Legislature day 9: Votes on public unions and transgender student housing expected
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — As the second week of the legislature comes to a close, two major bills regarding unions and transgender housing will be coming to a head in the Senate chambers. Here are votes, hearings, and bills you should probably watch for today.
With voting sessions set to begin at 11 a.m. today, there are two bills we are watching as they enter the Senate. The first is H.B. 269, which passed through committee early Thursday afternoon and is expected to be debated on the Senates 2nd reading calendar.
The second is H.B. 267, the controversial labor union bill seeking to do away with collective bargaining for public workers in Utah. After passing its second reading yesterday, the bill is expected to be given a final vote sometime during todays voting session.
Senator Kirk Cullimore (R- District 19), the bills Senate sponsor, revealed yesterday during a press conference that a compromise has been made on the bill. It will now allow for collective bargaining only if 50% of those employed by the public employer voted to be represented by collective bargaining.
With this change, if the bill passes its final vote in the Senate it will need to go back to the House for a final vote before being sent to the governor for approval.
Friday afternoon is set to be jam-packed as several legislative, appropriations, and audit hearings have been scheduled ranging across several topics. Here are ones that we are watching.
Starting the day at 8 a.m. is the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee. The committee is set to hear several presentations related to environmental condition, including air quality, dust, waste water, and radiation control.
The next hearing we are watching is the House Education Committee. Set to begin at 2 p.m., three bills will be discussed that affect stipends for student teachers, reinvestment in higher education, and revises sex educational rules and grant parents more say in the mental health programs in schools.
The House Health and Human Services Committee is next with two bills of note being discussed today. The first is H.B. 84, which would designate food that contains vaccine or vaccine materials as a drug. The second is H.B. 294 — or Infectious Disease Procedures Amendments — which would prohibit 'place[s] of public accommodation or enterprise regulated by the state' from require individuals to wear face mask as a condition to them entering said space.
Next up is the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee. Two bills in particular catch the eye that will be heard from today. The first is S.B. 155, which seeks to move certain offensives off the lifetime sex offender list, and require a period of 10 years on the registry. The second is H.B. 22, which clarifies that children can not be prosecuted for sexual solicitation or prostitution, and separates existing offenses into separate ones depending on the age of those involved.
Within the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee. We are watching S.B. 187, which is a bill to address the procurement of critical minerals in the state.
Finally, with the Senate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee, we are watching a bill that would add incentives to building Wind and Solar farms.
Later in the afternoon at 4 p.m., the Legislative Audit Subcommittee will be hearing an audit of the performance of the attorney general in this last year, with responses given by current Attorney General Derek Brown.
For more coverage of the 2025 General Session, be sure to visit Inside Utah Politics for more updates and legislative news!
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
34 minutes ago
- Politico
Crapo to answer big megabill questions
Presented by IN TODAY'S EDITION:— Senate Finance to release 'big, beautiful bill' changes— Scoop: Hospitals back megabill Medicaid plan — Senators to get post-Minnesota security briefing Senate Finance is expected to reveal at least some of its tweaks to the House-passed 'big, beautiful bill' today, but the panel's text will likely include placeholders for key Medicaid and tax provisions as negotiations continue. Chair Mike Crapo will brief Senate Republicans on his proposals around 6 p.m., three people granted anonymity to share the unannounced plans told Jordain. Expect the state-and-local-tax deduction to be one of the TBDs as GOP senators continue to hash out how much they want to roll back the House's $40,000 SALT cap. Senate Majority Leader John Thune teased a 'compromise position' on SALT in a pre-taped Fox News Sunday interview. He said there 'isn't a high level of interest' among senators to follow the House in quadrupling the $10,000 limit that's in law today. Thune insisted that President Donald Trump's tax priorities — no taxes on tips and overtime — will be 'incorporated' in the Senate's version of the megabill, despite Senate Republicans' desire to trim them in favor of making