Participatory Republic, Free Market Economy, Family and Separation of Powers
Legislative Updates - 2 February 2026
GrassRoots
Committed to Promoting the Principles of Limited Government, Constitution, Representative Government, Participatory Republic, Free Market Economy, Family, and Separation of Powers
www.utahgrassroots.org
Utah GrassRoots Legislative Update—02 February 2026 (2 weeks into the 2026 General Session of the Utah State Legislature)
Contents:
- Pages 1-3: Should our representatives read bills before passing them into law? --Senate Bill 47 (SB47), “Reauthorization of Administrative Rules” is circled on the Senate 2nd reading calendar.
- Pages 3-4: Additional bills catching our attention: --House Bill 253 (HB253), “Marijuana Use or Possession Penalty Amendments”, reducing criminal penalties for the use or possession of 14 grams or less of marijuana; and --SB157, “New Motorboat Distributor Act”.
- Pages 4-5: Updated bill status: --HB85, “State Sovereignty Amendments”, passed a Senate committee, and awaits consideration by the full Senate.
Dear Friends:
This is GrassRoots’ 2nd legislative update of this year’s General Session of the Utah State Legislature. At this time (2 weeks into the session), there are about 730 numbered bills for this session on the Utah Legislature website, maybe about two thirds of the bills that will be numbered by the end of the session. Here are some bills and issues that we consider to be noteworthy.
Should our representatives read bills before passing them into law?
Some might scratch their heads, and say “What a stupid question? Of course they should!” But, for a variety of reasons, we are concerned that adequate reading and understanding of bills does not happen before passage into law. What are some possible reasons for this?
- The sheer volume of proposed legislation is huge. As previously mentioned, there are about 730 numbered bills for this session on the Legislature’s website, some of them well over a hundred pages of not- quickly-understood jargon, with numerous cross-references to other sections of code. If past history is a guide, then a few hundred more bills (beyond the current 730) are yet to be numbered. Our representatives are human, and it is understandable if they do not read every bill in 45 days or even a year.
- Maybe the sponsor of a bill is a “friendly colleague”. Or maybe a representative wants the sponsor of a bill to vote for one or more of his own bills.
- Maybe legislative “leadership” is pushing hard for passage of a bill and even threatens punishment for those who will not vote for it.
- Maybe paid lobbyists representing monied interests and potential campaign contributors are pushing hard for a bill.
- The size and reach and power of government have grown so extensive that our representatives may think they need to delegate-and-trust like crazy to keep up with it all. Trust the paid lobbyists. Trust legislative leadership. Trust the government bureaucrats and the Governor. Trust the committee. Trust the “experts”. If the representative has not made time to read and understand the bill himself, then he may simply decide to trust one or more of these other entities.
It is understandable that we have ended up where we are, but that does not make it right. In fact, when our representatives vote for bills without adequately reading and understanding them, we believe this is a mockery of the principle of Representative Government. The principle here seems pretty obvious. But it may take “the faith of a child” to say things like “The emperor has no clothes” or “I voted ‘no’ on that bill because I did not adequately understand it.” If our representatives always vote “no” when they have not had (or made) time to read a bill with due diligence, there may be some good bills that do not pass this session, but they can likely be brought up again at some future date. In the mean time, hopefully we already have the needed laws against murder, theft, and fraud to help us survive until then. Here are some bills that have caught our attention, and that, we think, should require extensive study by any legislator considering voting for them:
SB38, “Consumer Protection Modifications”, sponsored by Senator Weiler and Representative Matthews. It is rather long, with over 9000 lines and the “Printer Friendly” version being 278 pages long. It would, for instance:
- amend numerous existing sections of code;
- enact 8 new sections of code;
- renumber and amend about 50 sections of code; and
- repeal about 20 sections of existing code.
SB38 passed the Senate 24-0 on Jan 21st, and awaits action by the House Rules Committee. (It should also be noted that SB38 passed the Business and Labor Interim Committee 13-0, so maybe some legislators carefully read it during the past year.)
SB39, “Investment Zones Amendments”, sponsored by Senator Harper and Representative Whyte. It is rather long, with over 8000 lines and the “Printer Friendly” version being 248 pages long. SB39 passed the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee 5-1 on Jan 23rd, and awaits consideration by the full Senate. (It should also be noted that SB38 passed the Government Operations Interim Committee 10-1, so maybe some legislators carefully read it during the past year.)
SB40Sub2, “Business Entity Amendments”, sponsored by Senator Vickers and Representative Shallenberger. It is rather long, with over 9000 lines and the “Printer Friendly” version being 275 pages long. SB40 passed the Senate 26-0 on Jan 20th, and awaits action by the House Rules Committee.
