Committee approves cap on fee waivers for school extracurricular trips

The Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Standing Committee unanimously voted to pass out House Bill 397, the school fee waiver amendments, which places a modest limit on how many school trips a student qualifying for a fee waiver may attend without review.

Representative Welton, the bill sponsor, described that students qualifying for fee waivers currently may attend an unlimited number of fee‑based trips, sometimes resulting in a small number of students receiving thousands of dollars in waived trip fees over time. "Once a student qualifies for a fee waiver, they are able to go on every single trip that there is," he said. The bill permits one free trip and a second free trip after consultation with the principal; trips three and beyond would require families to provide payment or otherwise secure funding as other students do. The bill excludes Utah High School Activities Association events from the cap.

Why it matters: Sponsors said the amendment preserves access for low‑income students while limiting budgetary exposure for schools and districts that currently must absorb unpaid trip costs. Representative Welton told the committee that the change would likely save local education agencies money and create parity with the broader student population.

Fiscal questions and committee action Committee members questioned the fiscal note and the distribution of costs; the sponsor said impacts are modest and that the bill should save some money depending on how many additional waived trips districts currently fund. No members of the public testified and Senator Johnson moved to send HB397 with a favorable recommendation; the committee approved the motion unanimously.

Ending: The committee passed HB397 out of committee with a favorable recommendation to the full Senate.