Utah legislators are proposing changes to Utah law at a frenzied pace this year, introducing 45% more pieces of legislation this year than at the same point last session — but passing fewer, thus far.
“Legislators, as they get experience, they kind of learn the tricks of the process to get your bills drafted early,” said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, which manages the flow of legislation.
Fillmore said there are also a number of bills that failed last session that were reintroduced this year.
“I don’t think that results in an increase or that we’re passing more bills,” Fillmore said. “The pace at which we’re passing bills is slower than it’s ever been. … At the end of the session, I think we’re going to have more disappointed legislators.”
By the end of the third week of the legislative session last Friday, lawmakers had released 852 bills and resolutions. That’s a massive increase from the 566 introduced during the first three weeks last year and shattered the record of 694 bills introduced in the first three weeks of the 2024 session — the only time more than 600 pieces of legislation had been proposed in the opening weeks of the session.
Through the end of last week, 43 bills had made it all the way through the Legislature and were sent to the governor. That’s six more than at the same point last year, but below the average over the last four years.
The 45-day legislative session reaches its midpoint this week. If the rate of new bills being introduced keeps pace with the average for the last four years, lawmakers will introduce more than 1,200 bills this year — the first time in history they would clear the 1,000-bill mark.
Freshman Rep. Clinton Okerlund, R-Sandy, had proposed a rules change that would limit House members to introducing six bills and cap senators at 10 bills. He said at a hearing on the proposal earlier this session that taxpayer dollars are being spent on attorneys drafting 200 more bills than can be considered during the session. He wanted to limit the total number of bills to around 750.
“If we’re running 200 more bills than we can hear, that’s not fiscally responsible. Also, if we claim to hate red tape, yet we’re running 959 bills, that’s not consistent,” he told his colleagues. “I can tell you that your constituents love this idea.”
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Clinton Okerlund, R-Sandy, comments as the House Transportation Committee considers SB195 Transportation Amendments at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025.
But his proposal received pushback from his fellow House members, who voted to keep the bill from moving forward. They argued that limiting the number of bills prevents legislators from being responsive to their constituents and solving problems. Opponents also argued the cap could lead to lawmakers trying to jam issues into larger, omnibus bills.
“I love what the representative is doing,” said Rep. Jefferson Burton, R-Salem. “I complain about this all the time. I think less is more, and I’ve been one of those who’s been concerned about how many bills some legislators run. It seems their self-worth is based on numbers of bills.”
But Burton said he thought Okerlund’s proposal needed more polishing. Others on the House Rules Committee thought it was the completely wrong approach.
“This kind of trend that we’ve leaned into, of demonizing legislators for legislating, I don’t know why that has taken off the way it has,” said Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden.
According to legislative data, two Democrats — Sen. Jen Plumb and Sen. Stephanie Pitcher — have requested 37 bills be drafted, the most in the body. Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, is the leader among Republicans with 34, while Wilcox, who has requested 33 pieces of legislation, is tops in the House.