Utah Senate advances package of bills on housing, utilities, education and oversight; several measures pass on roll calls

The Utah State Senate on a full floor session approved a slate of bills affecting housing, electric utility contracting for very large loads, higher-education general education, and prosecutorial oversight, among other measures. Several proposals drew extended debate before passing on roll-call votes and were transmitted or returned for action by the House or enrolled for signature.

Senators voted first on changes to a property-loss measure that would give narrowly targeted, short-term loans to people and businesses located within one-fifth mile of homeless services centers. Senator Plumb, the sponsor, summarized the revised proposal and the fiscal tradeoffs: “There will be no grants as part of this. Right now it is all 0% loans that have to be paid in 1 year. There has to be proof that an insurance claim was filed.” Plumb said she had cut an earlier appropriation from about $150,000 to roughly $10,000 to reduce the state’s upfront exposure. The sixth substitute of Senate Bill 121 passed on a roll call, the clerk recording the outcome as 23 yea, 5 nay, 1 absent; the measure will be sent to the House for consideration.

A heavily discussed energy and utility bill, second substitute Senate Bill 132, passed after debate about how to allocate transmission upgrade costs when very large new power users—data centers and other “large loads”—enter the grid. Sponsor Senator Bridal described the bill as the product of months of negotiation and said it creates a path for loads over 50 megawatts to be served in a competitive-contracting space while directing the Public Service Commission to make case-by-case determinations about what transmission costs should be allocated to the new load and what portion should be borne by the broader customer base. “What we have now is an exponential increase in demand where companies are coming in and wanting to place data centers,” Bridal said; “we have to look at this in a different way.” The Senate recorded the bill as passing with 28 yea, 1 nay and will send it to the House.

Senate Bill 3 34, establishing a Center for Civic Excellence at Utah State University to develop a coherent set of general-education courses in the humanities and a required course on American institutions, drew the session’s longest debate.…