Utah Senate advances slate of bills on lobbyist disclosure, eminent domain, education savings and pay for tax commissioners

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Senate on a busy floor day advanced and in several cases approved a series of measures addressing lobbyist reporting, eminent domain, education-savings tax credits and state compensation rules.

Senator Wyler introduced First Substitute Senate Bill 31 to codify internal guidance on what counts as a meeting, event or activity for lobbyist-disclosure purposes and accepted a friendly amendment from Senator Bramble clarifying that travel to and from exempt events is likewise exempt. "What Senate Bill 31 does is it basically codifies into our rules, the Emily Brown memo," Wyler said, adding the change is mostly clarifying. The Senate recorded 27 yea votes, 0 nay votes and 2 absences on the measure as read for a third time.

Senator Hilliard described Senate Bill 68 as a technical fix to make clear that an original grantor's post-condemnation right of first refusal is personal and not assignable. "The main thrust of the bill is to make it clear that this is not an assignable right the grantor has," Hilliard said, explaining the change aligns different condemnation statutes. Senators raised questions…