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Votes at a glance: Utah House clears broad package of bills March 12, 2020
Summary
The Utah House passed a wide set of bills and resolutions on March 12, 2020, ranging from building code changes and tobacco/e‑cigarette rules to emergency disease funding and new rules for electronic meetings; many measures passed unanimously or with wide margins.
The Utah House on March 12, 2020 completed final action on a large docket of measures, passing bills on building regulation, tobacco and vaping rules, emergency disease response funding, electronic meeting rules, refinery tax exemptions tied to tier‑3 fuel production and dozens of other items.
Lawmakers adopted several conference committee reports and substitutes from the Senate. Substitute House Bill 374 (building regulation amendments) passed final passage after the sponsor said language about bathrooms was removed; the House recorded 68 yes votes and 2 no votes. Seventh substitute House Bill 23 (tobacco and electronic cigarette amendments) passed after the sponsor described technical changes and removal of a community‑college restriction, leaving a school buffer requirement; it passed 51 yes and 19 no.
The House concurred with Senate amendments to first substitute House Bill 494, an emergency disease response spending package, and passed the bill for transmission to the Senate (reported as 71 yes, 0 no). The House also passed second substitute Senate Bill 31 (safety inspections for vehicles), extending certain enforcement timelines from five days to 14 days and clarifying post‑crash inspection authority; Representative Perry said the change gives vehicle owners the same time they have with a citation, and the bill passed 72 yes, 0 no.
Procedural and technical measures cleared the chamber: SCR 7, recognizing the Utah Sports Commission’s 20th anniversary, passed unanimously (69 yes); SCR 11, urging federal clarity on cannabidiol regulation and recommending FDA oversight, passed by voice (71 yes, 0 no). SJR 16, a joint rules resolution allowing the Speaker and Senate President to permit electronic legislative participation during emergencies (including public‑health emergencies) under specified conditions, passed 72 yes, 0 no.
A number of other bills and substitutes were approved and returned to the Senate for the president’s signature, including planning commission amendments (House Bill 306), procurement exceptions tied to the vice‑presidential debate (SB 196), criminal justice and expungement changes, and municipal or procedural items addressed on the concurrence calendar.
Noted transcript discrepancy: the record for House Bill 48 contains an inconsistent vote tally in the transcript copy reviewed (the readout reported 'House Bill 48 passes the House with 48 yes votes, and 69 vote no votes'); the transcript also shows the House earlier acted to reconsider and to correct a drafting error. Because the recorded numbers as printed in the transcript are internally inconsistent, this summary reports the bill’s passage and the correction motion; the exact numeric tally should be confirmed from the certified House journal.
What’s next: bills passed by the House were returned to the Senate for signature of the president or for further action as required; several items also were placed on the concurrence calendar earlier in the day.
