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House approves Senate appropriations adjustment, sponsors call it the 'bill of bills'
Summary
The Utah House lifted Senate Bill 3 from Rules and approved the final appropriations adjustment, which sponsors said contains roughly $78 million in cleanup items and directs money for air quality monitors, clean buses and education priorities; vote was 68-3.
The Utah House on the floor moved and approved Senate Bill 3, the appropriations adjustment lawmakers described as the session’s "bill of bills." Floor discussion was waived and the House recorded a final vote of 68 yes and 3 no, after which the Speaker signed the measure and it was returned to the Senate for that chamber’s final signature.
Sponsor remarks framed SB 3 as a technical, end-of-session package that gathers funding components from bills approved during the year into a single adjustment. The sponsor told colleagues the bill "contains more than $78,000,000 in cleanup funding items" over two fiscal years and identified uses including funding for welding programs, additional air-quality monitors, energy-efficiency building investments and clean bus fueling stations. The sponsor said about one-third of the adjustments come from General and Education funds and that the bill helps produce a balanced budget for the year.
Members were given a crosswalk ("blue sheets") that the sponsor said maps each component of the package to its source bill and fiscal impact. Before final passage, the sponsor noted prior base-budget savings and additional revenue this year that helped free funds for education and other priorities.
The House’s action was procedural: members agreed to lift the bill from the House Rules Committee, read it for a second time and place it at the top of the House third-reading calendar before voting. The Clerk announced the roll after voting closed and confirmed passage; the bill was returned to the Senate for the president’s signature.
The House did not debate individual line items on the floor during the final passage; sponsors identified the major program areas funded and invited committee or interim follow-up for technical questions. The bill package and the sponsor’s blue-sheet crosswalk provide the detailed fiscal line items and source-bill references for legislators and the public.
What happens next: The bill will be finalized after the Senate president signs and then incorporated into the enacted appropriations for the 2017 general session. Any member-initiated questions about particular line items can be directed to the appropriations staff and the sponsor’s office.
