutes as victims, not criminals

A bill that cleared a Utah House committee Tuesday would make sure children who are exploited for sex would be treated as victims and not criminals.

HB206, sponsored by Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, requires the state Division of Child and Family Services to provide services for children engaged in prostitution or sexual solicitation who are referred to the agency. The bill also precludes child prostitution victims from being subject to delinquency proceedings in court.

"This bill will help them on the path to healing," Attorney General Sean Reyes told the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee. The panel unanimously voted to move the bill to the House floor.

Police in their zeal to catch child traffickers forget about the victims and too often treat them as perpetrators, he said.

David Carlson, director of the attorney general's child protection division, said sex traffickers prey on children who lack family support or are homeless. They shower them with gifts and money, and give them some semblance of family.

Children often don't perceive themselves as victims. They accept as normal a lifestyle that society finds horrible, he said.

"As damaged as these children are, they are worth trying to save," Carlson said.

Utah lawmaker proposes studying electronic drivers' licenses

A state lawmaker is proposing a bill that would ask the Utah Driver License Division to study the possibility of offering electronic drivers' licenses.

Rep. Craig Hall, R-West Valley City, said during last year's interim session he hoped to run a bill that would create a deadline for the division to offer electronic licenses.

"With several discussions with the driver license division, I come to the conclusion that we're not quite there technologically," Hall said.

Related:

Now, Hall is sponsoring HB227, which asks the division to work with the Department of Technology Services to study the possibility of using electronic drivers' licenses and provide the state with recommendations on how to move forward.

The commission will have to address potential privacy issues, license acceptance by businesses and other states, and common smartphone problems such as a dead battery, he said.

Survivor of Trolley Square massacre urges lawmakers to reform Medicaid

Carolyn Tuft, a survivor of the 2007 siege at Trolley Square, called on state lawmakers Monday to pass Medicaid reform.

Tuft said she has no prescription coverage and can't afford drugs to counteract the hundreds of lead gunshot pellets that remain in her body.

Tuft is one of nine people shot during the attack at Trolley Square on Feb. 12, 2007, by a single gunman. Tuft's 15-year-old daughter, Kirsten Hinckley, was one of five people killed at the shopping mall that day.

"I was shot three times, and I live with lead poisoning because I have hundreds of lead pellets from the shotgun in me. So I was disabled from that day," she said.

Before that, she was a single mother who ran her own business and had her own home "and paid my bills and was a hardworking community member. Now I'm really sick every day and I can't work. I live on $500 a month from disability," Tuft told members of the Utah Legislature's Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee, at times weeping.

Tuft said she lives "in the crack because I don't qualify for Obamacare because I don't make enough money because I can't work because I was shot. I don't qualify for Medicaid for whatever reason because we don't have that expansion. I'm here to ask you for expansion because I need medication to survive."

Committee approves bill allowing tastings at liquor distilleries

A bill that would allow liquor distilleries in the state to offer tastings to customers was approved Monday by the House Business and Labor Committee.

"Most people are not going to spend $100 to $300 on a product without knowing what they're buying," the sponsor of HB228, Rep. Gage Froerer, R-Huntsville, said, noting that few would buy a new flavor of ice cream without trying a sample.

"We have hamstrung these manufacturers because we have not allowed anyone to come in and taste their product," Froerer said, even though the distilleries are package agencies that can sell on site.

Froerer said the bill would treat distilleries the same as wineries and breweries when it comes to providing a taste of their products. He said the bill limits the amount of alcohol provided and requires a "variety of food" to be available.

Advocacy group says bill would reduce access to mental illness medication

Rep. Raymond Ward, R-Bountiful, said he's been working on HB18 for eight years, driven by the fact that Utah is one of a handful of states that has not added at least some anti-psychotic drugs to what's called a "preferred drug list."

Preferred drug lists are designed to encourage providers to prescribe certain drugs that are — theoretically — less expensive but equally effective.

Melissa Hansen, a Woods Cross resident, said she's concerned her children's medication could be excluded from the list.

Hansen's 8-year-old son has severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. Her 11-year-old daughter has also been diagnosed with ADHD and a mood disorder.

Contributing: McKenzie Romero, Dennis Romboy, Emily Larson, Marjorie Cortez, Lisa Riley Roche, Daphne Chen

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