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Utah House members figured that the late Speaker Becky Lockhart — who died unexpectedly last year — was probably rolling her eyes in heaven as they decided to honor her on Monday by renaming the House Building on Capitol Hill for her.

"You left us far too soon, madam speaker. For that, we get the last laugh" with the building renaming, said Rep. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, just before the House voted unanimously to pass HB322, which now goes to the Senate.

After the vote, members rose and gave a standing ovation to her husband, Stan, who sat on the House floor to watch the debate.

Lockhart, R-Provo, left the Utah House at the end of 2014 after serving 16 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 at age 46.

As a sign of Lockhart's collaborative style, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in honoring her with speeches Monday.

"I didn't always agree with Becky politically, but I admired her style of leadership, which was civil and inclusive and collaborative," Rep. Marie Poulson, D-Cottonwood Heights, said.

"She would rather lose a fight than bend arms just because she was the speaker," McCay said.

Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, said Lockhart allowed bills to proceed even if she and other GOP leaders personally opposed them, and easily could have quashed them. She said Lockhart allowed her to "make my case" for a bill to outlaw smoking with children in cars, "and it's now the law. That love of process meant a lot to me."

Rep. Sue Duckworth, D-Magna, sponsor of the resolution, said Lockhart loved the Capitol, and often would jump in to take over tours by school children of the building — only to be identified afterward by guides as the House speaker. She said that renaming a building on the Capitol Hill she loved is fitting.

But she said Lockhart might be embarrassed, too.

"She preferred to elevate those around her rather than taking the focus on herself."