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Posted: 8:57 PM- Usually lawmakers close the doors for candid, emotional debates.
Today, it was just the opposite as House Speaker Greg Curtis opened a closed-door Republican caucus to vent over a proposed lawsuit against an education bill that combined a dozen initiatives - including several that had been defeated - into a single measure.
Some education proponents are planning to challenge the bill's constitutionality on grounds it violates a single-subject-per-bill requirement.
But an animated Curtis said such a lawsuit would be a direct assault on the power of the legislative branch.
"There's an attack mentality that the Legislature did something wrong. There's a threat of litigation that would have the courts define our single-subject rule," Curtis said to a roomful of House Republicans. "I have great concerns with that because it's a significant diminishment of legislative power to have the courts determine that."
He also said those who were pursuing the lawsuit were doing so for "political purposes."
That brought Rep. Sheryl Allen to her feet to defend the legitimacy of concerns some in the education community have with the omnibus bill.
"I think a legislator or a group of legislators and certainly members of the public have a real question of the constitutionality of that bill," said the Bountiful Republican, who sharply disagreed with Curtis' criticisms.
In a later interview, Kim Burningham, a state board of education member, acknowledged he has been involved in discussions concerning the litigation, which he said should be filed within the week.
"Whenever you lump a whole bunch of these things into one bill, and then almost use bribery to get legislators to vote for the few things they like in the bill even though they disagree with the rest, it's not good decision making," Burningham, a former legislator, said. He made it clear he was speaking only for himself and not the board.
But legislative leaders argue they did not coerce anyone to vote for the bill.
Rep. Ron Bigelow, House budget chairman, said leaders brought up the bill several times in caucus, provided staff to help draft different versions of the bill and did not cut off debate about the issues.
"There were no attempts by staff, leadership or bill sponsors to put anything in the bill that you were unaware of," Bigelow said. "It seemed to heighten the awareness and the focus on those issues."
Curtis said the omnibus bill honored the constitutional provision because all of the provisions included were aimed at a single subject: education.
He claims opponents are playing politics. He points to the fact that many criticize the inclusion of a charter-school provision in the omnibus bill, but fail to mention funding for the International Baccalaureate program "because they agree with the IB program getting funding," Curtis said.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Howard Stephenson, said he hopes to avoid passing more omnibus bills in the future. He said legislators combined bills this year to simplify the process so they could pass them all, in a coordinated way, before the end of the session.
"If I had to do it over again and we had more time, I would avoid it," Stephenson said. "To have every issue stand on its own in a separate bill is a good idea."
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-LISA SCHENCKER contributed to this report.