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House approves bill to require school boards to adopt employee suggestion programs
Summary
House Bill 29 would require local school boards to adopt an employee suggestion program; Representative Pete Swazo sponsored the bill, Representative Paul Shepherd offered friendly amendments to protect records and anonymous submissions, and the amended bill passed the House 59-6 and was referred to the Senate.
The House approved House Bill 29, which asks local school boards to adopt a program allowing employees to make written suggestions intended to improve efficiency and promote educational improvements.
Sponsor Representative Pete Swazo described the bill as a mechanism for school employees to offer ideas to improve operations and save costs. Representative Paul Shepherd offered pink-sheet "friendly" amendments that streamlined the process, used existing log systems to reduce recordkeeping burdens, made program responses available under Utah—s Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA), and sought to prevent anonymous allegations from being publicly aired without due process.
Members questioned whether the amendments conflicted with an anonymous suggestion provision on page 1, line 23; Shepherd explained the program would retain the option for anonymous suggestions while allowing boards to log names when submitters choose to identify themselves. After debate, the House adopted the Shepherd amendments and passed the bill as amended by a vote of 59 to 6; the bill will be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration.
Next steps: The House referred House Bill 29 to the Senate. The pink-sheet amendments adopted on the floor are part of the bill record forwarded with the transmittal.
