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Utah Senate advances multiple base budgets and routine measures under suspension of rules
Summary
The Utah Senate on day five suspended reading requirements to advance several House base budgets (HB1, HB4, HB5, HB6, HB7, HB8) and a set of Senate bills and resolutions; most measures passed unanimously or nearly so after limited debate.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Senate on day five of the session moved quickly through a slate of budgets and routine measures, suspending normal reading and committee-hearing requirements to consider and pass multiple House base budgets and companion bills.
On procedural motions, the Senate voted to suspend the constitutional three-reading requirement and the 24-hour posting rule for individual bills so they could be taken up for immediate final action. That procedural suspension was used to take up the higher-education base budget (House Bill 1), the business/economic development and labor budget (HB4), the executive offices and criminal justice budget (HB5), the infrastructure and general government budget (HB6), the National Guard and veterans budget (HB7), and the social-services base budget (HB8).
The roll call outcomes announced on the floor were largely unanimous or near-unanimous: HJR6 (a joint rules resolution on compensation transparency) passed 23–3; SJR1 (performance/fiscal notes) passed 26–0; Senate Bill 35 (business personal property exemption) passed 26–0. House bills passed as follows: HB1 (higher education base budget) passed 26–0, HB4 passed 26–0, HB5 passed 26–0, HB6 passed 25–0 (four absent), HB7 passed 26–0, and HB8 passed 25–0 (four absent). The President announced each tally on the Senate floor immediately after roll calls.
Senators debating the budget items emphasized process and context rather than policy change. In presenting HB1, a sponsor said the bill is a base budget intended to keep institutions operating amid enrollment and tuition shifts; the sponsor warned that if nothing beyond the base budget is adopted, "we will have significant challenges." Another senator raised a point of order asking whether the body could suspend constitutional requirements; the point was answered by citing Article VI, Section 22 of the Utah Constitution, which allows a two-thirds suspension in the house where a bill is pending.
The Senate also received committee reports assigning bills to standing committees and adopted the Rules Committee report, with one reassignment agreed on the floor. Routine introductions and referrals were made for a batch of newly filed Senate bills and joint resolutions.
The Senate adjourned after additional recognitions and announcements and will reconvene at 10 a.m. Monday.
