Utah House passes package of bills on education, taxes, water and repeat‑offender DUI measure

The Utah House on January 29, 1998, completed a busy floor day, approving a slate of bills on education funding and scheduling, municipal sales‑tax exemptions for volunteer events, water quality rulemaking and a high‑profile DUI repeat‑offender proposal and forwarding the measures to the Senate.

Among the largest policy actions, the House passed HB10, a conditional licensing scheme for repeat DUI offenders. Representative Nora B. Stevenson, sponsor of HB10, said the bill is “one of my three priority bills” and described it as a targeted tool to keep repeat offenders off roads while enabling rehabilitation. The measure creates a period in which certain repeat offenders may hold a ‘‘no‑alcohol’’ conditional license that prohibits operating a vehicle with any alcohol in their system; the sponsor said the two‑year conditional period (longer for subsequent convictions) was sized for enforceability and informed by a task force that included the Utah Highway Patrol and prosecutors. After extended floor questioning on testing thresholds and penalties, the House passed HB10 by voice and recorded tallies (66 yes, 0 no). The bill now heads to the Senate for further consideration.

The House also advanced several education and funding measures. Lawmakers passed HB47, an appropriation to expand English‑as‑a‑second‑language adult education programs. The bill’s sponsor described large class sizes at programs such as the Horizonte School and urged targeted distribution through the State Office of…