Utah House rejects plan to add higher education to statewide card-fee contract

Senate Bill 17, brought to the House floor Feb. 4, failed to pass after a recorded vote of 28 yes and 43 no.

Representative Eliason described the bill as an interim committee cleanup in response to a 2024 legislative audit that found one sector—higher education—was omitted from an existing state contract permitting credit-card processing fee participation. “What this bill does is it says that it actually will allow them to be part of that state contract,” Eliason said, adding the measure would not force entities to charge fees but would allow participation.

Despite the sponsor’s framing as a technical correction, the House voted to reject the bill on the floor; the clerk recorded the vote as 28 yes, 43 no. The bill will be reported as failing and sent to the Senate for filing.

Next steps: According to the floor record, SB17 will be sent back to the Senate for filing; the sponsor and committee may pursue further work or revisions off the floor.