Utah House approves a package of bills on Feb. 5, including adoption, protection-order and licensing changes

The Utah House of Representatives on Feb. 5 passed a group of bills and adopted committee reports covering adoption law changes, cross-border protection orders, commercial driver licensing compliance, and other statutory updates.

The measures approved included adoption modifications that remove certain home-study requirements in specified step-parent situations, reciprocity for Canadian protection orders, clarifications to commercial driver licensing tied to a federal drug-and-alcohol database, and corrections to which state parks may access a UDOT-managed access-road fund. Many bills passed unanimously or with large majorities.

The adoption amendments bill (House Bill 141) sponsored on the floor by Representative Shipp passed the House by voice vote and was recorded as 75 yes, 0 no. Representative Shipp described the bill with a real-world example of a step-parent seeking to finalize an adoption after the biological parent had died and said the measure eliminates a duplicative home study when a child has lived with the prospective parent for at least one year: "if the person has been living in the home has the relationship for at least 1 year or more that they don't have to do a home study." The bill will be sent to the Senate for consideration.

The House also approved House Bill 159, titled "protection order amendments," by a recorded vote of 71 yes, 0 no. Representative Tuscher told colleagues the bill aligns Utah practice to recognize protection orders issued in Canada and…