Utah Senate adopts sixth substitute for House Bill 3,001, setting new State House boundaries

The Utah Senate on the floor approved the sixth substitute of House Bill 3,001, adopting new Utah State House district boundaries and designating the block assignment electronic file as the legal map. The substitute passed on a roll-call vote of 26 yeas, 1 nay and 2 absences and will be returned to the House for further action.

Senator Okerlund, the bill sponsor, told colleagues the substitute "repeals current Utah State House boundaries and establishes new Utah State House boundaries" and that the bill includes the block assignment file in electronic form as the official legal description. He described the changes as largely technical, with "1 small boundary change that did not affect any people." He credited legislative staff for preparing maps and the electronic data during a six-month redistricting process.

During questioning, Senator Valentine asked whether population was the overriding criterion. Senator Okerlund confirmed that the primary goal was population equality—"one person, one vote"—and said the redistricting committee set a target deviation of 3.5 percent, reporting that the map's overall deviations are substantially lower. The sponsor and presiding officer clarified numeric figures in the transcript (speakers corrected an earlier verbal misstatement), and the record contains inconsistent references to the highest deviation (variously stated in the transcript as 40, 46 and as being in the 20s); the Senate discussion emphasized that district sizes aim for roughly 36,000 residents.

Several senators raised practical consequences of population-driven maps. Senators questioned the likelihood that incumbents could be paired in the same district as a result of rebalancing; the sponsor acknowledged that pairing sometimes "just plain has to happen with the number of people" in rapidly growing areas such as Utah County. The debate also touched on "communities of interest," with senators noting the committee discussed the concept broadly but did not adopt a fixed definition or use it as a controlling criterion.

Before the roll call, the Chief Clerk certified that the block assignment file on the bill's media matched the security code printed on the sixth substitute and said the bill and associated electronic content are available on the Legislature's website. On roll call, the clerk recorded 26 yeas, 1 nay (Senator Romero) and 2 absent; the presiding officer announced the substitute "passes" and will be returned to the House. The Senate recessed afterward on a separate motion.

The Senate's action replaces the previously circulated substitute language for House Bill 3,001 with the sixth substitute and advances the matter back to the House; the House will determine next procedural steps.