Utah Senate passes four base budget bills covering education, criminal justice, natural resources and social services

The Utah Senate on Thursday passed four base budget measures that collectively set the starting appropriations for multiple state agencies.

Senator Hilliard, presenting House Bill 1, described it as “the base budget” for public education and highlighted a $50.6 million appropriation for growth and a one-time $2 million appropriation for the state online education program. Hilliard said the package reflects the underlying WPU calculations and adjustments for categorical programs and charter school replacement funding. The chamber later voted to suspend rules and the constitutional three‑reading requirement and passed HB1 on a roll call of 27 yeas, 0 nays, with 2 absent.

House Bill 6, described by Senator Anderegg as the ongoing base budget for executive offices and criminal justice, was presented as “the starting point” for those agencies. Anderegg stated, “This bill appropriates about $997,000,000 in total funds, of which $738,000,000 is from the general fund.” The Senate suspended rules and the three‑reading requirement and approved HB6 by a roll call of 28 yeas, 0 nays, 1 absent.

Senator Hankins presented House Bill 5, the natural resources, agriculture and environmental quality base budget, listing line‑item totals discussed in committee (remarks during session referenced about $14.79 million for FY2020 and $412.13 million for 2021 with roughly $81.34 million from general education funds). The Senate passed HB5 by a roll call of 29 yeas, 0 nays.

Senator Christiansen outlined House Bill 7, the social services base budget for 2021, which the chamber recorded as approximately $6.5 billion in total and $1.1 billion from the general fund; he also noted $26 million in supplemental appropriations and a set of proposed reduction items to be considered later. The Senate approved HB7 by roll call, 27 yeas, 0 nays, 2 absent.

Why it matters: base budgets set the operating levels for state agencies and provide the framework under which supplemental requests and policy bills will be negotiated later in session. The passage of these bills advances Utah’s fiscal planning for the coming fiscal year and authorizes the agencies to begin work under the adopted funding assumptions.

What’s next: each bill was carried under suspension for final passage in the Senate and will follow the constitutional process for signatures or transmission as recorded on the floor.

Direct excerpts used in this report are drawn from floor remarks during Day 10 of the Senate session.