Government Operations committee adopts interim study list, adds voter ID, registration, signature‑gathering and tech topics

The Utah Government Operations Interim Committee adopted its 2025 interim study list, prioritizing detailed reviews of voter identification, voter registration maintenance, signature‑gathering verification, election administration and a set of government‑operations topics including state facilities and digital identity.

Megan Bolin, senior policy analyst with the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, presented the list and explained the committee will use the items to structure interim meetings and staff research. She said the voter‑ID and registration items will include legal history, recent court challenges, cross‑state comparisons and relevant data.

The voter‑ID item will examine which forms of identification are valid and when they must be presented. The voter‑registration study will look at list maintenance, the handling of private voter records, and the availability of voter‑registration information. The signature‑gathering study will review candidate petition and ballot‑initiative verification processes, including recent audits.

The committee also listed non‑elections subjects under its purview: the Department of Government Operations’ Division of Facilities and Construction Management will be reviewed for overhead and contracting practices; the division of technology services will present its statutorily required study on state‑endorsed digital identity; and the committee will receive updates on artificial intelligence and its statewide use.

Members asked for specific additions: Representative Paul Cutler asked the staff to include study of ‘‘private’’ voter‑record classifications that complicate party lists; Representative Lisa Shepherd requested examining decentralizing signature verification and the posting of verified petition names. Chairs agreed to fold those suggestions into the study plan.

The committee then voted to adopt the interim study list as presented. Members also approved a procedural motion permitting the chairs to open committee bill files during the interim without a full committee vote for each file; the committee later clarified that chairs would present new bill files to the committee and that open‑file authority is intended to speed drafting and coordination.

The adopted study agenda provides staff direction for hearings, documents and vendor or county briefings over the summer, and establishes the topics that will generate the committee’s bill development during the interim.