I went to Town hall meeting was several members of the legislature talked about different bills. Much of the meeting was dominated by some very impassioned people who are for legalized marijuana.

Sen. Dayton talked about her water bills HB 80: which wants to have half the 1.8 tax that was posted be divided between water projects and conservation and transportation but much of it has been going over to transportation. The bill is to get more work done toward our water concerns of the state. We were once a 1 million people and are now up to 3 million people and we need to improve our infrastructure. The bill also means that you use more water you pay more money.

Sen. Stratton talked about land rights for the state. 62% of Utah land is controlled by the federal government. The bill is to protect the resources. Five of the nine justices voted that control the land should go to the states.

She also talked about a safe technology bill so that children would not see inappropriate material in school. And would let a school Council determine what is appropriate rather than the federal government.

There’s also a sex abuse education bill where a committee can review the content of the curriculum. Parents can also opt in to have their children Receive sex education rather than opt out. The purpose of the bill is to have parents more responsible for the education of their parents in certain areas

Sen. ramble talked about Utah County having the highest job growth in the country

From this point on the rest of the meeting was on medical marijuana. Four key people in the audience were very vocal about sharing their views that marijuana should be legalized. Different senators talked about the benefits of medical marijuana but said this bill had several areas of concern. One was that with marijuana being illegal at the federal level so police officers are handicapped in maintaining the law. Another part of the bill is the concern that doctors would not be liable for prescribing marijuana in inaccurately. They would be exempt from being liable.

The legislature wants to get more research done and get the backing of the medical community. Most of the research done on medical marijuana has been out of the country because marijuana is identified as a level I drug and this so it’s illegal to test with it. The recommendation is to have marijuana changed to a level two drug so it’ll be legal to test in medical labs.

The one of the legislators in the front of the room talked about people he met who were helped with marijuana and the consequences of extended family who was hurt through drug abuse

One of the frustrations shared in the meeting was how the LDS church will give feedback on a certain topic late into the legislature session rather than early in the session. And that people don’t have an opportunity to approach the lobbyists who act on behalf of the LDS church.

I had to go to work so this is all the notes I took.