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House approves water infrastructure reporting bill after failed amendment on mapping
Summary
House Bill 331 would require major water managers to report infrastructure condition to help plan for an estimated $15 billion repair need; the bill passed 46–27 after a failed floor amendment seeking to remove mapping requirements.
The Utah House passed House Bill 331 on March 2, a measure that requires major water managers and distributors to submit reports every five years to help the Legislature and state agencies assess the condition of aging water infrastructure.
Representative Coleman, sponsor of the bill, told the House that prior task force work and extensive meetings showed the state needs to begin planning for large-scale repairs. "We were told that we need to start wrapping our brains around finding $15,000,000,000 with a B to fund repair and replacement of over aged infrastructure," Coleman said, describing the bill as an initial, data-driven step.
The bill asks cities and the four major water distributors to report on the age of water works and mitigation plans, and to provide non-sensitive maps where appropriate to indicate locations of infrastructure. Representative Briscoe offered a floor amendment to delete two lines referencing maps over homeland security concerns; Representative Coleman replied the bill "is not asking for any maps that would indicate any sensitivity regarding security." The amendment to strike lines 41–42 failed.
The House voted with 46 yes and 27 no. The bill will be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration.
Sponsor: Representative Coleman. Vote announced on the floor as 46 yes, 27 no.
