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Utah House advances broad slate of bills; several pass on final votes
Summary
The Utah House on Jan. 20 moved dozens of measures to the Senate, passing bills on retirement participation, traffic safety, school-bus lighting, welfare and other matters. Roll-call votes recorded outcomes for HB207, HB197, HB180, HB30, HB24, HB205, HB29 and HB47.
The Utah House of Representatives on Jan. 20 advanced a broad package of bills, approving several measures by roll-call and referring them to the Senate.
Bills that passed the House included HB207, which allows annual legislative appropriations from the constitutional defense account derived from the mineral lease restricted account; the measure passed 66–1. Representative Thomas Hatch explained the bill clarifies that only portions of the account from mineral leases (not revenue-sharing taxable receipts) would be available for appropriation.
On worker and retirement issues, HB197, permitting an entity such as a credit union to withdraw from the state retirement system and set up its own arrangement, passed 68–0. Traffic-safety legislation in HB180 (clarifying following-too-close language, prohibiting crossing gore markings and clarifying yield rules while merging) passed 68–0. Safety-related HB30, requiring school-bus operators to display headlights and clearance lights while operating and clarifying red-light signaling with penalties for noncompliance, passed 55–17.
The House also approved HB24, directing the Strategic Planning and Public and Higher Education Committee to study public-education financing and five specified tasks (revenue sources, local flexibility, equity/adequacy, student fees and alternative funding), by a 66–3 vote.
Two measures addressing human services passed after floor debate. HB205, a $360,000 fiscal-note appropriation to provide intervener services to Utah residents who are both deaf and blind, passed 65–8 after sustained questioning about existing programs and fiscal overlaps. HB29, amendments to public assistance that tweak employment-related extensions and carve a domestic-violence exception out of the statute’s 20% slot pool, passed 39–30.
Environmental and programmatic changes also moved forward: the House repealed the Waste Tire Recycling Industrial Assistance Loan Program (HB47) 62–1 after debate about trust-fund shortfalls and whether to raise the tire fee to sustain recycling subsidies. Several other bills and committee reports were approved or placed on calendars for later consideration.
Most measures now proceed to the Senate for consideration; the House recessed for lunch at the end of the session.
