Legislative Branch Amendments

7
36-3-307
36-12-12
36-12-12.2
0
Legislative Branch Amendments
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Matt MacPherson
Senate Sponsor: Brady Brammer
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill modifies and enacts provisions related to the Legislature.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
provides that a legislator may introduce and vote on legislation according to the
legislator's own judgment and conscience;
reorganizes and amends the legislative general counsel's responsibility to correct technical
errors in legislation and the Utah Code by:
directing the legislative general counsel to correct erroneous statutory history in the
long title of legislation and the names of officers and funds;
removing the requirement that the legislative general counsel modify the highlighted
provisions of legislation to correct an inconsistency between the highlighted
provisions and the legislation's enacted provisions; and
prohibiting the legislative general counsel from making a correction that would alter
the meaning or effect of law; and
makes technical and conforming changes.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
None
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
36-12-12
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapters 21, 291 and last amended by
Coordination Clause, Laws of Utah 2023, Chapter 21
ENACTS:
36-3-307
, Utah Code Annotated 1953
36-12-12.2
, Utah Code Annotated 1953
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section
36-3-307
is enacted to read:
36-3-307
. Legislator autonomy.
(1)
Each sitting legislator is free to perform the following legislative activities according to
the legislator's own judgment and conscience:
(a)
introducing or refraining from introducing any legislation, including legislation that
enacts, repeals, or amends a provision of the Utah Code or uncodified law; and
(b)
voting for or against any legislation.
(2)
The provisions of this section are subject to legislative rules.
Section 2. Section
36-12-12
is amended to read:
36-12-12
. Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel established --
Powers, functions, and duties -- Organization of office -- Selection of director and general
counsel.
(1)
There is established an Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel as a
permanent staff office for the Legislature.
(2)
The powers, functions, and duties of the Office of Legislative Research and General
Counsel under the supervision of the director shall be:
(a)
to provide research and legal staff assistance to all standing, special, and interim
committees as follows:
(i)
to assist each committee chairman in planning the work of the committee;
(ii)
to prepare and present research and legal information in accordance with
committee instructions or instructions of the committee chairman;
(iii)
to prepare progress reports of committee work when requested; and
(iv)
to prepare a final committee report in accordance with committee instructions,
that includes relevant research information, committee policy recommendations,
and recommended legislation;
(b)
to collect and examine the acts and official reports of any state and report their
contents to any committee or member of the Legislature;
(c)
to provide research and legal analysis services to any interim committee, legislative
standing committee, or individual legislator on actual or proposed legislation or
subjects of general legislative concern;
(d)
(i)
to exercise under the direction of the general counsel the constitutional
authority provided in
Utah Constitution, Article VI, Section 32
, in serving as legal
counsel to the Legislature, majority and minority leadership of the House
of
Representatives
or Senate, any of the Legislature's committees or subcommittees,
individual legislators, any of the Legislature's staff offices, or any of the
legislative staff; and
(ii)
to represent the Legislature, majority and minority leadership of the House of
Representatives or Senate, any of the Legislature's committees or subcommittees,
individual legislators, any of the Legislature's staff offices, or any of the
legislative staff in cases and controversies before courts and administrative
agencies and tribunals;
(e)
to prepare and assist in the preparation of legislative bills, resolutions, memorials,
amendments, and other documents or instruments required in the legislative process
and, under the direction of the general counsel, give advice and counsel regarding
them to the Legislature, majority and minority leadership of the House of
Representatives or Senate, any of its members or members-elect, any of its
committees or subcommittees, or the legislative staff;
(f)
under the direction of the general counsel
:
,
(i)
to review, examine, and correct any technical errors when:
(A)
preparing legislation that passed both houses to enroll the legislation and
prepare the laws for publication; or
(B)
maintaining the accuracy of the electronic code database; and
(ii)
to deliver enrolled legislation to the House of Representatives and the Senate for
submission to the governor for gubernatorial action;
(g)
(i)
to exercise control over and to act as the repository and custodian of the official
copy and database of the current version of the Utah Constitution;
(ii)
to incorporate into the Utah Constitution any amendments to the Utah
Constitution that pass during a regular general election; and
(iii)
to update and maintain the bold face descriptive titles to sections of the Utah
Constitution;
(h)
to prepare the laws for publication
in accordance with Section
36-12-12.2
;
(i)
(i)
to maintain, exercise control over, and act as the repository and custodian of the
official copy and database of the Utah Code, organized by title, chapter, part, and
section; and
(ii)
to keep the Utah Code database current, including updating the database to reflect:
(A)
any duly enacted legislation making changes, including future changes, to the
Utah Code; and
(B)
any corrections of technical errors
made in accordance with Section
36-12-12.2
;
(j)
to formulate recommendations for the revision, clarification, classification,
arrangement, codification, annotation, and indexing of Utah statutes, and to develop
proposed legislation to effectuate the recommendations;
(k)
to appoint and develop a professional staff within budget limitations; and
(l)
to prepare and submit the annual budget request for the Office of Legislative
Research and General Counsel.
