The Law and Licensing Committee approved an updated driver's education manual (dated October 2024) and amendments to R277-746 to incorporate the manual by reference and add an oversight category for annual monitoring.

Director Ben Rasmussen told the committee the changes are required because recent legislation increased some driver's education fees: "There was legislation in during the legislative session, that basically increased the fees for some driver's ed programs. So, some minor modifications are required to the driver's education manual, which needs to be incorporated by reference into the rule," Rasmussen said. Staff provided a crosswalk showing three fee increases tied to 2024 legislation (referred to in committee discussion as HP250).

Driver's education specialist Audra (Audrey) Urie answered member questions and said keeping driver education in public schools promotes equity: "The re the biggest reason is because of of equity, because it just provides the opportunity for every student to have that ability to take driver's education versus privatizing it," Urie said. Urie also noted about 75% of states still offer driver's education through public schools.

The committee approved the manual and the rule amendment on first reading and will forward both to the full board for second‑and‑final approval. Members also requested a small wording correction in the manual (change "Utah state legislators" to "Utah State Legislature"); staff confirmed they would make the edit.