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Utah Senate moves dozens of House and Senate measures on House day; disability hiring bill fails
Summary
On March 2, 2010 (day 37), the Utah Senate convened its 'House day,' passing a long list of House and Senate measures on consent and third reading while rejecting House Bill 17, a narrowly debated measure to create an optional on-the-job hiring route for applicants with disabilities.
The Utah State Senate on March 2, 2010 advanced a large package of House and Senate measures during its 37th day of session, adopting committee reports and passing numerous bills on the consent and third-reading calendars while a contested employment bill for people with disabilities failed on the floor.
The session opened with an invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, then moved quickly into communications and committee reports. Senators adopted a slate of committee reports and placed many bills on the second- and third-reading calendars. On the consent calendar, several House bills described by sponsors as technical or compliance changes moved through with unanimous or near-unanimous support. Examples include House Bill 316 (Disabled Veterans Property Tax Exemption Amendments), which Senator Dayton said removes an annual citizenship re-verification requirement for disabled veterans; House Bill 273 (International Trade Commission amendments), sponsored by Senator Madsen to recognize an expanded diplomatic function for the state commission; and House Bill 132, designating a stretch of road the Pioneer Trail Memorial Highway.
Other bills adopted by the Senate on the day included statutory clarifications, criminal-penalty changes and administrative updates. Under suspension of the rules, the body passed measures such as the first substitute House Bill 106 (expedited background checks for human services providers), intended to speed staffing approvals for disability service providers, and third substitute Senate Bill 145 (medical malpractice amendments), which the sponsor described as setting a hard cap and clarifying affidavit-of-merit procedures. Roll-call and voice votes were used throughout the calendar to record final passage or referral.
Not every measure cleared the floor. House Bill 17, a bill to permit departments the optional use of a department-approved on-the-job examination to appoint qualified people with disabilities (adding a six-month on-the-job trial period to an existing year-long allowance), drew a lengthy floor debate on equity and the competitive hiring process. Senator Lillian Lilienquist, the sponsor, described the provision as a voluntary option designed to help applicants who have difficulty with online forms or standard interview formats; opponents, including Senator Madsen, argued it would short-circuit open competition. After debate, the Senate recorded that House Bill 17 failed, with a roll-call tally reported in the transcript as 14 yea, 11 nay, and 4 absent.
Most other bills carried the will of the chamber and were sent back to the House for the speaker’s signature or were placed on the Senate’s third-reading calendar. The Senate also approved first-substitute Senate Bill 52, which adds two regents from rural-designated areas to the Board of Regents, and took ceremonial time to honor Utah’s first Latino legislator, John E. Olivari, and to receive former major-league pitcher Vernon Law as a guest.
What happens next: bills passed by the Senate will be transmitted to the House for any required signatures or further action; items circled by the chamber will return to committee or a future floor calendar according to Senate rules. The record shows a busy floor day with wide agreement on many procedural and technical measures and a narrowly divided outcome on a social-policy employment measure.
