Debate on vouchers heats up
Curtis is opposing a special session before Nov. 6 vote
"I disagree vehemently with the governor" about calling a special session to repeal HB174, Curtis said regarding the second of two voucher bills.
Curtis, R-Sandy, made his arguments after Huntsman released a letter on vouchers last weekend. Huntsman, a Republican, said in his letter that he would call a special legislative session to fix the two-bill voucher problem if Utah courts don't quickly rule that the Nov. 6 election is "definitive." The election would allow voters to decide whether private-school vouchers should be allowed in the state.
Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, was the original sponsor of HB148, the main voucher bill that will go before voters. He said in a blog this week that a special session should be called and that both HB148 and HB174 be repealed. He also wants a comprehensive voucher law passed and a vote taken on that bill this November.
Voucher opponents are pushing for a clear vote as well, and on Wednesday, the anti-voucher group Utahns for Public Schools sued to challenge the 100-word ballot title that was written for the November referendum. That lawsuit came less than a week after voucher supporters also sued to change the ballot language to acknowledge that a voucher law already exists.
But Curtis said the anti-voucher forces are orchestrating a public campaign of confusion and trying to make the GOP-controlled Legislature "the whipping boy on vouchers."
Some people, including the governor, talk about a "quick fix" on the two-bill voucher problem, Curtis said, "but no one has shown me there is a quick fix." In fact, Curtis doesn't believe there is one.
Legislators passed two bills on vouchers in the 2007 Legislature. HB148, the subject of the Nov. 6 referendum, is the main voucher bill that passed by one vote in the House. Anti-voucher legislators then asked Curtis if they could recall that bill to make some amendments so that the voucher law would be more workable and appealing.
But Curtis and other House GOP leaders feared that giving anti-voucher legislators another shot at the bill could mean its defeat. So they said no, that a separate amendment bill was needed. Thus came HB174, which contained most of the voucher-implementation language, but not all of it. HB174 then passed by more than two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate.
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