House convenes special veto session to consider override of HB198 clarifying attorney general duties

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah House of Representatives convened a special veto-override session on April 18, 2018, to consider gubernatorial vetoes including House Bill 198, an amendment that clarifies how the attorney general provides legal opinions to the legislature.

The session opened with an invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance before clerks read the formal call for the session and Lieutenant Governor Spencer J. Cox certified the notice. Presiding officers named in the call included Senate President Wayne Niederhauser and House Speaker Greg Hughes.

A motion to take up the question of overriding the governor’s veto of House Bill 198 was placed on the floor. A representative who spoke at length in favor of the bill told colleagues that HB198 does not create a new right to an opinion from the attorney general but “merely clarifies the procedure for the attorney general to follow in carrying out that statutory duty.” The sponsor explained the bill requires an initial conflict-of-interest screening by the attorney general’s office; if a conflict exists, the office must establish a separation so both parties can be represented and confidentiality preserved.

“This bill,” the representative said on the floor, “specifies that the attorney general shall determine whether there may be a conflict of interest in rendering us a legal opinion. If the attorney general concludes that there could be or is a conflict of interest, then the attorney general's obligation is to notify both parties and to establish a division, a separation within his office so that both parties in the conflict can be represented.”

The sponsor framed the measure as consistent with existing practice in other jurisdictions and said the statute provides a remedy if the independently elected attorney general refuses to provide an opinion: the legislature may seek an order from the Utah Supreme Court to mandate compliance with the statutory duty. The floor speaker characterized the attorney general as an independently elected official who may be called upon to advise different state officers and said HB198 clarifies procedures to permit representation of both the governor and the legislature when appropriate.

House leadership also moved that the governor’s veto letters accompanying several items, including line items of House Bill 3 and other bills named in the call, be spread upon the House journal. The chief clerk reminded members of the constitutional two-thirds threshold required to override (noted in the session as 63 affirmative votes) and stated the matter would be transmitted to the Senate for its consideration while the House awaited the Senate’s action.

The House temporarily recessed under a “qualified saunter” motion — allowing members to remain near the chamber — for 15 minutes while clerks confirmed the electronic vote and action-entry system was recording items correctly.

No formal roll-call override result for HB198 is recorded in this transcript excerpt; the clerk reminded members of the two-thirds requirement and the session record indicates the House prepared materials for transmittal to the Senate for its consideration.

The next procedural steps recorded in the excerpt were transmission of the override matter to the Senate and a brief recess while staff worked through technical vote-entry issues.