Utah Senate reads more than 100 bills on opening day and sends them to Rules Committee

The Utah State Senate used its first day of the 2022 general session to introduce and give first reading to more than 100 bills and a series of concurrent resolutions, sending the measures to the Rules Committee for consideration.

A clerk read short titles and sponsors for an extensive list of measures, including Senate Bill 8 (state agency and higher-education compensation appropriations), Senate Bill 33 (Utah K–12 Reading Clinic), Senate Bill 41 (Behavioral Health Services Amendments), Senate Bill 80 (real property recording amendments), Senate Bill 110 (water as part of general plan), and Senate Bill 113 (in-person learning modifications). The body also read a joint resolution to terminate a Salt Lake County public-health order and several conservation- and revenue-related resolutions.

Senator David Buxton moved and the Senate adopted a motion to keep reading to short titles only, suspending the reading of long titles by the required constitutional two-thirds majority; clerks noted bills read for first time will be placed on the second-reading calendar in the order they were read. President Adams said the chamber intends to work those items after the lunch recess and named the Rules Committee as the next stop for first-read bills.

Procedural notes: the introductions were recorded as first readings (to be considered by Rules), and the Senate recessed for lunch with plans to resume at about 2 p.m.