People say sausage making is not a pretty process, but it sure tastes great when you put it on the grill. The same can be said about politics and legislation. UPLA has been busy in the sausage making business of monitoring and contacting the Sponsors about bills
- HB 384 (Representative Jeffrey Stenquist) was making changes to the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure funding that did not give OHV and Boating a strong voice at the decision making table on the distribution of funds received from Sales Tax. We still have the Director of DNR as a voting member, and we were able to get our OHV and Boating Program Managers with Advisory Seats on the 15 member panel. This bill does not affect the Restricted OHV funds, which do keep OHV and Boating Program Managers as Voting Members on approving grant requests.
that we are interested in. I am very proud to say that we have a very capable and skilled team in working with legislators to get bills authored, edited, and passed or defeated that affect Outdoor Recrreation and our public lands.
These are 760 bills available in this current legislative session, these are the ones we have been actively engaged in:
Passed
- HB 55 was a cleanup bill to last year’s OHV Education bill to fix some issues with the license and registration processes. No significant changes to OHV or the original OHV Education Bill.
Support or Watch
- HB 262 (Representative Casey Snider) was a bill that would have restricted access to Wildlife Management Areas throughout Utah to only people with current valid hunting or fishing licenses. We strongly opposed this change, and worked with the Sponsor of the bill to have that requirement removed. The bill has been set aside for now with no further action, but we are watching it.
- HB 299 (Representative Casey Snider) is a Bill modeled on the OHV Grant Program but for Boating. The OHV Restricted Fund grants have been very popular. We are very pleased that this original bill sponsored by OHV advocates has become a model in Utah and many other states in adopting programs for outdoor recreation. We are in full support of this Bill.
- HB 444 (Representative Jeffrey Stenquist) is a companion bill for Grant Funding for Recreational Vehicles, based on our OHV Grant Program. We are very pleased that this original bill sponsored by OHV advocates has become a model in Utah and many other states in adopting programs for outdoor recreation. We are in full support of this Bill.
- HB 421 (Representative Jefferson Moss) is a bill that will give the State Legislature control over the Utah School and Institutional Lands Trust Administration (SITLA) SITLA is charged with administering lands granted to the trust by the Federal Government when Utah became a State. The purpose is to support schools and education. Largely, SITLA has operated independently with little oversight, this bill gives the Legislature financial control over SITLA. We strongly support the passage of this bill
- HB 200 (Representative Stephanie Gricius) is a bill that eliminates a prior provision that made transporting an unregistered OHV vehicle an infraction. This bill eliminates that. We strongly support this bill.
One thing you can count in politics is that nobody ever gets everything they want, but all of the Representatives associated with these bills have listened to our arguments and most of them have have adopted amendments. This caused us in many cases from Opposed or Watch Closely to Support. We’d like to recognize them for their willingness to listen to us and adjust their bills.
Overall, we think the result has been some decent tasting sausage, but I’d love to hear what you think. If you know of a bill related to use of Public Lands that needs our attention, please let me know.
Loren Campbell
President, UPLA
President@UtahPLA.com
