Utah Senate passes batch of bills on consent and third reading, including tax, health and property measures

The Utah Senate passed a package of bills during floor action on day 12 of the legislative session, moving several measures to enrollment or sending them back to the House as appropriate.

House Bill 39 (agriculture water optimization task force amendment): Presented on the consent calendar by Senator Hinkins, the bill adds three members to the task force whose primary income derives from agricultural commodity production so the committee better reflects those it affects. The chair called for a unanimous vote of senators present, and the clerk recorded the bill as passed in open session; the transcript contains a sequence of roll-call counts and concludes with an announced passage recorded as 26 ayes, 0 nays, 3 absent.

House Bill 48 (acquisition cost definition): Senator Fillmore presented a bill to establish a uniform statutory definition of acquisition cost for tax purposes. With no floor discussion, the Senate passed the measure on third reading; the transcript records its passage as 26 ayes, 0 nays, 3 absent.

First Substitute House Bill 24 (health-care professional licensing amendment): Senator Christiansen described the bill as encouraging rural residencies in order to place health professionals in underserved rural areas. The Senate passed the first substitute on roll call; the transcript records the vote as 25 ayes, 0 nays, 4 absent.

House Bill 25 (controlled-substance revisions): Presented by Senator Christiansen, the bill adds one substance (named in the bill text) to the controlled-substances list and adjusts membership of the Board of Controlled Substances. The Senate approved the bill by roll-call (recorded in the transcript as 27 ayes, 0 nays, 2 absent).

House Bill 11 (blood-alcohol limit technical cleanup): Senator Bramble said the measure aligns definitions of intoxication across state law and workers' compensation rules following the adoption of a 0.05 blood-alcohol standard. The Senate approved the bill on roll-call and will return it to the House for the speaker’s signature.

House Bill 51 (property assessment procedure amendments): Senator Bramble described the bill as deleting a redundant code section that has caused problems for the Tax Commission. The Senate passed the bill on roll call (the transcript reports 28 ayes, 0 nays, 1 absent).

Where the transcript contains multiple interim vote tallies (for example, HB 39 is shown with shifting announced counts during the roll call), this article reports the final passage statements as recorded in the chamber transcript and notes where the transcript recorded multiple counts during the process. All measures reported above were read and recorded on the floor according to the clerk’s entries and will be transmitted or returned as indicated in the Senate proceedings.