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Senate approves Motor Vehicle Act recodification after reducing odometer tampering penalty
Summary
Lawmakers passed House Bill 51, a 283-page recodification of motor-vehicle statutes, after adopting an amendment that reduced the felony level for odometer tampering from second degree to third degree; sponsors said substantive challenges should be handled by a separate bill and committee hearings.
The Utah Senate moved House Bill 51 (Motor Vehicle Act recodification) forward after a high-profile floor exchange about a provision that treats intentional odometer tampering as a second-degree felony. Senator Finlayson, who had read the recodification text closely, said the existing language carried a “second degree felony” designation for odometer violations and urged the chamber to reduce the penalty to a third-degree felony as a matter of proportion.
Senator Finlayson argued the current label was “a little bit heavy” for the offense and moved an amendment to delete the word “second” and insert “third.” Senator Marin and other supporters of the recodification urged colleagues to treat the bill primarily as a technical recodification rather than a vehicle for substantive penal changes, saying separate bills and committee hearings would be the appropriate forum for major policy shifts. "If this penalty is really out of line, we could have committee hearings," a sponsor said during debate.
After discussion and several members expressing support for the amendment, the Senate adopted the change. Supporters of the recodification praised the legislative staff and legal team for narrowing substantive edits across the 283-page measure while opponents warned about leaving substantial policy changes unaddressed.
On final roll call the Senate approved HB 51 and returned it to the House for further action. The clerk recorded the final vote as 24 ayes, no nays, with 5 senators absent. Sponsors said the amendment will be treated as a technical correction to the bill title and implementation details will be handled in committee if needed.
