This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
After a failed gambit by Democrats to force a floor vote on Gov. Gary Herbert's Healthy Utah plan for Medicaid expansion last week, House leaders pushed through a rule change to stymie such parliamentary maneuvers in the future.
Last week, freshman Rep. Justin Miller, D-Salt Lake City, tried to bring the Healthy Utah bill directly to the House floor for a vote, even though it was voted down in committee.
The effort failed, but immediately afterward House leaders asked attorneys to draft a change to House rules. The new rule, approved 71-0 after a suspension of the rules Monday to allow a vote without the normal 24-hour waiting period, requires a two-thirds vote of the House to bring a bill that has been voted down in committee directly to the floor. Currently it only takes a majority.
House Majority Leader Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, said the change was something they had meant to make earlier.
"They jogged my memory," Dunnigan said.
— By Robert Gehrke