Senate amends education bill to include fee waivers and approves Fifth Substitute Senate Bill 34, sending it back to House

The Utah State Senate on the floor amended a substitute education bill to insert explicit language covering fee waivers for secondary students, then suspended the rules to consider Fifth Substitute Senate Bill 34 and voted to return the measure to the House for further action.

An unidentified senator on the floor proposed inserting the phrase "including fee waivers" after the phrase "secondary students" to make clear that waivers required by law and defined by the Utah State Board of Education would be encompassed. "One of the things we have in public education is called free waivers...the inference on line 173 is at no cost to secondary students," the speaker said while offering the amendment. The amendment was adopted by voice vote and the chair declared the bill amended.

Sponsor remarks emphasized the substitute bill had broad input. "This substitute bill is a far superior version," said an unidentified sponsor who said they had served on the task force and that hundreds of people provided input during drafting. The sponsor urged prompt action on the measure.

Following amendment adoption, the body voted to suspend rules to take up Fifth Substitute Senate Bill 34 for second and third reading (not for final passage). Clerks conducted a roll call; the tally was announced in two versions on the floor, first "26 aye, 1 nay, 2 absent" and later updated to "27 aye, 1 nay, 1 absent." The chair said the bill will be referred back to the House for further action.

The Senate also approved a motion to place Senate Bill 277 at the top of the second-reading calendar under suspension of the rules and agreed to a 10-minute recess.

The measure's next procedural step is action in the House following referral; no final passage of the bill on third reading was announced on the floor during this session.