SALT LAKE CITY — Legislators considered bills dealing with Utah voting this week.

Lawmakers also discussed school funding, distracted driving laws and penalties for game fowl fighting.

Here are the highlights from these stories:

House panel votes down bill to delay Count My Vote compromise

A House committee Tuesday voted down a bill that sought to delay changes to Utah's system for picking candidates to run for elected office.

HB281 would have allowed political parties to choose nominees in a convention for the 2016 primary election.

Bill sponsor Rep. Fred Cox, R-West Valley City, said he's not looking to overturn a bill the Legislature approved last year that allows candidates to bypass the caucus and convention system and instead gather signatures to win a spot on the primary ballot.

"What I am asking for is time," he told the House Government Operations Committee. Utah Republican Party leaders say they can't implement the changes in time for the 2016 election.

The committee voted 6-3 against the bill.

A similar measure in the Senate, SB43, cleared the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee earlier this month.

Bill to boost countable ballots passes House, moves to Senate

A bill to help maximize countable Utah voter ballots passed through the Utah House of Representatives on Tuesday.

HB220, sponsored by Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City, would clarify Utah laws about mailed ballots that are eligible for counting, which would help to ensure no ballots are turned away for technicalities within the state’s voting system.

The law would provide that as long as a ballot is clearly post-marked as having been received by a post office before Election Day, then it is timely and eligible to be counted.

Chavez-Houck said the clarification was necessary because current law requires a postmark stamped at the Salt Lake City Post Office. So at times, when voters mail ballots from rural post offices, it may take at least a day to receive the postmark from the Salt Lake City Post Office.

HB220 clarifies if the ballots are post-stamped by local post offices before Election Day, they are eligible to be counted, even if they don’t receive the postmark from the Salt Lake City Post Office until after Election Day.

Tax increase to equalize school funding gets preliminary Senate approval

A bill that would raise Utah's basic property tax rate to equalize school funding gained preliminary Senate approval Tuesday.

Utah hasn't adjusted its property tax rate in almost 20 years, resulting in a loss of about $90 million in potential revenue. Meanwhile, school districts with the lowest property values continue bearing the highest burden in the property tax, which makes up 40 percent of education funding in Utah.

Because charter schools are public schools that don't have taxing authority, a portion of district revenues are used to fund charters at the state's average rate per student, which is $1,746. But half of Utah's 41 school districts earn less than that for their own students.

SB97 would adjust the tax rate to generate new state revenue, which could then be used to address the inequity.

"The bottom line is that half of our local school districts do not have sufficient funding to meet the local needs that they have," said Sen. Aaron Osmond, R-South Jordan, the bill's sponsor. "This bill simply generates $75 million in new money for education."

The bill would not recapture the full amount lost in inflation since 1996, but it would bring in the money needed to provide every school district with at least the same per-student funding amount as charter schools.

Senate committee passed bill to stiffen distracted driving laws

A bill to tighten Utah's distracted driving laws was favorably recommended in Senate committee Tuesday.

SB162 would allow only hands-free cellphone use while driving. The Senate Transportation and Public Utilities and Technology Committee approved the bill with a 3-1 vote.

“(Cellphones) really captivate our attention. They pull our minds away from the road, and horrific things happen,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George.

Santa Clara resident Leslee Henson began pushing for stricter distracted driving laws last year after a texting driver caused an accident that killed her husband on a St. George sidewalk. Henson enlisted Urquhart to sponsor last year’s bill to do so, which passed into law.

The 2014 legislation made it illegal for motorists from send, write or read text messages, instant message or email; dial a phone number; access the Internet; view or record a video; and type a data on a smartphone or other mobile device.

Urquhart said lawmakers should now continue on with last year’s current and “take the next step” to toughen laws against the “deadly” driving habit.

Senate panel OKs bill increasing penalties for game fowl fighting

A bill that would make cockfighting a class A misdemeanor passed a Senate committee Tuesday.

Under SB134, a second offense would be a third-degree felony. Bill sponsor Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, has unsuccessfully run the past two years.

Utah is the only Western state in which cockfighting is not a felony. The bill does not apply to raising game fowl for show.

The Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee approved the bill 3-1. It now moves to the Senate floor.

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