Utah Senate advances several bills to House floor; consumer-credit substitute fails

The Utah Senate on Jan. 25 moved a number of measures toward final action while rejecting a contentious consumer-credit substitute after extended debate.

Senators passed Senate Bill 220, a measure establishing a preference for in-state commodities, by roll-call vote. Floor sponsor "Senator Peterson" said the bill had been fully explained previously; the Senate recorded 22 aye, 0 nay, 7 absent and referred the bill to the House for further action.

The chamber also approved Senate Bill 249 (county government amendments), which passed 23 aye, 1 nay, 5 absent; Senate Bill 225 (authority for the Tax Commission to waive bond or other collateral when the tax is paid), which passed 24–0; and the first substitute to SB 232 (updates to the Pete Suazo Athletic Commission), which passed 24–0.

Senate Bill 209 (waste-fee amendments), sponsored on the floor by Senator Eastman, drew a question about whether it addressed waste-tire recycling. Senator Eastman said the bill "levels the field of the service providers" and clarified it addresses fees paid per ton for waste collection and "doesn't have anything to do with tires or recycling" as written. The bill passed 20 aye, 2 nay, 7 absent and was referred to the House.

Senators approved SB 107 (title to manufactured housing), clarifying when manufactured housing is treated as personal property or real property, on final passage (20 aye, 0 nay, 9 absent). Senate Bill 212, providing certain higher-education tuition waivers to surviving spouses and dependents of service members killed in action (and extending waivers to those disabled at 50 percent or more), was passed and referred to the House (19 aye, 0 nay, 10 absent).

A high-profile floor debate centered on the first substitute to Senate Bill 252, a package of consumer-credit code amendments presented by Senator Bramble. The sponsor said the measure would "codify existing practice with financial institutions in Utah" and make Utah law consistent with the majority of federal appellate circuits that have upheld contractual waivers. Opponents, led in floor remarks by Senator Arendt, argued the substitute would remove substantive rights from consumers and questioned the public-policy rationale and disclosure protections. Senator Arendt said she had "yet to hear a public policy reason to take away the rights of consumers," raising particular concern about mandatory arbitration and adhesion-contract clauses and the practical meaning of required bold/type-size disclosures.

After debate and a roll call, the first substitute to SB 252 failed, receiving 13 aye votes, 10 no votes, and 6 absent; the measure did not advance.

Several other bills were "circled" (set aside pending further action), including SB 188, SB 196 and House Bill 4. The Senate leadership announced additional committee hearing times to manage incoming House measures and recessed until 2 p.m.

Votes at a glance: SB 220 (in-state commodity preference) — 22–0 (passed); SB 249 (county government amendments) — 23–1 (passed); SB 225 (tax-bond waivers) — 24–0 (passed); first substitute SB 232 (Pete Suazo Athletic Commission) — 24–0 (passed); SB 209 (waste fee amendments) — 20–2 (passed); SB 107 (manufactured housing title) — 20–0 (passed); SB 212 (veteran survivor higher-education benefits) — 19–0 (passed); first substitute SB 252 (consumer credit code amendments) — 13–10 (failed).

The Senate referred the passed measures to the House for further action and circled several others for later committee work.