HJR 23 Utah House · 2026 General Session

Joint Rules Resolution - Policy Development and Impact

This resolution requires Utah legislators sponsoring bills to clearly state the specific problem they aim to solve and define measurable goals to assess the bill's success. It mandates legislative staff to assist sponsors in developing these policy details and ensures drafting instructions include this information. The bill affects all bill sponsors and legislative staff, while also allowing auditors to request this policy information during reviews of state laws.

Bill status passed 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

House Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Feb 2026

Governor

Introduced Feb 9, 2026 Last action Mar 7, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Amended Excerpts 2/12/2026 14:02:181 → Amended 2/12/2026 14:02:181 · 3 edits

MINOR

This bill adds new requirements for Utah legislators to clearly define policy problems and measurable goals when introducing legislation. It also expands the role of the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel to assist with policy development and ensures audit officials can request policy information to evaluate legislative impact.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from just requiring policy problem specification to also requiring measurable objectives and adding audit authority to access policy information.

REQUIREMENT

Chief sponsors must now identify measurable objectives alongside policy problems when filing legislation requests.

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel must assist with policy development and ensure drafting instructions include required policy information.

ENFORCEMENT

Office of the Legislative Auditor General can now request policy information during audits to evaluate legislative impact.

Floor votes · House Feb 20, 2026

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Feb 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate/ committee report favorable [Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee]

upper

Feb 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation [Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee]

upper

Feb 24, 2026

Committee

Senate/ to standing committee [Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee]

upper

Feb 23, 2026

Introduced

Senate/ 1st reading (Introduced)

upper

Feb 20, 2026

Upper · Passed

House/ passed 3rd reading

upper

Feb 12, 2026

Lower · Passed

House/ comm rpt/ amended [House Rules Committee]

lower

Feb 12, 2026

Lower · Passed

House Comm - Favorable Recommendation [House Rules Committee]

lower

Feb 12, 2026

Introduced

House Comm - Amendment Recommendation [House Rules Committee]

lower

Feb 9, 2026

Introduced

House/ 1st reading (Introduced)

lower

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor