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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Democrats are frustrated a bill that would extend Medicaid to every Utahn who needs it failed Tuesday, the House found a funding compromise for the state's water needs and lawmakers are considering a bill that would help a Midvale homeless shelter run year-round.
Here's what's happening during the last week of the 2016 legislative session:
Will Midvale homeless shelter have year-round operation?
The Road Home's new Midvale Center, an emergency homeless shelter for families that opened in November, could operate year-round under a bill endorsed late Tuesday by a House committee.
But the bill remained before the House Rules Committee Wednesday, which decides which bills move to the House for further consideration, with only a day remaining in the session.
SB169, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, would prohibit municipalities from adopting or enforcing ordinances or other regulation that prohibits a homeless shelter from operating year-round. While Midvale is not mentioned by name in the bill, it is the only city where an emergency shelter has opened in the past year that operates seasonally.
The House Revenue and Taxation Committee, in a meeting that lasted well after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, voted 8-2 to send the bill to the House for its consideration.
Utah Democrats upset over Medicaid, vow to continue to push for full expansion
A bill that would expand Medicaid to every Utahn who needs it died Wednesday, without the votes to pass, according to its sponsor.
"It's not anger, it's frustration that we're voicing," said Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City.
Davis' bill, SB77, aimed to expand Medicaid to more than 105,000 uninsured Utahns.
"We could have done more," he said.

Alternatively, lawmakers Tuesday voted to finalize a plan that takes care of the poorest of the poor and imposes new taxes to help cover the costs. HB437 was the only plan in three years of attempts to win favor of House Republicans and pass the full Legislature.
But the plan is essentially an expansion of current Medicaid benefits, eliciting a smaller percent of matching funds from the federal government than is available under provisions of the Affordable Care Act — and that is why Utah's Democratic lawmakers didn't vote for it.
"It just doesn't do what we could be doing in the state of Utah," Davis said during a news conference Wednesday at the Capitol. "Too many people are left behind."
House lands on water fund compromise
A complicated funding compromise designed in part to pay for Utah's future water needs passed the House on Wednesday but still needs approval by the Senate, with a little more than a day to go before the session ends.
Senate Majority Whip Stuart Adams' SB80 was substituted on the House floor and survived a 48-26 vote after a robust discussion on how to pay to develop Utah's additional water resources — or if they should be tapped — and the best way to move forward.
In its original form, the measure proposed taking the 1/16th of a cent sales tax from the transportation fund and instead putting all that into a water infrastructure fund, generating nearly $36 million in the first year.
The compromise unveiled Wednesday takes the sales tax allocation in 20 percent increments over five years and puts it in the water infrastructure fund — increasing each year — and does not bind lawmakers' hands to any particular project, argued Rep. Dean Sanpei, R-Provo, and co-chairman of the Executive Appropriations Committee.
Proponents of Adams' substituted bill urged colleagues with concerns over the Lake Powell pipeline or Bear River development projects to pass the companion bill, SB251, which lists requirements that must be checked off — including an independent analysis — on the projects' needs before they get any money via a revolving loan fund.
Yesterday's roundup:
Utah bill removes wait period on health insurance for immigrant children
Children of immigrants who enter the state and country legally and lawfully will no longer wait five years before becoming eligible for health insurance.
The Utah Legislature on Tuesday removed the waiting period as part of intent language filed with HB2, a bill that divvies out state funds but also clarifies how the money should be spent.
Utah is the 29th state to expand eligibility for lawfully residing immigrant children since 2009, when the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act gave states the option. The state ranks 47th in the nation for the high number of uninsured children, including a large percentage of immigrant children and kids from Hispanic households.
Six percent of caucasian children in Utah are uninsured, while more than 23 percent of Hispanic children remain without access to health care, according to Voices for Utah Children, a local child-advocacy organization that applauds the recent decision to improve the lives of Utah children and families.
Contributing: Marjorie Cortez, Wendy Leonard, Amy Joi O'Donoghue









