SALT LAKE CITY — Utah legislators set their sights on parents this week, advancing several bills that have the potential to help families.

One bill focuses on nursing mothers, while the other aims to allow noncustodial parents more time with their children.

Here are the highlights from those stories.

Bill excusing nursing moms from jury duty advances

Nursing mothers could be exempt from jury service under a bill that has advanced to the Utah House of Representatives. Late Wednesday afternoon, the House Judiciary Committee gave a favorable recommendation to HB154.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, said he introduced the legislation after a constituent wrote him a letter explaining that a judge would not excuse her from the jury pool after she explained she was breastfeeding her child. She spent most of a day in court during the selection process but was not selected for the jury.

"I know it's a strange bill, but I think it fixes a problem I didn't even know existed," McKell said.

Bill giving noncustodial parents more time with kids passes committee

Utah lawmakers took a step Wednesday toward establishing another option for courts in divorce cases that would give noncustodial parents who meet certain criteria more time with their children.

HB35, which was unanimously approved by the House Judiciary Committee, is intended to give judges another option in determining parent time and conceivably reduce conflict between former spouses.

Under Rep. Lowry Snow's bill, noncustodial parents could seek a minimum of 145 days with their children per year, which would be an increase of the 110-day minimum currently in statute.

The bill would require noncustodial parents seeking increased parent time to demonstrate they are actively involved in their child's life and that the parties can communicate effectively about the child, among other factors.

Utah's plan for Alzheimer's needs attention, funding to make a difference

Because Utahns live longer and are healthier people overall, it is projected that Alzheimer's will double its prevalence by 2025, leaving many more individuals and families to grapple with its effects and exponential costs for decades to come, according to Utah Alzheimer's Association Director Ronnie Daniel.

"While there's still no way to cure, prevent or even slow down Alzheimer's, people still need to have access to support groups and other available resources that will make it easier to navigate this big life change," Daniel said. "It is a critical issue that we need to pay attention to."

HB175, sponsored by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, aims to get the ball rolling on a multi-faceted plan that will increase awareness of Alzheimer's among Utah residents and the medical community to help doctors better deal with diagnosis and treatment of the disease, as well as eventually improve access to services for people with Alzheimer's disease and their families.

The public is invited to the state Capitol on Thursday for Alzheimer's Association advocacy, during which Daniel will issue a call to action, and patients and caregivers will talk about their perspective of the disease.

Bill to revive firing squad narrowly passes House committee

Bullets may replace needles in Utah death row executions now that a House committee closely passed a controversial bill Wednesday that would reinstate the firing squad.

The House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee voted 5-4 in favor of HB11, which would legalize firing squad executions in Utah if drugs needed for lethal injections aren't available 30 days more before the date of the death warrant.

Now the bill will go to the House floor for additional debate.

Utah lawmakers reject move to cancel daylight savings time

Utah lawmakers have again denied an initiative that sought to opt the state out of daylight saving time.

SCR1 would have switched Utah to Central Standard Time and eliminated the twice-a-year switch, permanently putting the state one hour ahead of its place in Mountain Standard Time, according to bill sponsor Sen. Aaron Osmond, R-South Jordan.

Last year, the Governor's Office of Economic Development polled about 27,000 Utahns, 67 percent of whom supported aligning with Arizona in permanent Mountain Standard Time. Almost one-fifth of Utahns supported permanently aligning with Central Standard Time. Only 15 percent favored the status quo.

But lawmakers on Wednesday agreed that a more in-depth study was needed to look at the economic impacts of the change.

Dabakis gets passage of big enchilada lands bill

Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, said it's time to serve up the "big enchilada" lawsuit to the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, asking them to settle the public lands ownership debate in Utah for good.

"It sends a message to everyone in the state that we want to get this thing resolved and get on with our life," Dabakis said, explaining SB105.

The bill was heard Wednesday before the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee and passed out favorably, 4-2, to advance for consideration by the full Senate. Dabakis, who has been critical of the effort by Utah state leaders to "take back" control of Bureau of Land Management lands and U.S. Forest Service acreage, said his measure attempts to solve that ownership debate by getting a legal answer.

The bill directs the Utah Attorney General's Office to file a petition in the federal courts by June 30, 2016, demanding resolution to issue.

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