Utah Senate advances sweeping package: bills on healthcare, education, public safety and infrastructure pass on day 45

On day 45 of the 2015 Utah Legislature the State Senate cleared a long consent and concurrence calendar, approving a broad set of bills on healthcare, education, public safety, and administrative alignment and returning some items to rules or the House for further action.

The Senate approved, often by unanimous or near-unanimous margins, a mix of policy and technical bills. Among the earlier consent items, the body passed House Bill 352 (title insurance reporting and assessment amendments) and moved other fiscal-note items onto second- or third-reading calendars. Senator Shiozawa summarized first substitute House Bill 249 as granting adults conceived by artificial insemination “the right after becoming adult to request non-identifying medical history of the donor,” and the bill was carried forward without recorded opposition on the floor.

The upper chamber also took up several substantial concurrence items. First substitute Senate Bill 76 (rural physician loan repayment) was amended in the House to add an appointed executive director seat and to clarify eligibility for physicians practicing in rural counties; Senator Hinkins told colleagues that $400,000 had been appropriated while only $300,000 was needed, allowing $100,000 to lapse back to executive appropriation. The Senate concurred; the measure passed on a recorded vote and will return to the House for the speaker's…