How a Bill Becomes a Law in Utah: Standing Committees

The Utah House has 15 Standing Committees. The Utah Senate has 12 Standing Committees. All members of the legislature are assigned to Standing Committees, where they hear, discuss, and improve bills prior to the bills going before the full body. These bills are assigned to each Standing Committee by the Rules Committee.

Good legislators invest time to develop expertise on the issues that come before their Standing Committees. This expertise allows them to amend or substitute bills in ways that can improve the legislation.

A Standing Committee hearing produces one of two outcomes: 1) the Committee moves the bill forward by passing it or 2) the Committee sort of kills the bill with a Motion to Table (meaning that the bill will die unless a majority of the Committee members vote at the next Committee meeting to Lift it from the Table for reconsideration).

Also, a Standing Committee might stall a bill by refusing to add it to an agenda or, even if added to an agenda, by refusing to open a hearing on that bill. Even when a bill is heard, a Standing Committee still can keep it in Committee by “holding it” or passing to the next agenda item without an up-or-down vote. In either case, the bill stays with the Standing Committee for future action or for return to the Rules Committee at the end of the last meeting of the Standing Committee.

If a Committee passes a bill unanimously, a motion can be made to send the bill to the Consent Calendar. This motion also must pass unanimously. A bill placed on the Consent Calendar is thought to have so little controversy that no floor debate is needed before a vote, other than the Sponsor briefly explaining what the bill does.

At the end of each Standing Committee meeting, the Committee submits a Committee Report to the entire body. The full body can accept, reject, or amend a Standing Committee’s Report. The full body also can refer a bill back to the Standing Committee or to a different Standing Committee for additional consideration.

Though legislative rules specify that a bill must be heard by a Standing Committee in both the House and the Senate to become a law, this second-hearing requirement often is suspended late in a General Session when time is short and Standing Committees no longer meet.