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Utah Senate clears a large slate of bills, including real estate, education and energy measures
Summary
The Utah Senate advanced and passed numerous bills on Feb. 29, 2012, moving several third-reading items to the House and approving technical corrections and substantive changes across areas including real estate, education, municipal finance and energy tax incentives.
The Utah State Senate moved a broad package of legislation on Feb. 29, 2012, adopting committee reports, correcting technical errors and approving multiple bills by roll-call votes.
On the consent calendar, First Substitute House Bill 191, described by Senator Weiler as a real-estate cleanup bill with appraisal and timeshare clarifications, initially passed unanimously on a consent vote; Senators later reconsidered it to correct a technical omission, adopted an amendment removing an unnecessary code reference, and gave final passage to the amended first substitute. The clerk recorded 26 yea, 0 nay, 3 absent on final passage.
Senate Bill 48 (Mission of Public Education) was reconsidered to fix a technical formatting error in House amendments; the Senate concurred with the House amendment and passed SB48 by roll-call, 28 yea, 0 nay, 1 absent.
Several other third-reading items passed, typically with unanimous or near-unanimous support: First Substitute SB235 (clarifying stalking injunctions to require judges consider existing child or visitation orders) passed 26-0; SB261 (charter school revisions, including a 3% management fee for the first two years for higher-education-sponsored charters) passed 26-0; SB275 (municipal government revisions removing a 3-year limit on certain pole contracts) passed 27-0 after the sponsor noted a potential conflict; SB65 (alternative energy tax incentives, third substitute) passed 28-0 after substitution and amendments to credit terms; SB200 (justice court recodification) passed 28-0; and SB280 (Budget Reserve Account amendments to increase automatic transfer thresholds) passed by roll-call (clerk recorded results as noted on the floor).
On the second-reading calendar, the Senate advanced First Substitute House Bill 78 (Utah Division of Consumer Protection Amendments) after adopting a floor substitute; the clerk reported 23 yea, 2 nay, 4 absent on the second-reading vote. House Bill 276 (aiding solicitation amendments) was approved on second reading (25-0). Other bills, including HB44 (theft amendments), were circled for further negotiation because of fiscal notes or suggested amendments.
Several bills were circled for further work or to allow sponsors time to negotiate amendments, and floor leaders used the procedural 'circle' extensively to manage the calendar. The Senate recessed for lunch and reconvened at 2 p.m.
"This bill is, somewhat of a cleanup bill for the real estate this year," Senator Weiler said of HB191 on the floor. Senator Jones said the motion to reconsider SB48 was to address a technical problem and that the substance was unchanged.
What happens next: Passed bills will be transmitted to the House for any further action required by conference or signature. Bills that were circled remain on the calendar for later consideration.
