Rep. Kraig Powell said Tuesday that while Republican leaders in the House made “no explicit threat to block” two pieces of legislation he had sponsored if he didn't vote in favor of a controversial open records bill, he felt there was “a great danger to oppose a position of leadership.”

The Republican lawmaker from Heber City held a press conference at the Capitol to address his apology for voting in favor of House Bill 477 and his outspoken criticism of the process that led to the bill's passage.

Powell also sought to use the attention his comments had drawn to announce that he will sponsor two bills he believes will prevent the same process — which he said led to “widespread public condemnation of the bill and even greater disdain for the Legislature as a whole” — from happening again.

The first bill would amend the Utah Open Meetings Act to include the Legislature so that closed caucus meetings, like the one where HB477 was first introduced to House Republicans on March 1, become a thing of the past.

“This requirement will ensure that no measures are proposed that cannot withstand public scrutiny,” Powell said. “It will also guarantee that any leadership pressure felt by a legislator will be public knowledge from the beginning.”

The second bill would implement a 72-hour waiting period after a bill is made public before the measure can be voted on in either the House or Senate. The “weekend rule,” as Powell called it, would allow time for lawmakers to study a bill, the media to report on it and the public to provide feedback.

“An important feature that was missing from the passage of HB477,” he said.

Because HB477 was first introduced in a closed caucus, Powell said the message he received was that Republican leadership expected members to fall in line and vote unanimously to make changes to the Government Records Access and Management Act that classify some electronic forms communications as off limits to the public, alter the fee schedule for records requests and drop the requirement that the government prove why a requested record should not be released.

Powell said Tuesday the situation was “similar to blackmail,” reiterating his belief that if he voted against the measure, House leadership might intentionally kill his two pending bills — one that made amendments to the state's enterprise zone tax credit and the other that provided worker's compensation benefits for search and rescue volunteers.

“I believe that I should not have voted for (HB477), but under the circumstances that were presented to me, I felt that it was important to do so,” Powell said.

House Speaker Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, has said Republican representatives were not told how to vote on any bill during the session. She couldn't explain why Powell felt like his two pending bills would be jeopardized if he voted against HB477.

“It's unfortunate that he felt that that process didn't live up to his expectations,” Lockhart told the Uintah Basin Standard on Monday. “If he'd like to express his concerns to me about how he felt about the process, I'm more than happy to listen to those concerns.”

Powell said Tuesday he was “gratified” by the speaker's offer to discuss his concerns, but had not yet spoken with her or any other House members since his comments first became public. He also denied that he was backtracking by offering an apology for twice voting in favor of a bill that he referred to as an “abomination” after the session was over.

“I don't think I'm backtracking,” Powell said. “I think I'm doing something called apologizing and amazingly I've been surprised at how many constituents see that as a breath of fresh air.”

As for any possible repercussions from his fellow lawmakers for his outspokenness on HB477, Powell said: “I think that as adults we can understand that there can be differences and difficulties and I'm not especially concerned that there will be any strong consequences for me.”