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The status of three bills passed by the state Senate is up in the air, after a time stamp revealed a problem.
The stamp of approval might have to be taken off Senate Bill 93, Licensed Direct Entry Midwife Amendments; Senate Bill 237, Commercial Airline and Airport Taxation Amendments; and Senate Bill 41, International Education Initiative - Critical Languages Program.
The issue will be taken up with the technical staff at the Capitol building. There will be an announcement Monday about whether the bills will stand as approved, or die because they weren't passed in time. The state Constitution says the Legislature must adjourn at 12 a.m. on the 45th day of the session, which was Wednesday.
According to the Legislature's Web site, the last vote on SB 237 was 1 minute and 18 seconds after midnight; SB 41 was passed at 12:03:05 a.m.; and SB 93 was passed 14 seconds after midnight.
The bills are being held subject to a time discrepancy between two clocks, said Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo. The problem occurred due to efforts to coordinate the new systems in the renovated Capitol building.
During the last few minutes of the session, Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, repeatedly asked his reading clerk for the time on her computer. Once she said midnight, Valentine stopped all voting. That clock may have been wrong.
"It's not clear if the time stamping on the bills was done before midnight," Bramble said. "The last three or four bills might not have actually been done legally."
All legal actions are recorded on the state's legislative Web site, and problems started coming up when the vote record and bill status didn't show that the bill had actually been voted on and passed, Bramble said. |