GrassRoots takes no position on SB38, SB39, or SB40Sub2 at this time, other than to encourage legislators to vote “no” if they have not read and understood the bill with due diligence.
SB47, “Reauthorization of Administrative Rules”, sponsored by Senator McCay and Representative Lee, would reauthorize all administrative rules. This may be the “mother of all long bills” in terms of substance. The bill itself is admittedly pretty short--only a few lines. But the administrative rules being reauthorized are extensive. If one goes to the website for the Utah Office of Administrative Rules, one may find a list of 40 government agencies that appear to have promulgated various rules that are current. The first listed is “Agriculture and Food”, and, under that heading, there appear to be listed about 100 current “rules”. If one looks at the first one listed (R51-2), it appears to be 3-4 pages long. How many of these rules are legislative in their nature, and therefore would appear to constitute a violation of Separation of Legislative and Executive Powers (see Utah State Constitution, Article V, Section 1 and discussion of SB157 below)? We do not know, but we have reason to believe that this is a recurring issue in the current administrative rules. SB47 is circled on the Senate 2nd reading calendar. (A “committee note” accompanying the bill says “The Rules Review and General Oversight Committee recommended this bill. Legislative Vote: 7 voting for, 0 voting against, 3 absent”.) We are guessing that the vast majority of legislators have only read and understood a small, small fraction of the administrative rules that are proposed to be reauthorized. For additional coverage of SB47, see our update of January 26th. GrassRoots still favors a “no” vote on SB47.
Additional bills catching our attention this week
HB253, “Marijuana Use or Possession Penalty Amendments”, sponsored by Representative Grant Miller, would provide lower criminal penalties for the use or possession of 14 grams or less of marijuana. In current code, this is a class A misdemeanor (punishable with 364 days in prison and-or a fine of $2500). Under HB253, the first offense would only be an infraction (punishable by a fine of $750). HB253 awaits consideration by the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee. Should we toss everyone in Utah using or possessing 10g or 1 g or 0.1g of marijuana in the slammer for almost a year? We think the currently- prescribed punishment is disproportionate to the crime, and, if fully enforced, would also constitute a severe burden on those remaining to pay the taxes. GrassRoots favors a “yes” vote on HB253.
SB157, “New Motorboat Distributor Act”, sponsored by Senator Wilson, would enact the “New Motorboat Distributor Act”--in its current form, over a thousand lines of new proposed code (the “Printer Friendly” version of this bill is 41 pages), and would also:
- authorize the executive director of the Department of Commerce to conduct adjudicative proceedings and issue an administrative fine of up to $5,000 per day (see lines 215-230) for violations of “this chapter or a rule the department makes under this chapter” (see line 216); and
- direct said executive director to “make rules for the administration of this chapter” (see lines 185-187).
SB157 awaits consideration by the Senate Business and Labor Committee. Is there Probable Cause for some or all of the regulations proposed in this act? Will the benefits of each proposed regulation outweigh the costs of compliance? We do not know in every case, but would urge our elected representatives to consider these questions with any new proposed regulations. We do object to empowering the executive director of the Department of Commerce to make rules that are binding on any citizen. This appears to us to be a legislative power in an official that is part of the executive branch, which would seem to violate the principle of Separation of Executive and Legislative Powers as set forth in Utah State Constitution, Article V, Section 1, which states: “The powers of the government of the State of Utah shall be divided into three distinct departments, the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial; and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments, shall exercise any functions appertaining to either of the others, except in the cases herein expressly directed or permitted.” We also object to empowering the said executive director to conduct adjudicative proceedings and issue administrative fines. These powers appear to us to be judicial in nature. This appears to us to violate the principle of Separation of Executive and Judicial Powers as set forth in Utah State Constitution, Article V, Section 1. GrassRoots favors a “no” vote on SB157.
Updated bill status
HB85, “State Sovereignty Amendments”, sponsored by Representative Shepherd and Senator Winterton, would prohibit the governor or the chief executive officer of a political subdivision from declaring a state of emergency exclusively in response to an international organization's proclamation declaring a state of emergency. For additional coverage of HB85, see our update of January 26th. HB85 passed the House 55-11 on January 23rd, and the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee 4-0 on Jan 28th, and awaits consideration on the Senate 2nd reading calendar. GrassRoots still favors a “yes” vote on HB85.
If you have any questions about these bills, GrassRoots’ position on these bills, or related matters, please contact either of us or any other member of the Board of Utah GrassRoots.
Sincerely,
Steve Stromness
Vice-Chairman, Bill Review Coordinator, Utah GrassRoots
steven.stromness@gmail.com
435-637-5248
Don Guymon
Chairman, Utah GrassRoots
donguymon@gmail.com
801-574-9461
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