A statue of Chief Massasoit outside the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Feb. 5, 2021. Utah lawmakers kicked off the final day of the general legislative session on a snowy Friday morning. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
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SALT LAKE CITY ā Utah lawmakers kicked off the final day of the general legislative session on a snowy morning Friday as they look to pass the final bills they’ve spent the past 45 days writing, debating and reworking.
It’s been a grueling week for the 104 lawmakers, plus their staff, lobbyists and reporters on Capitol Hill, as both chambers have met late into the evening several nights to work through the hundreds of bills they would like to approve before the constitutionally mandated deadline for lawmaking Friday at midnight.
Just over 400 pieces of legislation had been sent to the governor’s desk as of Friday morning ā 29 of which have already been inked into law. Gov. Spencer Cox signed the latest bill Thursday evening, approving changes to the state’s private school voucher program.
Friday will almost certainly be the longest and most jam-packed day of the session. KSL.com will cover all 12 hours lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the floor, along with interviews with the governor and top House and Senate leaders and any last-minute theatrics that emerge.
Keep up with all the action here.
Have a black Utah license plate? Most of the $25 Utahns pay to have one will soon go toward another state source.
Utah lawmakers passed HB324 on Thursday following a few final tweaks. It amends where funds go when someone selects a black plate, sending $23 of the $25 annual plate cost toward the state’s transportation fund. The remaining $2 will still go to the Utah State Historical Society.
All $25 went to the state’s history agency when the black plate, which pays homage to plates the state once issued between the 1920s and 1960s, was approved in 2023. However, lawmakers didn’t expect it would generate about $3.7 million in annual sales, far exceeding all other specialty plates.
Rep. Val Peterson, R-Orem, sponsored the bill, arguing that the agency normally receives funding from the Utah Legislature and doesn’t need the plate sales.
The bill also sends $3.5 million in one-time funding to an endowment started by the license plate revenue. That would join the roughly $6 million endowment created by the black plate. State historians say the money will likely go toward paying for regular updates after the new state history museum opens next year.
The law change is scheduled to begin on July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.
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