business tax incentives permanent. A person granted anonymity to discuss the negotiations tells Jordain that Senate Republicans still plan to make those business tax provisions permanent — a win for Thune, Crapo and other Finance members. With the Senate out Thursday and Friday, this shortened week will be key for sending the bill to Trump's desk by July 4. The Senate parliamentarian will have bipartisan discussions with committees, and staffers anticipate she will start issuing rulings now that nearly every committee has released text. A few other megabill developments: — Trump and Rand Paul talk it out: Paul told NBC News that the two spoke Saturday, after Trump spent weeks attacking the Kentucky Republican for signaling he'd vote against the bill. Paul, who has objected to the bill's debt-ceiling increase, said he told Trump he's 'not an absolute no' and that the two are 'trying to get to a better place in our conversations.' But he also indicated that Republicans are spending little energy in really trying to win him over. — What Mark Meadows is doing behind the scenes: The former House Freedom Caucus chair and one-time Trump chief of staff is operating as a sounding board for conservatives as they try to hang onto some of their biggest priorities in the megabill, Jordain and Meredith Lee Hill report. Meadows huddled with House and Senate hard-liners last week, and is in regular contact with House Freedom Caucus members. 'Mark is trying to help get a deal done,' Sen. Rick Scott said. GOOD MONDAY MORNING. Email your Inside Congress scribes at lkashinsky@ mmccarthy@ jcarney@ bguggenheim@ and crazor@ Follow our live coverage at the Inside Congress blog at THE SKED The House is out. The Senate is in session and voting to end debate on Gary Andres' nomination to be an assistant secretary of HHS at 5:30 p.m. — Intel will have a closed briefing at 4 p.m. — Senate Republican and Democratic leadership will hold private meetings shortly before evening votes. — Crapo will brief the Senate Republican Conference on the Finance portion of the megabill after votes around 6 p.m. The rest of the week: The Senate, which is in through Wednesday, will take up stablecoin legislation and work through Trump's nominations, including Olivia Trusty to be a member of the FCC. The House is out all week and will return next Monday. THE LEADERSHIP SUITE Senate leaders to convene security briefing after Minnesota shooting Senators will receive a classified security briefing Tuesday morning from the chamber's sergeant at arms and the Capitol Police, Jordain scooped, after a Saturday shooting killed and injured Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses. The suspected shooter, Vance Boelter, was arrested late Sunday, per The Associated Press. The internal announcement Sunday from Thune about the bipartisan briefing came after GOP senators and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer requested one. Schumer said he also obtained extra security for Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, as well as Sen. Alex Padilla after the California Democrat was forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's Los Angeles press conference last week. 'We have to reevaluate how we are protecting members of Congress and staff in the face of rising threats,' Schumer said Sunday. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Saturday he also asked the Capitol Police and the House sergeant at arms to ensure members' safety. The rise in political violence is rattling members on both sides of the aisle, many of whom have experienced threats. Speaker Mike Johnson called the Minnesota incident 'horrific' and urged lawmakers to 'unequivocally condemn it' in a post on X. Exactly eight years ago to the day of Saturday's shooting, Majority Leader Steve Scalise was shot and wounded during a congressional baseball practice in Virginia. POLICY RUNDOWN FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: HOSPITALS GIVE GOP GREEN LIGHT ON MEDICAID CHANGES — Senate GOP leaders are getting some outside help as they try to find a landing spot on the megabill's Medicaid revamp and the provider tax, which several states use to help fund their Medicaid programs. Hospital associations from 13 states sent a letter to Thune and Crapo, a copy of which was obtained by Jordain, urging them to 'move forward with the carefully negotiated Medicaid provider tax-related and Medicaid directed payment program provisions in the House-passed budget reconciliation bill.' The states represented in the letter include several with red-state senators like Jim Justice and Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt from Missouri and Thom Tillis from North Carolina. (Maine, where Sen. Susan Collins has raised concerns about rural hospitals and the impact of a provider tax freeze, is not represented on the letter.) The call to hold the line on the House language comes as some Senate conservatives have floated going further and rolling back the provider tax, something that would likely