S.J.R. 7 Enrolled

1

JOINT RULES RESOLUTION ON PRIORITY STATUS FOR
2 BILLS
3 2012 GENERAL SESSION
4 STATE OF UTAH
5 Chief Sponsor: Margaret Dayton
6 House Sponsor: Wayne A. Harper
7
8 LONG TITLE
9 General Description:
10 This rules resolution modifies procedures associated with prioritization of requests for
11 legislation.
12 Highlighted Provisions:
13 This rules resolution:
14 . provides priority drafting status to a request for legislation if it is adopted as a
15 priority committee request by the vote of an interim committee of the Legislature;
16 and
17 . makes technical, grammatical, and organizational changes.
18 Special Clauses:
19 None
20 Legislative Rules Affected:
21 AMENDS:
22 JR4-2-102
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24 Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
25 Section 1. JR4-2-102 is amended to read:
26 JR4-2-102. Drafting and prioritizing legislation.
27 (1) (a) Requests for legislation shall be drafted on a first-in, first-out basis.
28 (b) Notwithstanding Subsection (1)(a), the following requests for legislation shall be
29 drafted before other requests for legislation when sufficient drafting information is available:

30 (i) a request for legislation that is prioritized by a legislator under Subsection (2); and
31 (ii) a request for legislation that is prioritized by the majority vote of an interim
32 committee.
33 [(1)] (2) (a) Beginning on the first day on which a request for legislation may be filed
34 under JR4-2-101, a legislator may designate up to three requests for legislation as priority
35 requests subject to the following deadlines:
36 (i) priority request number one must be requested on or before the first Thursday in
37 December, or the following business day if the first Thursday falls on a holiday;
38 (ii) priority request number two must be requested on or before the first Thursday in
39 January, or the following business day if the first Thursday falls on a holiday; and
40 (iii) priority request number three must be requested on or before the first Thursday of
41 the annual general session.
42 (b) A legislator who fails to make a priority request on or before a deadline loses that
43 priority request. However, the legislator is not prohibited from using any remaining priority
44 requests that are associated with a later deadline, if available.
45 (c) A legislator who begins serving after a deadline has passed is entitled to use only
46 those priority requests that are available under an unexpired deadline.
47 [(2)] (3) A legislator may not:
48 (a) revoke a priority designation once it has been requested;
49 (b) transfer a priority designation to a different request for legislation; or
50 (c) transfer a priority designation to another legislator.
51 [(3) (a) (i) When sufficient drafting information is available, prioritized requests for
52 legislation and interim committee bills shall be drafted before other requests for legislation.]
53 [(ii) Subject to preference for priority status as provided in Subsection (3)(a)(i),
54 requests for legislation shall be drafted on a first-in, first-out basis.]
55 [(b)] (4) Except as otherwise provided in these rules, the Office of Legislative Research
56 and General Counsel shall reserve as many bill numbers as necessary to allow [all prioritized
57 requests] each request for legislation that has been prioritized as permitted under Subsection

58 (1)(b) to receive a lower bill [numbers] number than non-prioritized requests.