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Utah Senate opens 2004 session, adopts procedural rules and assigns committees; dozens of bills introduced
Summary
On Jan. 12, 2004, the Utah State Senate completed organizational business: it adopted a rules package that preserves short-title readings, designated standing committees and subcommittees, assigned dozens of bills to committees, confirmed staff hires and introduced the session's intern cohort before adjourning to a 2 p.m. recess.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Senate convened Jan. 12, 2004, completed its organizational business and recessed until 2 p.m.
Presiding officers opened the 2004 general session with ceremonial items and then moved to formal housekeeping. The body adopted the previous session's rules with the understanding that changes for 2004 would be considered later. Senator Lyle W. Hilliard moved adoption of the rules and later moved that the Senate continue its practice of reading only short titles of bills and resolutions, rather than long titles, unless a senator requests a reading; both motions passed on voice votes, with the presiding officer noting the constitutional two-thirds threshold for the short-title suspension.
The Senate president announced standing committees for the session, listing business and labor; education; government operations and political subdivisions; health and human services; judiciary, law enforcement and criminal justice; natural resources, agriculture and environment; revenue and taxation; transportation, public utilities and technology; retirement and independent entities; workforce services; and community and economic development. Joint appropriations subcommittees were likewise named by subject area.
Clerks then read short titles for a large number of bills and resolutions (S.B. 4 through S.B. 108 and several resolutions and G.R. items as announced), pairing each with the sponsoring senator for referral. Examples included S.B. 6 (refurbished computers and schools programs, Sen. Howard Stevenson), S.B. 16 (identity theft amendments, Sen. Walker), S.B. 21 (Drug Offenders Reform Act, Sen. Chris Butters) and S.B. 68 (prohibition of public funding for abortion, Sen. Bramble). By unanimous voice vote the Senate adopted the Rules Committee report to assign those bills to the standing committees and placed a subset directly on the second-reading calendar under suspension of the rules.
Senate staff and support personnel were publicly introduced and thanked. Senator Bev Evans, chair of the patronage and employees committee, moved to employ the named staff for the 2004 session; that motion passed on voice vote. Members also introduced and welcomed a large group of interns assigned to senators and staff for the session.
The day's organizational work concluded with remarks encouraging members to spend time with visiting family; the Senate recessed until 2 p.m.
Actions recorded: the Senate passed a motion to spread the invocation upon the journal and express appreciation to ceremonial participants; adopted prior rules for the 2004 session; approved continuing the practice of reading short titles unless long-title reading was requested; adopted rules-committee bill assignments; approved staff hires; and recessed until 2 p.m. All recorded motions in this session passed by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript.
