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Senate passes a string of bills under suspension of rules, including funding and education measures
Summary
On Feb. 27 the Utah Senate cleared a long list of house and senate bills—many under suspension of rules—including House Bill 7 (computer-refurbishing pilot), House Bill 285 (county land-use planning appropriation), and multiple appropriations and task force bills; roll-call tallies are recorded in the transcript for each item.
The Utah Senate handled a broad second-reading calendar on Feb. 27, advancing and passing numerous house and senate measures under suspension of the rules.
Early in the session the body passed House Bill 18 (27–0 with 2 absent) after a brief discussion and a roll-call vote. The Senate also took up a sequence of fiscal- and task-force bills the floor had pulled from rules. Among the measures acted on were:
- House Bill 7, a pilot program to refurbish donated computers at the Gunnison prison for schools to purchase at reduced prices; the Senate adopted an amendment to move appropriations into the Minimum School Program Act and passed the bill (roll-call outcome recorded in the transcript).
- Second Substitute House Bill 375, the Amusement Park Rider Responsibility Act, which requires parks to post rider-conduct rules and requires patrons to report injuries; the measure passed under suspension with recorded yeas and nays.
- House Bill 285, an appropriation to support county land-use plans, where floor amendments corrected fiscal notes and adjusted combined county/city prioritization amounts; the amended bill passed by roll call.
- Numerous appropriations and program bills (examples in the transcript include funding for higher-education tuition assistance, at-risk youth programs, juror reimbursement, National Guard tuition assistance and museum and capital projects). Many of these were amended on the floor (commonly reducing line-item amounts and removing 'intent' language) and were passed in recorded votes.
Floor practice for this day involved frequent use of motions to suspend the rules and place bills on calendars; several bills were read in for the first time and then considered under suspension because the body had agreed to a calendar strategy to conclude many house fiscal-note bills that day.
Votes at a glance (selected items and outcomes recorded on the Senate floor): - House Bill 18 — passed (27 aye, 0 nay, 2 absent). - Senate Bill 2-22 — passed (27 aye, 1 nay, 1 absent) to third reading (discussed in detail in a companion article). - House Bill 7 — passed (roll-call recorded; amendment moved appropriation into Minimum School Program Act). - Second Substitute House Bill 375 — passed (roll-call recorded; 24–25 tallies appear in the transcript for various items; check official journal for final enrolled vote counts).
The Senate also read in and placed substitute House Bill 145 (Schools for the 21st Century, including charter-school provisions) on the calendar; sponsors described it as a statewide pilot with state-level oversight for charter authorization, which some senators said raises questions about local control.
The transcript records the roll-call names and summary tallies for each recorded vote; for complete vote-by-vote detail the Senate journal or clerk’s certified roll-call should be consulted.
