The Utah Senate moved a broad package of measures on Feb. 23, passing multiple bills on the consent and third-reading calendars and placing others on subsequent calendars for further consideration.
On the consent calendar, the Senate unanimously approved House Concurrent Resolution 11, which recognizes the work of primary care providers, and passed House Bill 137, a DUI-related technical amendment clarifying the acceptability of blood and breath tests for prosecution.
On the third-reading calendar, the chamber passed Senate Bill 203 (Tire Recycling Fund Amendments). Sponsor Senator Sandel said the bill makes a modest modification to allow recyclers slightly more compensation until a $2,000,000 fund threshold is reached; the Senate recorded 24 yea votes and the bill will be sent to the House.
The Senate also passed first substitute Senate Bill 125, a hospitality employee grant program that the sponsor described as requesting ARPA funds to incentivize restaurants and hospitality workers to return to work; the bill passed on a recorded vote (21 yea, 4 nay, 4 absent) and will be transmitted to the House.
Senators approved first substitute Senate Bill 200 to revise property tax notices to improve transparency and require an NAICS code on the notice; the Senate recorded 28 votes in favor and will send the measure to the House. First substitute Senate Bill 212 (Manufacturing Modernization Grant Program) was amended on the floor to clarify grants must go to existing Utah businesses and then passed (18 yea, 4 nay, 7 absent).
Other measures the Senate considered included bills addressing wetlands reporting, charter school admissions, energy efficiency, student data privacy and charter school admissions; many of those were acted on by motion to circle, uncircle or substitute language and in several cases were passed or tabled for fiscal reasons.
The day's actions also included recognition of the University of Utah football team and several civic groups visiting the chamber. The Senate recessed until 2 p.m. for lunch and caucus.