(3)
(a)
If, under
Utah Constitution, Article VI, Section 10
, the House of Representatives
or Senate determines that an individual is not qualified to serve in the House of
Representatives or Senate, or expels an individual from the respective chamber, but
the individual continues to hold his or her elected legislative office, the Office of
Legislative Research and General Counsel may not provide legislative staff services,
including legal services, to the individual.
(b)
Notwithstanding Subsection
(3)(a)
, the Office of Legislative Research and General
Counsel may provide legal services for an individual described in Subsection
(3)(a)
if
the legal services are approved by the Legislative Management Committee described
in Section
36-12-7
.
(4)
The statutory authorization of the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel
to correct technical errors provided in Subsection
(2)
(f), to prepare the laws for
publication in Subsection
(2)(h)
, and to modify the electronic record to correct technical
errors under Subsection
(2)(i)(ii)(B)
includes:
(a)
adopting a uniform system of punctuation, capitalization, numbering, and wording
for enrolled legislation and the Laws of Utah;
(b)
eliminating duplication and the repeal of laws directly or by implication, including
renumbering when necessary;
(c)
correcting defective or inconsistent title, chapter, part, section, and subsection
structure in the arrangement of the subject matter of existing statutes;
(d)
eliminating obsolete and redundant words;
(e)
correcting:
(i)
obvious typographical and grammatical errors; and
(ii)
other obvious inconsistencies, including those involving punctuation,
capitalization, cross references, numbering, and wording;
(f)
inserting or changing the boldface to more accurately reflect the substance of each
section, part, chapter, or title;
(g)
merging or determining priority of any amendments, enactments, or repealers to the
same code provisions that are passed by the Legislature;
(h)
renumbering and rearranging of a title, chapter, part, section, or provisions of a
section;
(i)
transferring sections or dividing sections to assign separate sections numbers to
distinct subject matters;
(j)
modifying cross references to agree with renamed or renumbered titles, chapters,
parts, or sections;
(k)
substituting the proper section or chapter number for the terms "this act," "this bill,"
or similar terms;
(l)
substituting the proper calendar date in the database and in the Laws of Utah;
(m)
modifying the highlighted provisions of legislation to correct an inconsistency
between the highlighted provisions and the enacted provisions of the legislation;
(n)
correcting the names of agencies, departments, and similar units of government;
(o)
rearranging any misplaced statutory material, incorporating any omitted statutory
material, and correcting other obvious errors of addition or omission;
(p)
correcting or incorporating a special clause that was publicly available on the
Legislature's website but is errantly omitted, modified, or retained during the
legislative process due to obvious technological or human error, including:
(i)
a severability clause;
(ii)
an effective date clause;
(iii)
a retrospective operation clause;
(iv)
an uncodified repeal date clause;
(v)
a revisor instruction clause; or
(vi)
a coordination clause;
(q)
correcting the incorporation of an amendment due to obvious technological or
human error; and
(r)
alphabetizing definition sections.
