Utah Senate advances dozens of bills in final week; township reform and DABC sticker repeal among major actions

The Utah State Senate, meeting March 5, 2009, moved a large package of bills through final or concurrence votes as it entered the last week of the legislative session. Among the measures voted were a major local-government rewrite (first substitute SB73), changes to motorcycle uniform fees (SB245), and a measure to eliminate manual DABC bottle stickers that the sponsor said would save roughly $950,000.

Why it matters: Several of the bills affect how local governments, schools and state agencies operate, and a number of widely watched policy changes were resolved on the Senate floor — sending the measures to the House for further action and leaving implementation questions for local officials and agencies to sort out.

What the Senate passed and advanced: The session’s business combined routine concurrence votes with several debated items.

- Senate Bill 245 (uniform fees on motorcycles): Sponsor Senator Goodfellow said the bill corrects an inequity in the uniform-fee structure by creating three tiers; examples cited on the floor included a $25 fee for motorcycles under 200cc, $35 for mid-size bikes and $100 for the largest. The motion to record a unanimous vote was directed and the clerk recorded the bill as passing with 23 yea, 0 nay, 6 absent; it will be forwarded to the House.

- First Substitute Senate Bill 73 (Unincorporated Areas Amendment): The substitute, presented and explained by Senator Maine, rewrites township creation, annexation and withdrawal procedures, adds a petition/election process and an ad hoc dispute committee (city, county, neutral), and repeals a 10/20 sunset that previously affected township piecemealing. The substitute passed on the floor (26–0, 3 absent) and was sent to the House.

- First Substitute Senate Bill 106 (Alcoholic Beverage Control Act restrictions): Sponsor Senator McCoy asked to remove redundant DABC bottle stickers, noting barcode tracking and a fiscal note estimating about $950,000 in annual savings from ending the manual-stickering process; the substitute passed and was placed on the third-reading calendar.

- Other measures advanced: The Senate recorded concurrence, passage, or circling for many items including SJR18 (fiscal-note process), SB39 (immigration amendments), SB35 (sales and use tax clarifications), SB56 (military installation development authority), SB118 (parental responsibility for juvenile gang offenses), HB202 (school crossing guard complaint procedures) and HB128 (electronic prescribing). Most of these passed by wide margins or unanimous recorded votes.

Votes at a glance (selected): SB245: 23–0 (6 absent); SB39: 26–0 (3 absent); SB35: 24–0 (5 absent); First Substitute SB73: 26–0 (3 absent); First Substitute SB106: 25–0 (4 absent). Several other bills recorded similar unanimous or near-unanimous outcomes.

What’s next: Passed measures will go to the Utah House of Representatives for its consideration; bills placed on the third-reading calendar await final floor action. Several items discussed on the floor raise administrative and implementation questions for agencies and counties — for example, how township petition elections will be administered and how DABC will operationalize barcode-based enforcement — that lawmakers and affected officials will need to coordinate before policies take effect.

Ending: The Senate recessed for the day with a packed agenda set for the session’s final week; remaining third-reading items and some procedural disputes (including a contentious lift-from-rules motion on school equalization legislation) were left for later consideration.