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Utah Senate passes guardianship and infrastructure bills, circles leadership-election substitute and honors COVID-19 response leaders
Summary
The Utah State Senate passed House Bill 358 (guardianship amendments) and first substitute House Bill 151 (State Infrastructure Bank amendments), circled a substitute to House Joint Resolution 17 on leadership-election timing for further work, and read an official citation honoring Dan Hemmert and Kristen Cox for COVID-19 response work.
The Utah State Senate passed two floor items on the morning's calendar and set aside a procedural rules change for additional work before recessing for caucus lunch.
Senators approved House Bill 358, described by Senator Kennedy as a guardianship amendment that "allows the court to decide who can have guardianship and in a temporary fashion, allow that guardian to receive the birth certificates and social security cards so children can get into school" when parents are unable to provide documents. Under suspension of the rules, the Senate passed HB 358 in a roll call, 23 yeas, 0 nays, 6 absent. The bill will be signed by the president and returned to the House for the speaker's signature.
Senator Colomore presented the first substitute to House Bill 151, which amends the transportation code's State Infrastructure Bank provisions by defining "publicly owned infrastructure" and authorizing bank funds to be used for sewer and water projects owned by public entities. As Colomore summarized, the definition "means a project to improve sewer water infrastructure that is owned by a public entity." The substitute passed on a roll call of 26 yeas, 0 nays, 3 absent and will return to the House.
On House Joint Resolution 17 — a joint rules resolution concerning procedural amendments — the Senate debated a proposed substitute that would require future legislative leadership elections to occur only after the final statewide canvas, so members in contested races after election night could participate. Senator McKay argued the change would protect enfranchisement for members whose races were uncertain, while other senators raised practical concerns about lost time to prepare for session and how legal election disputes would be handled. After discussion, senators agreed to circle the substitute for further work rather than adopt it immediately.
The chamber also paused for a ceremonial reading: the clerk presented an official Utah State Senate citation honoring Dan Hemmert and Kristen Cox "for their crucial work in aiding Utah's recovery" during the COVID-19 pandemic. President Jay Stewart Adams signed the citation; multiple senators offered tributes praising Hemmert and Cox and noting how pandemic-era policy choices and data-driven public health work shaped the state's budget priorities.
During remarks, senators cited several budget figures they said were enabled by Utah's pandemic response, including a $400,000,000 increase for education, $121,000,000 for teacher and staff bonuses, $50,000,000 for affordable housing and $55,000,000 for low-income health care. Senators emphasized the role of fiscal foundations and data-driven decision-making in enabling those allocations.
The Senate recessed for caucus lunch until 2 p.m. after Sen. Wyler reported that 396 bills had passed so far in the session and Sen. Vickers moved to recess.
