A Senate committee killed HB249, which would have required lawmakers, when making their annual budget priorities, to consider funding for programs that provide in-home or community-based care for the elderly or disabled.
Sponsoring Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns, said it was clear the bill was "going down in flames" after members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee expressed concerns that HB249 subverted the existing budget process by putting preference for in-home care into statute.
The irony with the argument, Hutchings said, is lawmakers being concerned the bill would limit their choices when Utahns' choices are limited every day by existing policies.
"We're telling people in the state of Utah: 'You will go into a nursing home,"' he said. "It's not about a budget meeting, it's not about an issue of finances. It's about telling grandma, 'Grandpa's already dead, you're the only one left, and in order to get help you're going into a nursing home. And if you don't like it, tough.'"
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