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Senate Business and Labor committee advances bills on local food, building codes, eviction records and health-care review process
Summary
On Feb. 3 the Utah Senate Business and Labor Committee favorably recommended a package of bills including changes to local-food sales (with ongoing work on raw-milk language), building-code and energy updates, a one‑year eviction-expungement window for dismissed filings, new notary journal rules, and a new OPLER review path for health-care scope changes.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Senate Business and Labor Standing Committee met Feb. 3 and advanced a package of bills affecting small producers, housing applicants, builders and health-care regulators.
Senators approved substitute or amended versions of most items on a long agenda; floor consideration remains the next step. The meeting produced a mix of technical fixes and policy debates, including a contentious drafting issue over raw milk and a larger discussion of how to modernize licensing in the face of new clinical technology.
SB 217: Local food and raw milk drafting issue
Senator Mike Cullimore told the committee SB 217 is intended to ‘‘make locally grown and homemade food more readily available to Utah consumers’’ by simplifying farmers‑market signage and clarifying when sales tax applies. Cullimore acknowledged a drafting error that could have inadvertently deregulated raw milk; he said deregulation of raw milk was not the bill’s intent and pledged to work with other sponsors and the Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) to resolve the language before the bill reaches a floor vote.
Amber Brown, deputy commissioner at UDAF, urged caution. ‘‘If raw milk is considered under the Home Consumption and Homemade Food Act, we would not have information about products that are being sold and where they’re being sold,’’ Brown said, warning that traceability for outbreaks would be difficult without agency oversight. Supporters — including small producers, the Utah Farm Bureau and Utahns Against Hunger — said the bill will expand access for rural communities and reduce confusing tax rules for farmers markets.
SB 217 was favorably recommended by the committee on a unanimous voice vote after the sponsor committed to address raw‑milk language and outstanding tax questions.
SB 157: Motorboat distributor/franchise framework
Senator Wilson presented a first substitute to SB 157, which would establish a new statutory scheme for motorboat…
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