Utah Senate adopts a package of COVID-19–era measures, clears election and tax changes

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Senate convened in its sixth special session on Aug. 20 and, working under suspended rules for an electronic meeting, passed a package of measures aimed at responding to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The session opened with a joint proclamation listing topics for consideration, and senators moved quickly to adopt procedural rules allowing bills to be considered electronically and to suspend the constitutional three-reading requirement for the session so measures could be passed immediately.

Several bills that the Senate passed and sent to the House addressed pandemic-related administrative and policy issues. Senator Michael Bramble, sponsor of Senate Bill 6002, said the measure merely moves the consolidated annual financial report due date from Dec. 1 to Dec. 31 to align statutory timing with agency practice. "That's all it does," Bramble said on the floor.

Senator Mike Harper carried multiple bills. A first substitute for Senate Bill 6001 narrows changes to community reinvestment agency law so the measure focuses on an optional, up-to-two-year extension of tax-increment collection for redevelopment project areas that can show they were negatively impacted by the pandemic; Harper said the bill "does not take away any money" from taxing entities and preserves existing budget and cap rules. Senators questioned whether the change would reduce funding for schools; Harper and others responded that existing interlocal agreements and taxing-entity plans remain in place.

Senate Bill 6003, carried by Senator Mike Maine, restores and clarifies a 2017 law enforcement tuition-reimbursement program. Maine described the bill as a fulfillment of a prior promise to officers and said the program reimburses qualifying educational…