SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that would eliminate criminal penalties for a parents of truant children was defeated in the Senate by a tie vote and a committee voted to pursue the acquisition of Bears Ears National Monument.

Lawmakers also failed to advance a bill to keep Antelope Island revenue strictly for the park.

Here is a roundup of what's happening on the hill:

GOP lawmakers looking at bonding for $1 billion to speed up transportation projects

With the 2017 Legislature set to end in just over a week, Republican lawmakers are looking at authorizing $1 billion in bonding over the next four years to speed up transportation projects.

"It's a sound investment that will pay off in future years," Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville, told KSL after making presentations to closed House and Senate Republican caucuses Tuesday.

Harper, who is having a bill drafted on the bonding expected to be ready by Thursday, said he intends to leave the choice of the projects up to the Utah Transportation Commission.

Bonding is typically a tough sell to Republicans. In the current budget year that ends June 30, no new general obligation debt was authorized, and $325 million in existing debt was set to be paid off, according to the legislative website.

Kindergarten enrichment program endorsed by Senate panel

The Utah Legislature's Senate Education Committee on Tuesday endorsed a bill that creates an optional kindergarten enrichment program intended to help struggling students gain the skills they need to perform on grade level by third grade.

HB168, sponsored by Rep. Lowry Snow, R-Santa Clara, creates a grant program to support kindergarten enrichment programs. The program would be supported by about $200,000 in state funds and more than $2.8 million in federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Family funds.

The optional program would provide additional instruction to some 2,560 kindergartners who perform below peers on kindergarten entry assessments.

Snow said students in Washington School District, some of whom scored 17 on kindergarten entry assessments while their peers scored an average of 80, scored nearly as high — and higher — on exit assessments after receiving additional instruction.

"The results are pretty amazing," Snow said.

Runoff election bill likely stalled by Utah GOP reversal on lawsuit

A bill that would send the top two finishers in some primaries to a runoff election apparently won't advance this session after the Utah Republican Party reversed a decision to drop a related lawsuit against the state.

SB114, which would require a runoff election if the winner of a primary race with more than three candidate has less than 35 percent of the vote, will be substituted to deal with other issues, the bill's House sponsor, Rep. Dan McCay, said Tuesday.

"Look, we took an option to them and their decision was they wouldn't support it," McCay said of the Utah GOP's vote Saturday to go back on a decision made weeks earlier to end the legal fight over changes to the candidate nomination process.

McCay, R-Riverton, said the bill will be changed to no longer deal with plurality — candidates who win with less than 50 percent of the vote — but election-related deadlines in another bill that was just introduced.

Lawmakers say no to dedicated revenue for Antelope Island State Park

Antelope Island State Park, which draws about 400,000 visitors a year, generates just shy of $1 million annually through hunting tags and bison sales — money that one lawmaker says should stay in the park's coffers.

Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Syracuse, said the park has a number of infrastructure needs and deserves to be able to tap into the revenue it generates.

"The island has many needs," Lisonbee told members of the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee on Tuesday. "It has not received the money it deserves. The money will go to critical capital improvements on the island."

Her bill, HB317, proposes to restrict the money to the island itself.

The bill failed to advance out of the committee on a 4-6 vote.

Committee: Utah should acquire Bears Ears National Monument

A committee of lawmakers voted Tuesday to pursue the acquisition of Bears Ears National Monument in the event President Donald Trump does not rescind the fledgling designation.

The 9-2 vote by the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee advances HCR24 to the full House for further debate.

Bill sponsor Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, said more than half of the 43 state parks that exist in Utah were acquired by using the federal Recreation and Public Purposes Act, which is a 1954 law that authorizes the sale or lease of public lands for recreational or public purposes.

"I think this is something that opens the door for more negotiations, opens the door for more cooperation with the Native Americans," Noel said.

The committee also signed off on a bill that implements some changes to the now-dormant Utah Public Land Management Act, passed last year by lawmakers.

Another bill from Noel, HB407 only kicks in should the state receive a transfer of federal lands of 250,000 acres or greater.

The measure passed unanimously.

Bill to eliminate criminal penalties for truant students' parents defeated on tie vote

A bill that would eliminate criminal penalties for a parents of truant children was defeated in the Senate on Tuesday but could be revived after the sponsor preserved the option of bringing back the legislation for reconsideration.

A substituted version of SB115, sponsored by Rep. Jake Anderegg, R-Lehi, was a defeated on a tie vote.

Anderegg said the legislation was a "companion bill" to the juvenile justice initiative legislation being carried by Rep. Lowry Snow, R-Santa Clara.

The bill passed without debate on its second reading in the Senate, but on final reading Tuesday, Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, questioned whether there were any consequences to a parent who kept a school-age child home from school to work. After the bill's defeat, Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, asked the Senate to hold the bill for 24 hours, which it agreed to do.

Anderegg then asked to change his vote to "no" regarding the bill's passage, which would allow him bring the bill back for reconsideration. The Senate did not object.

Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche, Marjorie Cortez, Amy Joi O'Donoghue

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