cause heartburn with both House and Senate moderates and rural-state lawmakers. But the hospital associations warned that 'additional changes to seek further cuts through these Medicaid provider tax-related provisions would jeopardize the fragile balance that has been struck and threaten the healthcare safety net in our communities.' GOP SCRUTINIZES TRUMP'S HOUSING MOVES — GOP lawmakers and the mortgage industry are questioning the Trump administration's plans to maintain government control over much of the nation's housing finance system, defying expectations that it would back off, our Katy O'Donnell reports. Trump surprised the industry late last month by pledging to take public Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled companies that stand behind half the $16 trillion residential mortgage market, while preserving an implicit federal guarantee for their solvency. It's causing a rift among Republicans, including among some administration aides who have long worked to reduce the government's footprint in the housing market. 'I want to get [Fannie and Freddie] out of conservatorship,' said Sen. Mike Rounds, chair of the Senate Banking subcommittee with oversight of the mortgage giants. 'But I want to be very careful about how we do it, because we need the secondary [mortgage] market, and we need it to work.' Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E: CAMPAIGN STOP FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: NEW CANDIDATE IN MI-10 — Tripp Adams, an Army and Navy veteran who's served as CEO of a health tech startup, is joining the crowded Democratic field in Michigan's 10th District as GOP Rep. John James runs for governor. Democrats are making the district one of their top targets to flip in 2026; it includes parts of Macomb and Oakland counties and is among the more competitive in the state. Adams is looking to lean on his service record to differentiate himself from the pack, billing himself in a statement as part of a 'new generation of patriotic leadership.' It's part of a growing trend of Democrats looking to play up their military backgrounds as the party tries to separate patriotism from MAGA. TUNNEL TALK OUT AND ABOUT — Schumer was seen having dinner with former Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio. The dinner comes as some Democrats hope he will consider another Senate bid, as P laybook noted this weekend. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Sen. Ruben Gallego and his wife, Sydney Gallego, welcomed a son, Cooper. THE BEST OF THE REST $75 billion firm wins carve-out in tax bill after lobbying push, from Jeff Stein and Clara Ence Morse at The Washington Post Lisa Murkowski Says 'It's Dangerous for Us in the Legislative Branch', from Lulu Garcia-Navarro at The New York Times Padilla handcuffing raises the stakes for Democrats confronting administration, by Rebecca Beitsch at The Hill CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE NEW IRA TAX CREDIT LOBBYING — Energizer Holdings has brought on Washington Council Ernst & Young to help salvage an Inflation Reduction Act incentive for advanced manufacturing of products like batteries and battery components, POLITICO Influence reports. Tommy Brown, who worked in Treasury's legislative affairs office during the Biden administration, will work on the account with Bob Schellhas, Evan Giesemann and Ryan Abraham, who was the Democratic tax counsel on Senate Finance during negotiations on the 2017 GOP tax bill, according to a disclosure filing. JOB BOARD Graeme Crews will be senior director of media and public relations at Brady United. He previously was comms director for Rep. Judy Chu and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Valeria Ojeda-Avita will be chief communications officer for BOLD PAC. She previously was deputy chief of staff, senior adviser and comms director for Rep. Gabe Vasquez. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Rep. Jason Smith … former Rep. Robert Hurt … Don McGahn … Phil Singer of Marathon Strategies … Liz Bourgeois … NPR's Steve Inskeep … POLITICO's Zack Stanton, Madison Fernandez, Sophie Gardner … Cook Political Report's Jessica Taylor … Matt Gruda … Mark Tapscott … Colin Diersing … Rocky Deal … Reid Wilson … Phil Cox of GP3 Partners and P2 Public Affairs … Jared Kamrass of Technicolor Political … Jim Kim of the American Cleaning Institute … Ryan Yeager … Jared Kamrass of Technicolor Political TRIVIA FRIDAY'S ANSWER: Noah Rubin correctly answered that Chris Collins was the former House lawmaker whose insider trading indictment included video footage of the White House Congressional Picnic. TODAY'S QUESTION, from Noah: In honor of Flag Day this past weekend, which president designated June 14 as Flag Day and in what year did they do so? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@
USA Today
41 minutes ago
- USA Today
Sen. Tim Kaine moves to limit Trump's war powers on Iran
