Panel advances five-bill recodification of Title 17 and opens separate file for substantive changes
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Summary
Staff updated the committee on a multi-bill recodification of Title 17 (county code) that reorganizes and modernizes the code without substantive policy changes; the committee also opened a separate committee bill file to consider substantive policy changes discovered during the recod process.
Legislative counsel told the Political Subdivisions Interim Committee Aug. 20 that the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel is recodifying Title 17 of the Utah Code into multiple bills to reorganize, modernize, and clarify county law without making substantive changes. Ruth Ann Ogi Frost, legislative counsel, said a recodification reorganizes outdated language, updates drafting style, and eliminates legalese but generally does not make substantive policy changes. "We don't make substantive changes in a recod," she said. Frost added that limited clarifications may be made when older provisions are ambiguous and stakeholders agree on the intended meaning. The office has split the effort into five bills because of the size of Title 17: two bills to reorganize the title, two bills to update cross-references across the code (for example in Title 59), and a bill to coordinate municipal provisions in Title 10 so county and municipal land-use acts remain parallel. Frost said the reorganized Title 17 will begin with chapter 60 because earlier chapter numbers are already used by prior recodifications. Staff provided an index and a section-by-section crosswalk on the committee web page to help reviewers track where existing sections will move in the new structure. Frost said stakeholders and counties have participated in drafting and that the office will correct any crosswalk errors identified during review. Committee members then voted to open a sixth committee bill file to address substantive policy issues that stakeholders flagged during the recod process. Representative Colford moved to open the file; the motion carried unanimously. Lincoln Shirts, representing the Association of Counties, told the committee the association is supportive of the technical recod effort and will bring a few substantive items to the separate substantive bill file. "We are supportive of the draft recod as currently constituted," Shirts said. The recodification and the substantive bill file will proceed separately; the recod bills are intended to be non-substantive reorganizations while the sixth bill will be used for policy changes requiring committee deliberation.
