Votes at a glance: Senate advances multiple bills on Feb. 9, 2020

SALT LAKE CITY — During its Feb. 9 floor session the Utah State Senate advanced multiple measures across criminal-justice, administrative and tax-related topics. Below are the items the Senate voted to advance or pass and the vote tallies reported on the floor.

- Senate Bill 126 (Officer intervention and reporting amendments). Sponsor: Senator Iwamoto. Purpose: codifies an officer duty to intervene and report police misconduct. Result: Passed the Senate on third reading, recorded as 28 yes, 0 no, 1 absent; transmitted to the House for consideration.

- Fourth Substitute House Bill 25 (Rural Jobs Act — small-business tax credit and disclosure). Sponsor: Senator Bramble (moved substitution). Purpose: authorizes a nonrefundable tax credit for growth investments in eligible small businesses in targeted counties and requires as a condition of the credit that eligible businesses authorize the Tax Commission to disclose returns to the Go Utah office for accountability. Fiscal note: sponsor stated a net-zero fiscal note for ongoing and one-time components. Result: Passed the Senate, recorded as 27 yes, 0 no, 2 absent; returned to the House.

- Second Substitute Senate Bill 92 (Project-entity oversight). Sponsor: Senator Owens. Purpose: clarifies when a project entity may close meetings under the Open and Public Meetings Act and adopts procurement provisions; extended floor debate occurred. Result: Passed, recorded as 27 yes, 0 no, 2 absent; transmitted to the House. (See separate coverage.)

- First Substitute Senate Bill 61 (Delinquent property tax collection amendments). Sponsor: Senator Harper. Purpose: clarifies that payment of collected delinquent funds should be applied to the oldest delinquent tax year first. Result: Passed the Senate, recorded as 28 yes, 0 no, 1 absent; transmitted to the House.

- House Bill 97 (Identity theft reporting system repeal). Sponsor: Senator Collamore. Purpose: repeals an obsolete state Identity Theft Reporting System (IRIS) maintained by the Attorney General’s Office and replaces it with modern private-sector tools. Result: Advanced to third reading; roll-call recorded 26 yes, 0 no, 3 absent (as announced on the floor).

- First Substitute House Bill 111 (Court-appointed therapist protections). Sponsor: floor sponsor (Senator Mikhail/representative summary on file). Purpose: provides a pre-litigation review process to limit harassment or disruptive litigation against court-appointed therapists during active proceedings. Result: Advanced to third reading; recorded as 27 yes, 0 no, 2 absent.

- Second Substitute House Bill 139 (Traffic-violation amendments; deferred prosecution). Sponsor: Senator Collamore. Purpose: creates an online deferred-prosecution option for eligible traffic infractions and sets eligibility conditions (including exclusions for speeding more than 20 mph above the limit, per amendment). Result: Advanced to third reading; roll-call reported 28 yes, 0 no, 1 absent.

- House Bill 141 (Target shooting regulations). Sponsor: Senator Hinkins. Purpose: clarifies Department of Wildlife Resources authority to close areas to target shooting when wildfire risk is identified, requires written agreements with county sheriffs, and a 14-day review of closures. Result: Advanced to third reading; roll-call recorded 28 yes, 0 no, 1 absent.

The Senate concluded with scheduling announcements and adjourned until 10 a.m. the following day.

Notes on procedure: "Uncircle" and "substitute" motions were used repeatedly to replace earlier versions of bills with new substitute language on the floor; senators frequently referenced work by legislative counsel and stakeholder negotiations when late language was accepted on the calendar.