Patricia Zengerle Reuters WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) - A Democratic senator introduced legislation on Monday to prevent President Donald Trump from using military force against Iran without Congress's authorization, as an escalating battle between Israel and Iran raised fears of broader conflict. Tim Kaine of Virginia has tried for years to wrest back Congress's authority to declare war from the White House. During Trump's first term, in 2020, Kaine introduced a similar resolution to rein in Trump's ability to wage war against Iran. That measure passed both the Senate and House of Representatives, winning some Republican support, but did not garner enough votes to survive the Republican president's veto. Kaine said his latest war powers resolution underscores that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the sole power to declare war and requires that any hostility with Iran be explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for the use of military force. "It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States. I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict," Kaine said in a statement. Under U.S. law, war powers resolutions are privileged, meaning that the Senate will be required to promptly consider and vote on the matter. Israel's military launched attacks on Iran on Friday with the stated aim of wiping out Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Iran, which says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, responded with missile attacks on Israel. Both countries have kept up their attacks, killing and wounding civilians and raising concern among world leaders meeting in Canada this week that the biggest battle between the two old enemies could lead to a broader regional conflict. Trump has lauded Israel's offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the U.S. has taken part and warning Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include U.S. targets. Before leaving for the summit in Canada on Sunday, Trump was asked what he was doing to de-escalate the situation. "I hope there's going to be a deal. I think it's time for a deal," he told reporters. "Sometimes they have to fight it out." (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
Time Business News
an hour ago
- Time Business News
Robert Leslie Stencil & President Donald J. Trump: Leslie as America's American Navalny—A Global Energy Hero on the Rise
Washington, D.C.– Building on President Trump's own resistance against weaponized prosecution, today we spotlight Robert Leslie Stencil as a persecuted American patriot whose journey mirrors Trump's—and whose energy blueprint is shovel-ready to advance America's global leadership. Why This Matters Now Trump compared his prosecutions to Navalny —highlighting the political weaponization of justice. —highlighting the political weaponization of justice. Trump survived an assassination attempt and emerged stronger, reinforcing national resolve. and emerged stronger, reinforcing national resolve. Leslie is America's American Navalny, wrongfully convicted by the same DOJ machinery—yet determined to lead. The Project: Private‑Sector Energy Infrastructure Energy Independence : Build 5,000+ natural gas fueling stations; convert 500,000 light-fleet vehicles per year to CNG; launch college curricula to train America's energy workforce; export LNG to both free-trade and non-free-trade nations. : Build 5,000+ natural gas fueling stations; convert 500,000 light-fleet vehicles per year to CNG; launch college curricula to train America's energy workforce; export LNG to both free-trade and non-free-trade nations. Economic Engine: Create 244,000+ jobs; secure $12 billion+ in private-sector LNG funding; deliver all infrastructure without taxpayer subsidies. Direct Appeal to President Trump Mr. President, your own story of resilience—your able comparison to Navalny—shows you recognize political persecution. Leslie's project isn't just an energy plan—it's a story you've lived. Your support now: Cements your energy legacy Champions a redemptive American patriot Sends a global message: U.S. leads with clean, privately funded energy Global Context While China and India surge ahead with CNG infrastructure, the U.S. risks falling behind. Leslie's plan is America's strategic answer, positioning the nation for global energy dominance. Leslie's Release & Next Steps Scheduled for release on September 5, 2025, Leslie will launch a national tour if the feds don't stop him—meeting with Senate offices, media outlets, and policy leaders—to promote energy innovation, justice reform, and the America First vision. Media Inquiries:Leslie Defense Fund and Group15807 Sitting Bull Street, Victorville, CA 92395 Email: help@ Contacts:Jerry Stencil: 704‑661‑5574 | Peter Smith (Text): 770‑322‑4819 Follow & Support: Website: Facebook: Twitter/X: Truth Social: GiveSendGo: Trump, this is more than an energy solution—it is your story, too. A good man, persecuted unjustly, ready to lead a nationally‑critical project—backed by private capital, patriotism, and your blessing. The time is now TIME BUSINESS NEWS
