In the most high-profile gun control vote in decades, the U.S. House is scheduled to vote on universal background checks for gun purchases — including those done through private sales. Senate Republicans already have said the plan is dead on arrival in their GOP-controlled chamber. Meanwhile Arizona Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko is pushing an amendment to the House bill, set for a vote Wednesday, to let millions of people pre-approved by the Transportation Security Administration bypass gun background checks altogether. [Politico]
Happy Wednesday!
Topping the news: With a little over two weeks left in the legislative session, Republican lawmakers who have been working on a massive tax reform bill behind closed doors released some details, including new sales taxes on health-insurance premiums, real estate transactions, legal and financial services and more. [Trib] [KSL] [ABC4]
-> Rep. Ben McAdams, freshman Democratic congressman, was the only Utah lawmaker to vote in favor of vetoing President Trump’s emergency declaration to fund the U.S.-Mexico border wall. [Trib] [DNews]
-> Utah’s public safety commissioner announced that Brigham Young University’s police department may be decertified come Sept. 1 because of the school’s failure to conduct an investigation into misconduct allegations against a university officer and failure to respond to a subpoena. BYU officials said they will likely appeal. [Trib] [DNews] [Fox13] [KSL] [ABC4] [KUTV]
Tweets of the day: @GovHerbert: “Utah lawmakers are the antithesis of D.C. politicians. Utah lawmakers tackle difficult issues in a timely way; they do the right thing for the right reasons.”
-> @DebateState: “Utah’s Medicaid reversal makes us a fool coast-to-coast.”
-> @jameshohmann: “At a House intelligence committee hearing, Madeline Albright just formally apologized to Mitt Romney for making fun of him in 2012 when he said Russia was our biggest geopolitical foe. She says the now Utah senator was prescient.”
Happy Birthday: to Utah Sen. Wayne Harper.
In other news: Citing medical advancements and Utah values, House Republicans voted to pass out a bill that would ban abortions after 18 weeks gestation. [Trib] [DNews] [Fox13] [KSL] [ABC4] [KUTV]
-> The dysfunction and communication breakdown between the Sandy City Council and the city’s mayor was on full display Tuesday night as the two sides debated who was to blame and what will happen going forward. [Trib] [ABC4]
-> The U.S. House voted in favor of a public lands bill that will establish hundreds of thousands of wilderness acres, including large swaths of Utah, designate a national monument and make permanent a fund used to purchase property for conservation. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the sweeping legislation, which already passed the Senate. [Trib]
-> Planes flying out of Salt Lake City International Airport struck about 280 birds last year, resulting in an estimated $674,892 of property damage. The Federal Aviation Administration is imposing strict regulations in expanded wildlife-free buffer zones around airports. [Trib]
-> A Utah House committee killed a bill that would have allowed select counties to wave off elections and appoint their county auditor, clerk, treasurer and other important positions. [Trib]
-> Utah Senate Majority Leader Evan Vickers pushed through the chamber a resolution that would add Utah to a list of about a dozen other states calling for a federal constitutional convention of states. The measure now heads to the House. [Trib]
-> In the wake of University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey’s murder, a bill aimed at requiring public universities to develop campus safety plans passed unanimously out of the Senate. Among other things, the bill would require campus officers to participate in training on responding to domestic and dating violence. [Trib]
-> Utah senators voted 27-2 to add $5.3 million into first responder retirement systems — a move lauded by police and firefighters who have long said they are under-compensated. [Trib]
-> Shireen Ghorbani, half-Iranian daughter of an immigrant and “proud” Democrat, was sworn in as Salt Lake County’s newest council member. [Trib]
-> Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski presided over a ceremony Tuesday afternoon in which Salt Lake City’s Airport Police Department was officially merged with the city’s force. [Trib] [Fox13] [ABC4]
-> Utah House members unanimously passed a controversial bill that lists what school teachers can say about condoms, birth control pills and other contraceptives. [Trib] [DNews]
-> Independent of whether BYU’s police force loses or retains its state certification, the university would be subject to public-record laws under a bill that passed out of committee on its way to the Senate floor. [Trib]
-> A Senate committee unanimously voted in favor of legislation that would legalize self-driving cars on Utah public roads. [Trib]
-> The full Utah House will consider legislation to prohibit Utah politicians serving simultaneously in county and city elected posts. [Trib]
-> Citing the fact that more 17-year-olds are going to college, a representative is introducing legislation aimed at adding college professors under the definition of “trusted adults” in order to to steepen criminal penalties for teachers who have sexual contact with minors. [Trib] [DNews]
-> Tribune columnist George Pyle compiled quotes from international news coverage — many of them critical — about the Utah Legislature’s decision to scale back the Medicaid expansion approved by voters. [Trib]
Nationally: On the eve of what is expected to be damning House Oversight Committee testimony Wednesday by former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen, a conservative Florida congressman threatened to release information about Cohen’s extramarital affairs — a move some compared to witness intimidation. [NYTimes] [WaPost]
-> Cohen will reportedly express shame for helping cover up Trump’s illicit activities. He will say his former employer is "a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat,” according to prepared remarks obtained by reporters. [Politico] [NYTimes]
-> Jason Chaffetz, the former Utah congressman and now Fox News contributor, was often criticized for using his chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee to score political points against President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In a new op-ed, Chaffetz claims the committee’s scheduled hearing to take public testimony of Cohen is an abuse that is outside its legitimate jurisdiction. [FoxNews]
-> As President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un begin their second summit, this time in Vietnam, the U.S. leader is under intense pressure to produce concrete results in the stated goal of North Korean denuclearization. [LATimes]
-> The United States blocked Russian trolls from interfering with the mid-term election last November. [WaPost]
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-- Dan Harrie and Sahalie Donaldson
https://twitter.com/danattrib?lang=en, https://twitter.com/sahalied?lang=en
Follow @sltribpolitics