(5)
(4)
In carrying out the duties provided for in this section, the director of the Office of
Legislative Research and General Counsel may obtain access to all records, documents,
and reports necessary to the scope of the director's duties according to the procedures
contained in
Chapter 14, Legislative Subpoena Powers
.
(6)
(5)
In organizing the management of the Office of Legislative Research and General
Counsel, the Legislative Management Committee may either:
(a)
select a person to serve as both the director of the office and as general counsel. In
such case, the director of the office shall be a lawyer admitted to practice in Utah and
shall have practical management experience or equivalent academic training; or
(b)
select a person to serve as director of the office who would have general supervisory
authority and select another person to serve as the legislative general counsel within
the office. In such case, the director of the office shall have a master's degree in
public or business administration, economics, or the equivalent in academic or
practical experience and the legislative general counsel shall be a lawyer admitted to
practice in Utah.
Section 3. Section
36-12-12.2
is enacted to read:
36-12-12.2
. Authority to revise code.
(1)
As used in this section:
(a)
"Utah Code database" means an electronic repository of the Utah Code.
(b)
"Utah Constitution database" means an electronic repository of the Utah Constitution.
(2)
The Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, under the direction of the
general counsel shall review, examine, and correct any technical errors when:
(a)
preparing legislation that passed both chambers to enroll the legislation;
(b)
preparing the laws for publication; and
(c)
maintaining the accuracy of the Utah Code database and the Utah Constitution
database in accordance with Section
36-12-12
.
(3)
The authority of the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel to correct
technical errors provided in Subsection
(2)
:
(a)
includes:
(i)
adopting and implementing a uniform system of punctuation, capitalization,
numbering, and wording for enrolled legislation and the Laws of Utah;
(ii)
removing duplication;
(iii)
removing laws repealed directly or by implication;
(iv)
correcting defective or inconsistent title, chapter, part, section, and subsection
structure in the arrangement of the subject matter of existing statutes;
(v)
eliminating obsolete and redundant words;
(vi)
correcting:
(A)
obvious typographical and grammatical errors; and
(B)
other obvious inconsistencies, including those involving punctuation,
capitalization, cross references, numbering, and wording;
(vii)
inserting or changing the boldface to more accurately reflect the substance of
each title, chapter, part, or section;
(viii)
merging or determining priority of any amendments, enactments, or repealers to
the same code provisions that are passed by the Legislature;
(ix)
correcting the incorporation of an amendment due to obvious technological or
human error;
(x)
renumbering and rearranging of a title, chapter, part, section, or provisions of a
section;
(xi)
transferring sections or dividing sections to assign separate sections numbers to
distinct subject matters;
(xii)
modifying cross references to agree with renamed or renumbered titles, chapters,
parts, or sections;
(xiii)
substituting the proper section or chapter number for the terms "this act," "this
bill," or similar terms;
(xiv)
substituting the proper calendar date in the Utah Code database and in the Laws
of Utah;
(xv)
correcting erroneous statutory history in the long title of legislation;
(xvi)
correcting the names of agencies, departments, officers, funds, and similar units
of government;
(xvii)
rearranging any misplaced statutory material, incorporating any omitted
statutory material, and correcting other obvious errors of addition or omission;
(xviii)
correcting or incorporating a special clause or uncodified material that was
publicly available on the Legislature's website but is errantly omitted, modified, or
retained during the legislative process due to obvious technological or human
error, including:
(A)
an appropriation clause;
(B)
a severability clause;
(C)
an effective date clause;
(D)
a retrospective operation clause;
(E)
an uncodified repeal date clause;
(F)
a revisor instruction clause; or
(G)
a coordination clause; and
(xix)
alphabetizing definition sections; and
(b)
does not include a correction that would alter the meaning or effect of law.
Section 4.
Effective Date.
This bill takes effect on
May 6, 2026
.
2-20-26 9:56 AM