After watching her bill die Thursday on the Senate floor, Rep. Trisha Beck, D-Sandy, left in tears. And watching the votes to reconsider — followed by the debate and the revote on HB69 — she was just as emotional.
HB69, "Sexual Violence Prevention and Community Awareness," passed the Senate floor the second time around Friday afternoon — but not without dissent.
The measure appropriates $70,000 to the Department of Health to fund sexual violence prevention programs, which is a drastic reduction from the original request of $770,000. Some of that $70,000 may find its way into public schools in support of some programs that are already in place, Beck said. But that's where the bill hit a snag the first time around.
When the Senate voted to reconsider its action on the bill, conservative Republicans voted against it. They repeated the same concerns voiced Thursday, that it would introduce inappropriate material about sexual violence to classrooms. The Senate sponsor, Sen. David Steele, R-West Point, did not have information on hand to answer questions the first time, but the second time around he was prepared.
Sen. Bill Wright, R-Elberta, questioned the wisdom of using grant money to beget grant money that might come with strings attached. Those strings, he said, could contradict Utah's strict sex education laws.
But Steele assured the Senate that any and all curriculum materials must be approved by the local school boards, thus giving them the option of refusing program material from the Department of Health.
Majority Leader Steve Poulton, R-Holladay, didn't want the programs in schools, period.
"I question if this is the right age and appropriate forum for these things to be taught," he said. "It has an inherent danger."
Beck and Steele managed to assuage the concerns of the 20 senators who voted for the bill, as compared to the 12 supporters for Thursday's vote.
"This helps empower our kids," Beck said. "We can see how important it is to fund this program."
E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com