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Utah Senate agrees to fast-track previously vetted bills to second-reading calendar
Summary
The Utah Senate voted to place several bills that had prior committee hearings and floor consideration onto the second-reading calendar under suspension of the rules, after adopting a procedural safeguard to read prior committee and floor vote counts aloud. Members debated whether the practice could set a problematic precedent.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Senate on Jan. 16 approved a set of motions to place previously vetted bills on the bottom of the second-reading calendar, a step intended to speed early-session handling of measures that had already received committee hearings and favorable votes the prior year.
Senator Lane Beatty, presiding as Senate president, explained the process would be limited to bills that had both standing committee hearings and a floor vote in the previous session and said the aim was "to get the system moving, especially at the early part of the session." The motions were carried under suspension of the rules.
Concerns about precedent came from Senator Wharton, who warned that the practice could create problems "in the future" if controversial bills were placed on the calendar without adequate notice. "I'm just thinking in the future, there could be times when we have real controversial bills," Wharton said, urging clarity on what qualifies as sufficient prior support.
In response, the Senate accepted a substitute motion proposed by Senator Wharton that requires, when this fast-track procedure is used, that the prior committee vote and the prior floor vote counts be read aloud on the Senate floor before the body moves the bill. The body approved that procedural safeguard by voice vote.
Senator Mansell then moved that Senate Bill 1 (described on the floor as identical to a bill from the previous year) be placed at the bottom of the second-reading calendar; the motion was approved by voice vote. The clerk subsequently announced several other bills were printed and placed on the second-reading calendar, including Senate Bill 44 (juvenile court recodification, Senator Hilliard).
Clerk announcements and committee-assignment lists were read into the record; the clerk also transmitted communications from the House listing House Bill 2 (uninsured motorist identification program, Rep. Jay Valentine) and other House measures for consideration.
The Senate’s action does not remove the right of any member to request that a bill be returned to committee for further consideration; the floor requirement to read prior committee and floor votes is intended to make the history of a fast-tracked bill transparent to members. Final votes and any further floor amendments or referrals will be recorded in subsequent sessions.
