Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the State Legislation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Utah Senate approves wide slate of bills on day 19; several return to House
Summary
On day 19 of the Senate session, members approved a series of bills across education, taxation, health care and government operations, including measures on Medicaid dental coverage, school counseling roles and property-tax assessment safeguards. Tally counts and procedural actions were recorded by roll call.
The Utah Senate on day 19 approved a broad set of bills spanning education, health, taxation and government-process changes and returned the measures to the House for further action or signature.
Senators concurred with the House on First Substitute Senate Bill 11 (Medicaid dental coverage amendments) after a technical date correction; the roll call recorded 26 yeas, 1 nay and 2 absences and the bill was returned to the House for the Speaker’s signature. The chamber also passed First Substitute House Bill 81, clarifying the role of school counselors so they can focus more on direct counseling duties; that measure passed 27-0 with 2 absent.
Other bills that passed included House Bill 33 (Utah Wholesome Food Act amendments), House Bill 50 (county classification changes), House Bill 60 (Division of Facilities, Construction and Management property-process clarifications), and several substitute bills addressing lobbyist-gift rules, Medicaid payment-rate reporting and independent entities’ coverage under GRAMA and procurement rules. Where recorded, votes were unanimous or near-unanimous: for example, House Bill 33 passed 27-0 with 2 absent; House Bill 60 passed 28-0 with 1 absent.
The Senate also advanced Second Substitute House Bill 11, a consensus property-tax amendment intended to add two procedural safeguards to annual taxpayer assessments (including review of software-generated mass assessments and a presumption protecting prior successful appeals); that bill passed 28-0 with 1 absent. A hospital-related provider assessment bill (Second Substitute House Bill 37) was amended on the floor and then circled for further review after senators raised questions about an insertion and a renumbering that affected references to the hemp extract registration act.
Most measures were handled on voice or roll-call votes with minimal floor debate. Several bills were placed on the second-reading calendar or the consent calendar earlier in the session, and committee chairs reported favorable recommendations before floor action.
The Senate completed the morning’s third-reading calendar and recessed until 2 p.m. for afternoon business.
