Utah Senate adopts conference report on nuclear bill, approves funding changes for wildlife mitigation and a package of health, education and public-safety laws

The Utah State Senate took up and approved a broad slate of legislation during a single session in which lawmakers adopted a conference committee report on House Bill 2‑49 (nuclear power amendments) and advanced bills on wildlife mitigation funding, ambulance billing, pharmacy rebates and other state policies.

Senators on the floor voted to adopt the conference committee report and pass fourth substitute House Bill 2‑49 after the House and Senate conference committee — chaired by Senator Milner for the Senate and Representative Albrecht for the House — revised language. Representative Albrecht, House chair of the conference committee, told the Senate that the key change was procedural language and how revenues would be allocated if agreements were negotiated, saying, “Yes. We made some changes that, actually change the major change was we say we shall negotiate versus we may negotiate and, put some terms in if they did negotiate that where some of the money would go to the counties.” The measure passed the Senate 22‑4 with 3 absent and will return to the House for further consideration.

Why it matters: The conference report applied negotiated language intended to clarify how county shares would be handled in future agreements tied to nuclear projects. The motion and roll-call on the conference report were formal legislative steps required before the bill is returned to the House for final action.

DNR funding for species mitigation, and debate over retroactive fees

One of the session’s lengthier policy debates accompanied third substitute House Bill 3‑78, described on the floor as Department of Natural Resources funding amendments. Sponsor Senator McCall said the bill creates a proactive funding mechanism to address potential endangered‑species listings and to avoid repeated emergency spending, explaining the proposal would gather funds from utility‑scale wind, solar, transmission and nuclear projects akin to mitigation fees already charged to oil and mining industries. McCall told colleagues the intent is to “get out in front” of potential listings rather than reacting to them after the fact.

Senator Vickers and others supported the need to address species protections and cited prior experiences — including prairie dog listings — that halted development. Several Senators raised concerns about whether the bill would impose retroactive fees on existing projects and the effect on electricity costs. When asked whether the bill would apply fees to projects already operating, Senator McCall answered in the affirmative but said the provision includes a sunset: “Yes. We are,” and that the fees would not be indefinite. Other senators warned the measure could increase costs for ratepayers and deter future projects.

The Senate passed the third substitute 20‑6 with 3 absent. The bill was described on the floor as having moved toward broader stakeholder support during the amendment and substitution process.

Ambulance billing, pharmacy rebates, EMS and other health measures

Senator Vickers presented third substitute House Bill 3‑01, described on the floor as ambulance provider payment amendments, saying the bill “protects Utahns from surprise ambulance billings” by establishing a clear base‑rate formula so patients and insurers can better predict costs. The Senate passed that bill 26‑0 with 3 absent.

Separately, the Senate approved pharmacy benefit and PBM reforms in first substitute House Bill 2‑57. Sponsor Senator Vickers told the chamber the measure directs regulated commercial plans and PBMs to use negotiated rebates to benefit patients (the bill does not apply to federal plans such as Medicare or Medicaid). That measure passed 23‑0 with 6 absent.

The chamber also passed third substitute House Bill 3‑91 (emergency medical services revisions), which creates a medical critical‑needs account and provides the Bureau of EMS additional enforcement tools short of license suspension. The bill passed 25‑0 with 4 absent.

Votes at a glance (selected bills and final Senate tallies)

