Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — With the Legislature continually meeting through the week KSL hasn't been able to report on all the bills so here are some highlights of the bills that were voted on throughout the week.
School computer coding bill passes first vote in Senate
SB107 creates a computer science initiative requiring the Utah STEM Action Center and the Utah State Board of Education to implement a repository of computer science instructional resources, provide professional development for teachers and select software curriculum to use in computer coding classes.
Up to $1.5 million would be used to license a number of computer coding instructional software providers, which districts and charters could choose to implement on an individual basis. The bill would also appropriate $320,000 for professional development for teachers.
Stephenson said while there doesn't appear to be policies that inhibit Utah schools from providing more computer programming opportunities, additional funding would "move the needle" in better meeting demands from the workforce for students in that field.
Emilee Wagner used to be an attorney.
Now, she cares for her 5-year-old daughter with special needs 24/7 while her husband works two jobs.
The Eagle Mountain resident said she and her husband figure if they keep working as hard as they do now, they will pay off their debt from their daughter's medical bills in 10 years. Wagner said her daughter, Georgia, was born missing most of her brain, and the medical costs to care for her have been staggering.
"You get to the point where you're doing anything and everything you can to try to pay it off," she said.
Lawmakers listened to Wagner's story Friday while they considered a bill that would implement a pilot program that would provide a Medicaid waiver for children with disabilities and complex medical conditions.
A Senate committee approved a resolution Friday to evaluate transportation service needs for the elderly and people with disabilities.
SCR8 sponsor Sen. Karen Mayne, D-West Valley City, said the resolution expresses support for the Utah Transit Authority Coordinated Mobility Department’s efforts to take inventory of the transportation services currently provided to the elderly and people with disabilities to address unmet transportation needs.
The federal government has asked UTA to weigh all transportation options available to better serve the elderly and people with disabilities, Mayne said.
A panel of senators approved a resolution Friday to designate November as “Homeless and Runaway Youth Awareness Month.”
Resolution sponsor Rep. Gage Froerer, R-Huntsville, said HJR12 will raise awareness of the state’s homeless children, as well as encourage organizations and individuals to continue to intensify their efforts to help homeless and runaway youths.
“We see these kids that are thrown out on the streets with no ability to care for themselves,” Froerer said. “We as a society have the responsibility to take care of those who can’t take care of themselves.”
State lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow police to use unmanned aerial vehicles to look for missing people and survey crash scenes without a search warrant.
But the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah and Libertas Institute say HB296 would create too many loopholes in a law the Legislature passed last year restricting how law enforcement uses drones.
Rep. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, told a House committee Friday that police departments shy away from using the technology because the law requires them to obtain warrants and record and report data from each flight. The bill would carve out exemptions for testing and training, people searches and investigating traffic accidents.
"When something like this happens to your family, you're pretty numb. You're walking like a ghost in your house and trying to hold things together."
That's how Nannette Wride described her state of mind after she heard her husband, Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Cory Wride, was fatally shot.
Lawmakers listened to Wride on Friday before considering HB288, a bill that would expand death benefits to the families of peace officers and firefighters who die in the line of duty.
Utah's war on intergenerational poverty has boots on the ground, state lawmakers were told Friday.
In Ogden, "family success coaches" are working to move 33 families experiencing intergenerational poverty into lives of stability and self-reliance in a pilot program called Next Generation Kids.
Caseworkers from the Department of Workforce Services and the Division of Child and Family Services, who are serving the same families, are working with the Ogden School District to come up with ways to improve Next Generation Kids participants' academic performance and school attendance. The program also leverages other community resources.
