This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A bill introduced in the Utah Legislature on Wednesday seeks to name the House Office Building near the State Capitol after former House Speaker Becky Lockhart, who died suddenly last year.
The measure, HB322, sponsored by Rep. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, would be the first attempt to designate one of the buildings on the Capitol complex after a former political officeholder.
"I felt like there needed to be an appropriate way to memorialize the first female speaker in the State of Utah, and Becky Lockhart broke a lot of glass ceilings and candidly proved that there's an appropriate place and a powerful place for a woman's voice in the House of Representatives and the Utah Legislature," McCay said.
Lockhart left the Utah House at the end of 2014 after serving 12 years in the body and becoming the first woman to serve as speaker. At the end of her term, however, she began suffering from disorientation, failing motor skills and eventually an inability to speak or swallow.
She was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an extremely rare and always lethal degenerative neurological disorder. Lockhart died in January 2015, just before the start of the legislative session.
A bill before the Legislature last year would have co-named a portion of Interstate 15 for Lockhart, but the measure failed because of opposition from veterans groups who wanted the Veterans Highway name to stand alone.
McCay said the designation at the Capitol complex is fitting for Lockhart, who volunteered as a tour guide at the building before being elected speaker.
"She loved the Capitol, absolutely adored the Capitol," he said. "She was just constantly in awe of how amazing the building was."
Twitter: @RobertGehrke