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Votes at a glance: key bills passed by the Utah House
Summary
The Utah House passed a range of bills on March 3, 2009, including measures on workers'compensation for motor carriers, victim-rights remedies, local government fees, truth-in-advertising for retailers, drug-testing standards, tobacco access, heavy beer delivery and transportation governance; most measures were transmitted to the Senate.
The Utah House on March 3 advanced and passed multiple bills that will be transmitted to the Senate, approving a mix of policy changes and technical amendments.
Among the measures the chamber approved: First Substitute House Bill 308 (Workers'Compensation Motor Carriers) passed 66-0. Representative Ibsen said the bill allows owner-operators who lease to carriers to opt out of the statutory employee definition and arrange independent workers'compensation coverage. The House uncircled the bill and approved first substitute language before passage.
Second Substitute House Bill 148 (Victim Rights Amendments) passed 54-20 after adopting an amendment cutting a filing window from six months to 90 days. Representative Webb, the sponsor, said the bill gives victims or their representatives a post-proceedings remedy to petition a judge if they believe their rights were ignored; the judge may then assess whether a remedy is appropriate without infringing defendants'rights.
First Substitute House Bill 274 (Local Government Fees and Charges) passed 75-0. Representative Brent Wallace said the substitute clarifies definitions (impact versus connection fees), inserts a preliminary design and schedule process, adds an assessment step to help budgeting coordination, and provides an early mediation option to resolve fee disputes.
House Bill 353 (Truth in Advertising Act amendments) passed 70-2 after amendments that shift the point of infraction to when a good or service is provided, create a training "safe haven" for retailers (two incidents allowed before loss of protection), and set an effective date of Jan. 1, 2010. Sponsor Representative Michael Morley said the changes were designed to address retailers'concerns while giving parents a civil remedy when a retailer who advertises compliance fails to follow through.
First Substitute House Bill 145 (Workplace Drug Testing Programs) was debated and amended; the chamber adopted clarifying language that added "to terminate employment" after the word "action" so that mandatory confirmation by a federally certified lab applies before employers take termination actions. The amendment responded to member concerns about temporary safety measures and false positives.
Other final-floor votes included first substitute HB 456 (Tobacco Access Restrictions), which passed 60-12; HB 349 (Heavy Beer Amendments), which passed 58-2 and allows beer distributors to deliver higher-alcohol beer to certain licensees; HB 342 (Disproportionate Rental Fee Amendments) passed 72-0; HB 68 (Development Exactions) passed 72-0 after recall and concurrence with Senate amendments; and HB 371 (Transportation Governance) passed 60-0. Several bills were read into the record with committee recommendations for further action.
Most bills will be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration or returned to the Senate for signature, per the clerk'and Speaker'led proceedings.
Votes recorded on the floor were read aloud by the Speaker or Clerk at the time of each matter and are reflected in the House record for March 3, 2009.
