Utah Senate advances several bills, including Medicaid dental amendment; multiple measures sent to the House

The Utah State Senate advanced a series of bills during a floor session in which senators passed measures on Medicaid dental coverage for certain seniors, clarified child-abuse counting, adjusted hospital-lien notice, and moved several education and finance bills to later consideration or to the House.

A senator moving an amendment to First Substitute Senate Bill 11 said the change would set the bill’s fiscal note to zero and described the measure as providing Medicaid dental coverage to seniors when services are provided through the University of Utah Dental School or its affiliates. The amended first substitute passed on a roll call, 26 yeas, 1 nay and 2 absent. The measure will be transmitted to the House for consideration.

Sponsors also presented and passed Second Substitute Senate Bill 57, a technical clarification to the child-abuse code that specifies a pattern of abuse generally requires two or more incidents. The Senate…