Shurtleff commends outreach bill Sat, Feb 19, 2005 Larger Text Smaller Text By Scott Schwebke Standard Examiner Capitol Bureau sschwebke@standard.net SALT LAKE CITY -- A bill to fund an outreach program to fight sexual exploitation of children via the Internet received praise Friday from the Utah Attorney General's Office. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said House Bill 132 would provide his agency about $59,900 that would be used to hire a staff member for the program and pay for the development of materials for community and school presentations regarding Internet safety. The legislation is being sponsored by Sen. Pete Knudson, R-Brigham City and Rep. Tim Cosgrove, D-Murray. Cosgrove said he is pleased to sponsor the bill, adding lawmakers have an obligation to protect children from Internet predators. Funds derived from the bill would be earmarked for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which is made up of prosecutors and law officers in Utah, Idaho and Montana. The task force lost about $100,000 in federal funds last year. Since the task force was established in 2001, about 170 Internet predators and about 150 child-porn traffickers have been arrested. In other action Friday, the health care debate in the Senate moved toward compromise, as senators amended a bill that would force Intermountain Health Care to sell off its insurance arm and instead send the issue back for review. IHC could still be forced to sell, but not for 33 months and not unless a study of tax issues related to its health care division profits proves that the company is no longer functioning as a nonprofit organization. After debate and a handful of attempts to amend the bill on the floor, the Senate voted to pass the measure 18-8, with three absent. The vote is only a preliminary approval and a final vote is expected next week. A bill to increase criminal penalties for those convicted of crimes motivated by bias or prejudice was killed in a House committee Friday. Some of the 90 minutes of testimony and debate focused on reminding lawmakers, many of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that the murder of their founder Joseph Smith was itself a hate crime. The religious appeal didn't sway lawmakers in the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee, who killed the bill on a 7-4 vote. The hate crimes bill has now been defeated nine times, or 10 if you count a companion bill offered in the Senate that was defeated last week by that body's Judiciary Committee. The Associated Press contributed to this report.