Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House approves task force to study alternative water revenue sources, clarifies membership
Summary
Lawmakers approved Senate Bill 5,012 to create a gubernatorial‑legislative task force to study alternative water funding; debate clarified membership balance, voting rights, and whether the legislature or executive could have formed the group without statute.
Salt Lake City — The Utah House considered Senate Bill 5,012, which creates a gubernatorial and legislative task force to explore alternative revenue sources for water funding. The sponsor described a structure with four legislative voting members (two from each chamber/cochairs of the Water Development Commission), three executive‑branch voting members, and five additional statewide appointees selected by the governor to present information but not vote.
Representative Philpott questioned whether the executive branch could have formed the task force without legislative action and expressed concern that the executive would dominate membership. The sponsor said statutory placement would ensure legislative involvement and oversight. Representative Uhr later offered a technical amendment to specify that one member of the House be appointed by the Speaker and to ensure parity in legislative appointments, which the sponsor said corrected language that had read as providing only one legislative appointee.
A separate motion to increase the number of a particular category of appointees was debated and defeated after members argued the task force should remain bipartisan and balanced as negotiated with the Senate and governor.
After clarifying amendments, the House voted on the amended Senate Bill 5,012; the record shows the bill as amended was returned to the Senate for further consideration after floor action.
