Sen. Pete Suazo's attempt to move his hate crimes bill onto the House floor for debate failed Wednesday morning after the House Rules Committee refused to take action on the controversial piece of legislation.
Despite his third setback in the Rules Committee, the Salt Lake City Democrat said he and his supporters would try to lift SB37 later today with a vote on the House floor. That same motion by SB37 House sponsor Gerry Adair, R-Roy, failed 39-36 on Monday.
Suazo met with opponents of the bill to answer some of their concerns with the bill. "I was encouraged that I was seeing nods of affirmation that there are not political agendas here," the Salt Lake Democrat said.
Suazo has changed his bill to lower the punishment for hate crimes.
But even after Suazo's substitute bill, crafted Tuesday, some GOP conservatives say they remain opposed to SB37 because it protects groups.
"(My problem with the bill) is not with the punishment," House Speaker Marty Stephens said. "It's the fact that we're breaking society into certain groups."
Two years ago the legislature shot down a Suazo-sponsored hate crimes bill that named specific groups protected under the law over concerns about giving special rights to homosexuals.
By using the more general term "group" Suazo was hoping to avoid that conflict.
"I'm hoping that that's palatable," Suazo said. "I'm not willing to drop . . . 'group' because I feel it protects Utah citizens."
Suazo now has until midnight tonight, when the session ends, to salvage SB37.
Meanwhile, barring any unforeseen fights over the hazardous waste tax bill, several bills aimed at hampering attempts by the Goshute Indians to place high-level nuclear waste rods on their reservation and the Applied Technology governance — three issues still hanging Wednesday morning — legislators could finish their work tonight in a record time.
"We could have been done at noon," said House Speaker Marty Stephens, except for a fight over the final School Appropriations Act.
Several years ago, lawmakers got out around 9 p.m. the final day of the Legislature. If things go well today, it could be much earlier.
This is the fourth year Suazo has tried to pass a hate crimes bill to replace Utah's current statute, which prosecutors say is unenforceable.
Instead of enhancing a crime one degree if the perpetrator selected the victim because of bias or prejudice against a group, Suazo's substitute bill would change the minimum sentence for a hate crime as follows:
Class B misdemeanor: from zero to six months in jail to two to six months.
Class A misdemeanor: from zero to one year in jail to four months to one year.
Third-degree felony: from zero to five years in prison to two to five years.
Second-degree felony: from one to 15 years in prison to five to 15 years.
First-degree felony: from five years to life in prison to nine years to life.
But the bill also provides the sentencing judge or Board of Pardons and Parole the option to remove the minimum incarceration time if the increased sentence would "result in an injustice."
Gov. Mike Leavitt said Suazo's hate crimes bill is among a handful of issues he supports. Leavitt, however, stopped short of admitting whether he would approach individual representatives to sway their support for SB37.
Senate GOP leadership helped craft language last week that would tie actions to the specific hate crime. Those amendments helped the bill pass the Senate 21-5 just a day after it failed 16-12.
One of the more controversial bills of the session, SB37 has drawn the ire of the National Alliance, an Ohio-based pro-white group, and the Eagle Forum, an ultraconservative group from Utah County.
The National Alliance started an aggressive mailing campaign to halt SB37, and the Eagle Forum made numerous phone calls asking legislators to vote down the bill.
"It's a bad law," Gayle Ruzicka, Eagle Forum president, said. "We spent years and years saying that all people are equal under the law. Now the pendulum is trying to be swung the other way."
E-MAIL: djensen@desnews.com