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Senate adopts conference report on House Bill 279 to allow counties administrative hearings, bars civil penalties for traffic adjudications
Summary
The Utah Senate adopted the conference committee report on House Bill 279, restoring a narrower bill that allows counties to use administrative hearings while clarifying counties may not impose civil penalties in adjudications for county moving-traffic ordinance violations; the measure passed and will be sent to the House.
The Utah Senate on March 11 adopted the conference committee report on House Bill 279, which authorizes counties to use the administrative-hearing process for certain county matters while explicitly prohibiting counties from imposing civil penalties in adjudications for county moving-traffic ordinance violations.
Senator Vickers, who brought the motion to adopt the conference committee report, said the conference negotiations returned the measure to “a fairly simple little bill” after it had been expanded in earlier stages. He told colleagues the conference language includes a court-recommended clarification that ‘‘a county may not impose a civil penalty in adjudication for the violation of the county moving traffic ordinance,’’ addressing concerns that local jurisdictions could use the adjudication process to generate additional revenue.
There was no extended floor debate on final passage. A roll call reported 24 yes votes, 1 no vote, and 4 senators absent; the president announced the bill will be sent to the House for further consideration.
The Senate took the action on the third-reading calendar after the presiding officer read communications from the House transmitting several bills for the Senate’s consideration earlier in the session.
The next procedural step is transmittal back to the House; the Senate record shows the conference report was adopted and the bill carried forward to the lower chamber.