- Conference report: Fourth substitute House Bill 2‑49 (nuclear power amendments) — conference report adopted; Senate vote: 22 yes, 4 no, 3 absent; outcome: passed and returned to the House for further consideration. - Third substitute House Bill 4‑47 (statewide catalyst campus model) — Senate vote: 23 yes, 0 no, 6 absent; outcome: passed. - Third substitute House Bill 3‑01 (ambulance provider payment amendments) — Senate vote: 26 yes, 0 no, 3 absent; outcome: passed. - Third substitute House Bill 3‑78 (DNR funding/mitigation amendments) — Senate vote: 20 yes, 6 no, 3 absent; outcome: passed. - Fifth substitute House Bill 5‑62 (law enforcement and criminal justice amendments) — Senate vote reported as 17 yes, 11 no, 1 absent; outcome: passed. - First substitute House Bill 5‑08 (school data amendments) — Senate vote: 20 yes, 6 no, 3 absent; outcome: passed. - First substitute House Bill 3‑88 (protections; substitute changed the prior version) — Senate vote reported as 17 yes, 8 no, 4 absent; outcome: passed. - Second substitute House Bill 1‑39 (governmental and accounting amendments) — Senate vote: 23 yes, 0 no, 6 absent; outcome: passed. - First substitute House Bill 1‑83 (noncitizen restricted person amendments) — Senate vote: 22 yes, 0 no, 7 absent; outcome: passed. - First substitute House Bill 27 (voting precinct amendments) — Senate vote: 20 yes, 3 no, 6 absent; outcome: passed. - Second substitute House Bill 1‑99 (substance use treatment and enforcement amendments) — Senate vote: 24 yes, 0 no, 5 absent; outcome: passed. - Second substitute House Bill 2‑73 (law enforcement investigation amendments; reverse keyword searches) — Senate vote: 24 yes, 0 no, 5 absent; outcome: passed. - Third substitute House Bill 3‑91 (EMS revisions) — Senate vote: 25 yes, 0 no, 4 absent; outcome: passed. - First substitute House Bill 2‑57 (pharmacy benefit amendments) — Senate vote: 23 yes, 0 no, 6 absent; outcome: passed. - House Bill 3‑43 (cannabis production odor mitigation) — Senate vote: 21 yes, 0 no, 8 absent; outcome: passed. - Third substitute House Bill 4‑02 (food additives in schools) — Senate vote: 16 yes, 6 no, 7 absent; outcome: passed. - Second substitute House Bill 1‑57 (energy education amendments) — Senate vote: 23 yes, 2 no, 4 absent; outcome: passed. - Second substitute House Bill 4‑41 (Franchisee Protection Act) — Senate vote: 24 yes, 2 no, 3 absent; outcome: passed. - First substitute House Bill 4‑10 (childcare amendments) — Senate vote: 23 yes, 0 no, 6 absent; outcome: passed. - House Joint Resolution 3 (state prisoner placement in Iron County Correctional Facility) — Senate vote: 27 yes, 0 no, 2 absent; outcome: passed. - First substitute House Bill 4‑71 (transportation procurement amendments) — Senate vote: 26 yes, 0 no, 3 absent; outcome: passed. - House Bill 2‑43 (agriculture and water optimization amendments) — Senate vote: 25 yes, 0 no, 4 absent; outcome: passed. - Third substitute House Bill 103 (state land access road amendments) — Senate vote: 24 yes, 1 no, 4 absent; outcome: passed. - Second substitute House Bill 4‑90 (state parks modifications) — Senate vote: 26 yes, 0 no, 3 absent; outcome: passed. - House Bill 4‑21 (grazing amendments) — Senate vote: 27 yes, 0 no, 2 absent; outcome: passed. - Second substitute House Bill 4‑42 (construction trades licensing amendments) — Senate vote: 27 yes, 0 no, 2 absent; outcome: passed. - Second substitute House Bill 5‑04 (financial and conflict of interest disclosures by candidates) — Senate vote: 26 yes, 2 no, 1 absent; outcome: passed. - Concurrences of Senate bills transmitted from the House and other concurrence votes included third substitute Senate Bill 73 (21 yes, 6 no, 2 absent), third substitute Senate Bill 129 (27 yes, 0 no, 2 absent), third substitute Senate Bill 140 (25 yes, 1 no, 3 absent), second substitute Senate Bill 165 (28 yes, 0 no, 1 absent), and fifth substitute Senate Bill 192 (25 yes, 1 no, 3 absent).

Discussion vs. decisions

Floor debate during the session split between formal actions and extended policy remarks. Key policy discussions (DNR mitigation funding and the DNR bill’s retroactivity for existing projects) were framed as legislative choices with potential cost implications for ratepayers and future project economics; those concerns were recorded on the floor and remain part of the public record. Other items (for example, ambulance and EMS reforms, pharmacy rebate changes, and technical corrections across voting, land access and procurement rules) were discussed briefly before votes.

What’s next

Most measures passed by the Senate will be returned to the House for final consideration or signature where indicated; several items were concurrence votes of House action and will be returned to the House with the Senate’s signature. The session adjourned and will reconvene at the time posted by Senate leadership.

Quotes (from the floor record)

Representative Albrecht, House Chair, Conference Committee on House Bill 2‑49: “Yes. We made some changes that, actually change the major change was we say we shall negotiate versus we may negotiate and, put some terms in if they did negotiate that where some of the money would go to the counties.”

Senator Vickers, sponsor (ambulance base rate bill): “This bill protects Utahns from surprise ambulance billings.”

Senator McCall, sponsor (DNR funding amendments): “So this bill is intended to protect our wildlife and and gathering funds from solar wind transmission and nuclear.”

Ending

The Senate concluded the floor day after passing the package and adjourning; remaining procedural steps for each bill (return to the House for signatures or additional concurrence steps) were described on the record.