Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Session Votes Roundup topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House approves package of bills on Jan. 29, including employment, education, background checks and code adoptions
Summary
On Day 5 of the 2010 session the Utah House passed a range of bills: HB17 (employment supports for people with disabilities), HB45 (state construction code adoption), HB55 (cultural grants), HB65 (insurance product regulation), HB73 (construction trades continuing education), HB42 (career status for school employees), HB81 (periodic background checks) and several consent items; votes and tallies are below.
The House took multiple roll-call votes on Jan. 29 and advanced bills across several policy areas.
Key outcomes (selected):
- HB17, "amendments to programs for people with disabilities" (sponsor Representative Stephen Mascaro): Passed 64–0; sponsor said the bill simplifies career-service hiring to help people with disabilities find employment and cited unemployment rates among people with disabilities at roughly 60–65%.
- HB45, "State Construction Code adoption" (Representative Michael Morley): Passed 67–2; bill adopts the 2009 code with an implementation delay to July to allow designers and builders time to adjust.
- HB55, "Department of Community and Culture grants amendments" (Representative Julie Fisher): Passed 52–0; technical fix requiring more frequent board meetings for timely grant dispersal.
- HB65, insurance-product regulation (Representative Jim Berg): Passed 64–3; bill requires securities licensing standards for certain variable products to improve consumer protections.
- HB73, "Utah Construction Trades continuing education amendments" (Representative Michael Morley): Passed 68–1; moves course approval and tracking responsibilities to state licensing to broaden access and standardize continuing education.
- HB42 (first substitute), school-district employees' career status requirements (Representative Menlove): Passed 48–19; bill allows districts to extend career-status decisions up to five years in specified circumstances such as transfers or medical leaves.
- HB81, "school employee criminal background checks" (Representative Cheryl Allen): Passed 65–0 after an amendment changing discretionary language from "may" to "shall" for periodic checks; sponsor cited a legislative audit that found issues in a sample of employees and said the change will bring state law into compliance with audit recommendations.
Several other bills were read for the first time or placed on consent/third-reading calendars by committee report. A list of consent-passage items and committee placements was entered into the record for transmission to the Senate or assignment to standing committees.
What's next: Most bills passed the House and will be transmitted to the Senate; several were placed on consent or third-reading calendars for additional floor consideration.
