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Utah senators signed off on a bill to clarify Utah's sex assault statute with no discussion Tuesday.

Members of the Senate Judiciary and Law Enforcement Committee passed the bill with a unanimous vote, sending the measure to the full Senate for debate.

But if Tuesday's meeting was any indication, debate of the legislation from this point on may be limited.

"The bill just makes it clear," Senate sponsor Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, told the committee, "that an unconscious person is assumed to have not consented."

Utah's current statute requires prosecutors to prove that a victim did not give consent and was also unconscious.

Advocates argue it's not physically possible for someone to be unconscious and indicate non-consent at the same time.

The measure drew national attention a few weeks ago when Pleasant Grove Republican Rep. Brian Greene questioned whether sex with an unconscious person should constitute rape "in every instance" during a Utah House committee hearing.

Greene apologized the next day and the full House passed the bill on to the Senate with no debate.

On Tuesday, Weiler stressed that the bill is not geared at spouses.

"We're not going to have cameras in the bedroom," he said, adding that the bill would be an important tool for prosecutors in the courtroom. "That's when this is going to apply."

— Annie Knox