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Senate advances multiple bills; consent calendar clears and several measures set for third reading
Summary
On Day 17 the Utah Senate approved numerous consent-calendar bills, amended House and Senate measures, circled bills for technical fixes and tabled a tax-credit bill on fiscal grounds; several bills were passed to the third-reading calendar.
The Utah Senate’s Day 17 floor session moved a wide set of bills forward, advancing several on unanimous or recorded votes, adopting floor amendments, and tabling at least one item for fiscal reasons.
On the consent calendar, the Senate recorded passage of Second Substitute House Bill 39 (Optometry Practice Act amendments), which preserves eyeglass prescriptions and broadens access to fill them; the president directed a unanimous vote and the clerk recorded the passage and return to the House for signature. House Bill 73 (pre-need funeral insurance filings) passed on consent after the sponsor described it as a narrow change removing a sequential-number requirement.
Other measures the Senate advanced or amended on Feb. 3 include:
- Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 (encouraging advanced health care directives), presented by Sen. Jones; the resolution passed unanimously and will be forwarded to the House. - Senate Bill 148 (transportation maintenance facilities), presented by Sen. Adams; the bill passed and will go to the House. - Senate Bill 143 (income tax — pass-through entities), presented by Sen. Niederhauser; the Senate passed the bill on third reading after floor summation and it will be transmitted to the House. - First Substitute House Bill 29 (insurance amendments) received and adopted Amendment 5 (permit reporting electronically) and was placed at the bottom of the third-reading calendar. - House Bill 33 (fireworks amendments) was amended to tighten hours and offer limited local date flexibility; the floor adopted Amendment 4 and the bill was placed on the third-reading calendar. - House Bill 43 (licensing exemption for movie-set professionals) passed and will be placed on the third-reading calendar.
The floor also addressed fiscal concerns on specific items. House Bill 250 (tax credit for taxpayers with a dependent with a disability), which carries a fiscal note reported on the floor, passed second reading but was tabled on third reading on a motion citing fiscal impact.
Senators circled Senate Bill 42 (limitations on deficiency judgments following short sales) to permit technical changes and to resolve an outstanding fiscal-note question. The Senate also voted to reconsider a prior action on Senate Bill 112 so the sponsor can revisit the fiscal note; that bill was placed on the top of the third-reading calendar.
Recognition and announcements: senators recognized the 2012 Utah Youth of the Year finalists from the Boys & Girls Club; the Rules Committee scheduled a meeting within two minutes of adjournment. The Senate adjourned until 10 a.m. the next day.
Votes at a glance (selected items recorded on Feb. 3): - Second substitute HB 39 (Optometry amendments): unanimous recorded consent; forwarded to House. - HB 73 (Pre-need funeral insurance): 28–0 recorded (consent); returned to House for speaker signature. - SCR 2 (Advanced health care directives): 28–0 recorded; forwarded to House. - SB 148 (transportation maintenance facilities): recorded favorable vote (28–0 recorded in transcript); forwarded to House. - SB 143 (pass-through entities): recorded as passed on roll call (28–0 recorded in transcript); forwarded to House. - HB 29 (insurance amendments): 27–0 recorded on second reading; placed at bottom of third reading calendar. - HB 33 (fireworks): 21–6 recorded; placed at bottom of third-reading calendar. - HB 43 (barber/cosmetologist exemptions): 26–0 recorded; placed at bottom of third-reading calendar. - HB 250 (tax credit for dependent with disability): passed second reading (24–1 recorded), then tabled on third reading for fiscal impact.
Transcript note: some vote tallies and roll-call transcriptions in the floor record contain OCR/formatting inconsistencies (for example one entry reads "20 7" in the place of a numeric tally). Where the transcript text is unclear, this roundup uses the directly recorded roll-call tallies given expressly at the time of the chair’s announcement or notes the tally as not specified.
Next steps: Many items on the third-reading calendar will be considered in subsequent sessions; bills forwarded to the House await House action or concurrence, and circled bills will return with technical fixes or fiscal-note resolution.
