Utah lawmakers delved into virtual reality, and coronavirus reality in a first-ever special session Thursday.
The House’s all-digital session in the morning was smooth, with only isolated dropped video. It passed a series of bills, perhaps in record time.
Speaker Brad Wilson said he “missed” seeing his colleagues, that he prefers plenty of public debate, but “in times of crisis, you do what you have to do.”
In the Senate, “technical issues” delayed the afternoon session; but once it started, senators also seemed to move at a brisk clip.
No proposals to deal with coronavirus have passed both the House and Senate—that’s expected tomorrow—but measures advancing on Thursday included:
- More state borrowing
- A commission that could recommend opening parts of the economy
- An extension to file your state taxes until July 15
- Only mail-in and drive-up voting for the primary election
- Requiring the governor to consult with lawmakers before pandemic directives
The last one, which 2News reported on Wednesday, could be the most controversial.
Lauren Simpson, policy director for advocacy group Alliance for a Better Utah tells 2News:
That would effectively hamstring the governor’s ability to respond quickly and effectively."
Wilson said Governor Herbert, whom he praised for the state’s coronavirus response, could still immediately take action in pandemics, to prevent imminent loss of life—but said, otherwise, lawmakers should have a say.
Wilson says:
The Legislature’s role is appropriating money and setting policy. The executive branch’s role is to execute that policy.”
Another measure would give Utah patients a “right to try” investigational drugs in major public health emergencies, a move that could go well beyond hydroxychloroquine—the drug promoted for use against coronavirus.
Wilson said some drugs are showing “a lot of promise,” and people under a doctor’s care should be aware of them.
Simpson said the right-to-try bill would leave patients without insurance coverage for a calamity caused by the “investigational” medication. She says:
Or if a patient incurred harm as a result of using that drug, the health provider would be immune for prescribing it."
In his opening statements, Wilson said he’d like to see parts of the state economy reopening by the end of the month.
A former legislator, who was elected during the economic crisis in 2008, outlined how breathtakingly consequential that decision will be.
“The challenge that the Legislature has today, that we did not face in ‘09, is the decision to relax social distancing,” said former state Senator Dan Liljenquist, “to turn on the economy, rev it up, is going to probably cost lives.“
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April 17, 2020 at 08:39AM
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Virtual Utah special session on coronavirus starts smooth... then faces glitch - KJZZ
"smooth" - Google News
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