Utah Senate advances dozens of bills in Day 43 session; multiple measures sent to House for signature

The Utah Senate met on Day 43 and approved a slate of bills spanning education, criminal justice, housing and administrative changes, with many measures passed under suspension of the rules and transmitted for signature.

Senators adopted standing committee recommendations and placed multiple items on the consent calendar before taking up individual measures. Among the bills the Senate acted on were First Substitute Senate Bill 124 (childcare licensing amendments), Senate Bill 203 (real-estate trustee amendments), First Substitute House Bill 47 (property-tax assessment appeal amendments), House Bill 336 (health insurance market consolidation), and a sequence of House bills addressing wages, residency for local officials and housing-related reforms.

Several roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript. The Senate recorded 27 'yay' votes for House Bill 336 as described by a sponsor, and 28 'yay' votes for First Substitute House Bill 238 (payment-of-wages amendments). Multiple other measures were passed with unanimous or near-unanimous voice votes or were placed on the consent calendar and sent to the House for the speaker's signature.

Motions to suspend the three-reading requirement were frequently used to expedite floor action; the body repeatedly voted to consider bills for second and third reading under suspension. A number of bills were also circled (set aside temporarily) when fiscal notes or substitutions required additional consideration.

What happens next: bills that passed with final votes were ordered signed and transmitted to the House or the speaker as appropriate; other measures were circled for later fiscal review. The Senate recessed until 2 p.m. after completing communications and scheduling caucuses.