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SALT LAKE CITY -- A last-ditch plea Monday wasn't enough to move Utah legislators to consider a proposed statewide housing and employment anti-discrimination law.
Sen. Ben McAdams, D-Salt Lake, unsuccessfully pleaded with his colleagues to lift SB148 from the Senate Rules Committee where it has languished since early in the session.
"This bill is necessary because discrimination exists in Utah," he said during a speech on the Senate floor in which he asked that the measure be allowed a public hearing.
The Republican majority Senate voted 21-7 along party lines against moving the bill from the rules committee. The powerful panel decides which bills to advance to legislative hearings, and Chairwoman Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, said there hasn't been a desire to do that with SB148.
"I'm certainly frustrated," McAdams said afterward. "I think it's an important discussion to have."
Eleven cities in Utah have adopted ordinances that prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians in the areas of housing and employment. McAdams' proposal would extend those protections statewide.
A UtahPolicy.com poll of 600 Utahns conducted last week showed 71 percent favored a statewide law in those areas.
Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said the city ordinances seem to be working fine and sees no reason for the state to step in. Furthermore, he said McAdams probably owes the majority party a debt of gratitude because it likely would have voted to reverse the progress those cities have made.
Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, said the bill attempts to fix something that isn't broken. "I don't know why you're trying to press things like that out when there isn't a demand for it," he said.
But Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake, said allowing a legislative hearing is the fair thing to do. The Rules Committee sifting, he said, "should not stop or stifle public comment on issues of the day."
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