The Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs has compiled policy resources and information to help communities get engaged civically and be aware of Legislative Session activity that impacts multicultural communities and equity-related issues.

Week 3 Newsletter

Our Policy Priorities

We form our policy priorities based on comprehensive guidance from the Utah Multicultural Commission, Utah Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Commission, and our statewide mission and vision that is founded on increasing equity and opportunity across multicultural communities and various sectors.

The Division focuses on increasing awareness, education, and access to resources for communities to be more civically informed.

Increase Awareness of Legislative Action
Communities are stronger when they are informed of relevant issues that impact them.
Promote Education of Legislative & Civic Process
Civic and legislative education encourages understanding and respect for differences of opinion and collaboration.
Centralize Helpful Resources
Serving as a centralizer of key resources and amplifying existing tools encourages public involvement overall.

Get Informed & Involved

Laws passed by the Legislature have a direct impact on your life and the lives of your communities. Review the resources below to become informed and get involved in the ways that matter most to you. You are needed. Your stories, voices, and experiences are knowledge that can help the legislative process.

Step-by-Step: How a Bill Becomes a Law in Utah

What is a bill? It is a proposed law, requiring support of both houses and the governor's action for enactment.

1. An Idea Is Developed. A bill idea can start in either the House or the Senate. A legislator draws from numerous sources in deciding what should be introduced in the Legislature as a bill. Major sources of ideas come from community members, government agencies, special interest groups, lobbyists, the Governor, and the legislator themselves. You could propose an idea!

2. The Bill is Drafted. The idea is submitted to the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, a nonpartisan legislative staff office, in the form of a bill request. An attorney is assigned to the bill and they review existing law, research the issues, and prepare the bill in proper technical form. The bill is given a number. A fiscal review is conducted and a "Fiscal Note" is attached. The bill is also reviewed for statutory or constitutional concerns.

3. The Bill is Introduced. The bill is introduced into the Legislature and referred to the Rules Committee.

*A Bill Must Be Read Three Times: No matter whether a bill starts in the House or the Senate, it must go through three constitutionally required readings in each body before it can pass into law.

4. The Bill Receives Standing Committee Review (first reading) and Public Input. The Rules Committee recommends which standing committee to which the bill should be referred to. The standing committee, in an open meeting, reviews the bill and receives public testimony. The committee may amend, hold, table, substitute, or make a favorable recommendation on the bill.

5. The Bill Is Returned to the Floor (second reading). Following the committee hearing the bill is returned to the full House with a committee report. The committee reports that the bill is favorable, favorable with amendments, substituted, or that the bill has been tabled. The house adopts the bill by motion and puts the bill on the calendar for the third reading.

6. The Bill is Debated in Open Session (third reading). During floor debate, the bill can be amended or substituted. It can also be held for a later time. In order for a bill to pass the House of Representatives, it must receive at least 38 of 75 votes. In order for it to pass the Senate, the bill must receive at least 15 of 29 votes.

7. The Bill Passes Both Houses in the Legislature. After the bill has gone through both houses, it is signed by the Senate President and the Speaker of the House.

8. The Bill Receives the Governor's Action. The Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel prepares the bill in final form. This is called the "enrolled" bill. The enrolled bill is sent to the Governor for his action. He can either sign the bill, veto it, or allow it become law without his signature.

9. The Bill Becomes Effective. A bill enacted by the Legislature is effective 60 days following the closing, unless another date is specified in the bill. It then becomes law.

Source: Utah State Legislature

Watch: Legislative Crash Course

(Courtesy of Better Utah Institute)

Get Involved: Ways to Be More Civically Engaged On Your Own Time

Adapted from Deseret News.

Find out who your representatives are.

This is as easy as visiting the Utah State Legislature website and entering your street address and ZIP code. Once you know who represents you, you have someone to keep accountable.

Follow the Legislature on social media.

Both legislative bodies post updates to various social media channels.

Senate: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube

House majority: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube

House minority: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube

This account auto-tweets official Utah Legislature actions, and the hashtags #utleg and #utpol are good to follow on Twitter for updates from legislative bodies, legislators and journalists alike.

Your own representatives may also post updates to individual social media accounts.

Get updates from credible news sources.

Some local news organizations offer frequent legislative updates. Find a source that you like and sign up to get updates through whichever channel works best for you.

Do some studying.

Learn what legislative terms mean, how to read a bill, or how a bill becomes a law.

Track the status of a bill.

If there's a current bill you're interested in, you can see where the bill is in the legislative process and see how your representatives voted on it under the "Status" tab. You can also use the Legislature's floor calendars and bill tracking service to keep tabs on bills.

Contact your representatives.

Find their contact information using the Senate and House rosters.

You can call your representatives, but if that’s too intimidating, just get in touch any way you can.

Email them.
Write them a letter.
Visit their office.
Tweet at them.

Remember, they work for you, so find a way to let them know what you think about what they’re doing, including which bills they support and sponsor.

Figure out which issues are important to you.

If you're not sure where to start, take some time to think about the issues in your community that matter to you.

You might find some ideas by sorting through legislative committees and bills by subject. For example, if you’re interested in education, you can keep track of the bills that address education, or the committees that address education and which topics they’re addressing in their meetings.

You can also calculate your taxpayer receipt to find out where your tax dollars are going. After that, you may have a few opinions on how tax money is allocated.

Attend (or watch) committee meetings.

Because committee meetings are open to the public, you’re welcome to attend them at the Utah State Capitol. If you can’t attend in person, the Legislature website streams live audio and keeps archived audio of committee meetings.

Look for scheduled meetings by committee, or simply view the calendar on the Utah State Legislature home page.

Attend a town hall meeting.

Town hall meetings are a great way to speak to your representatives in person, ask questions and tell them what you think. Sign up for your representatives' email lists to get notified about when they hold town halls.

Watch floor debates.

You can also watch live floor debates on the Legislature home page, or archived floor debates in the Hearings/Debate tab of the bill you're interested in.

Testify before a legislative committee.

Keep track of the committees that cover topics that are important to you. Those committees are required to post public notices of their meetings, as well as the agendas for those meetings. Once you find a meeting that's relevant to the issue you're interested in, attend it and testify, using this as your guide.