“Every general session has its own history, of course. But the 2019 Legislature will likely go down as one of the most important in recent history.”
- UtahPolicy.com

• HB109 1st sub, Hydrogen Fuel Production Amendments: adds Hydrogen fuel facilities to apply for tax credits in the Permanent Community Impact Fund, as hydrogen is used for fuel in zero emission motor vehicles, for electrical generation, or for industrial use (It’s output is water)
• More than $29mil of one time funds and $45k of ongoing funds were funded for air quality improvements in Utah.
• HCR13 Concurrent Resolution Encouraging Utah Refiners to Manufacture Tier 3 Gasoline to Improve Air Quality: This concurrent resolution urges Utah refineries to make the investments necessary to manufacture lower-sulfur Tier 3 gasoline in Utah- 3 of our 5 refineries are currently committed to manufacturing tier 3 fuels. It recognizes how vehicle emissions impact Utah's air quality

• SB125 Vehicle Registration Records Amendments: prevents parking lot owners from accessing driver information from the DMV when issuing parking tickets on private lots

• HB213 1st sub, Promotion of Student Loan Forgiveness: promoting this existing program through employers for public school teachers to have their school loans forgiven
• HB227 1st sub, Utah Computer Science: creates a computer science grant program under the Talent Ready Utah Board
• HB118 Incentive for State Wide Assessment Performance: to use a student's score on certain state assessments to improve the student's academic grade or demonstrate the student's competency (only academic awards permitted for incentives).

• HB240 Money Management Act Amendments: adds negotiable certificates of deposits to the list of vehicle investments for any public treasurer
• HB241 Budgetary Procedures Act Amendments: requires any entity receiving state funds to report their goals and expenditures online, allowing state fiscal analysts to flag entities not reporting in a timely manner or not using funds efficiently.
• SCR007 Concurrent Resolution Urging Legal Medical Cannabis Banking: a resolution urging the President of the United States and Congress This concurrent resolution urges the President of the United States and Congress to remove the barriers that prohibit the medical cannabis industry from legally accessing banking services.

• HJR7 Joint Resolution on Existing Weapons Restrictions: provides an overview of existing weapons restrictions laws found in the Utah Code; recognizes that the best manner to protect the vulnerable without infringing on the right of the people to bear arms is to enforce the laws already found in the Utah Code.

• HB324 4th sub, Tobacco Age Amendments: moves the minimum age for obtaining, possessing, using, providing, or furnishing of tobacco products, paraphernalia, and under certain circumstances, electronic cigarettes from 19 to 20, then to 21 years old.
• HB371 1st sub, Consent to Services for Homeless Youth: provides that a homeless youth may consent to temporary shelter, care, or services under certain circumstances.
• SB227 Medicaid Inspector General Amendments: requires the Medicaid Inspector General to submit reports and metrics yearly (a recent audit found this hadn’t been done for 20 years).
• HB370 3rd sub, Pharmacy Benefit Manager Amendments: A pharmacy benefit manager shall permit a pharmacy to collect the amount of a customer's cost share from any source.

• HCR16 Concurrent Resolution Designating Utah Women’s Voter Registration Day as Feb 14th, as Feb 14 is the day of the first woman in the country to vote, and she was from Utah: Seraph Young. Watch this video to hear about this historic day 

• Due to so much mayoral and community support, Senator Todd Weiler and I ran bills to help extend the truck ban on Legacy (the speed limit is up to UDOT)
• HB339 1st sub, Legacy Parkway Truck Ban Modifications: failed to pass House Committee 5-6 votes. I sponsored this bill, with the support of 13 Mayors, 3 County Commissioners, 16 legislators, and more than 1,000 constituents who reached out!

• SJR09 Joint Resolution Calling for a Convention to Amend the United States Constitution: this doesn’t change the constitution; it provides the opportunity to add an Amendment if in a 34-state convention legislative delegates can agree on the same amendment: To limit federal spending and/or require term limits for federal legislators.

• After 7 years of working on a Medicaid bill, the 2019 legislature passed SB96 Medicaid Expansion with the help of the newly voted on tax to give federal-based health insurance to those whose incomes equal 100 percent of the federal poverty line. Through the Affordable Health Care Act, private, subsidized insurance can already be purchased for those 101 percent to 138 percent of poverty, putting more than 60,000 low-income Utahans into the government-aided health insurance pool.

• After 6 years of trying to pass legislation, a new “hate crimes” law SB103 4TH Sub Victim Targeting Penalty Enhancements will allow prosecutors to ask judges for an added sentence to criminals who harm their victims because of their characteristics, like for sexual, religious, or political beliefs.
• Automatic expungement for Utahns with minor convictions in their past.
• Made it legal for 8-15 year-olds to ride their personal scooters on public roads (yahoo!). The current law for scooter rental is age 18.

• Passed a bill that allows beer with around 4 percent alcohol to be sold in retail stores. The current level is 3.2 percent, and a number of national brewers are saying they will stop selling that low alcohol beer. Ninety percent of beer makers will make 4 percent beer – and thus may be legally sold in Utah retail stores. (This avoids another initiative on the ballot next year)
• In the final days of the session, H.B. 495 Tax Restructuring and Equalization Task Force was introduced and passed. This legislation set up the legislative task force that will coordinate with expert individuals and entities to study our tax structure, involve the public and solicit feedback over the next few months. This is in lieu of the discussed HB441 tax restructuring bill. Also include link for HB411 tax pdf powerpoint

• Passed a budget that gives more than $280 million more to public education, with a 4 percent Weighted Pupil Unit increase and cash coming into a number of other special programs – which would equal more than a 5 percent WPU. The 4 percent WPU hike is usually the base from which teachers negotiate pay raises in the state’s 41 individual school districts.
• Gave 2.5 percent pay raise for state workers including higher ed employees.

• HB136 Abortion Amendments limits abortions after 18 weeks.
• HB166 Down Syndrome Nondiscrimination Abortion Act ending the practice in the case of a Down syndrome diagnosis. 

• HB66 Year Round Day-light Savings Time supports Rep. Rob Bishop's bill which ends the twice-per-year time change ritual.
• Rural workforce development providing grants for online rural working hubs
• Changes to ballot initiative process: HB119 4th sub, Initiatives, Referendums, and other Political Activities, HB135 3rd sub, Citizen Political Process Amendments delays implementation dates to be after the next legislative session for tax implementation purposes