H.B. 40 Utah Construction Trades Licensing Act Amendments

What this bill does

The bill rewrites Utah's construction trades licensing laws into a reorganized, easier-to-read form without changing the requirements themselves. It also moves the alarm company license requirements to a different section of the code and makes some language cleanup changes.

Plain-English summary written by AI from the sponsor’s presentation in committee and on the floor. Check the official text below.

Your legislators on this bill

Enter your address to see what your own representative and senator did on this bill.

Quotes come from the official recordings' automatic captions, which can mishear words. Speakers and summaries are identified by AI and can be wrong. Use the ▶ links to check the recording.

Take action

This bill's session is over, but your legislators still want to hear from you. Ideas that died often come back next year.

Enter your address to get your legislators' contact information and a ready-to-send message about this bill.

Every vote

• 12 yes, 0 no, 4 absentHouse Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee: vote to approve it · Jan 22, 2026Who voted how
• 70 yes, 1 no, 4 absentFinal House vote · Jan 30, 2026Who voted how
• 5 yes, 0 no, 2 absentSenate Revenue and Taxation Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 5, 2026Who voted how
• 28 yes, 1 noFirst of two Senate votes · Feb 11, 2026Who voted how
• 24 yes, 1 no, 4 absentFinal Senate vote · Feb 12, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Jan 27, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (9 turns)

  1. Unknown speaker28:04speaker not certain

     House Bill 40, Utah Construction Trades Licensing Act Amendments by representative Tom Peterson. This bill was heard in business and labor with a voter 12 0 4

  2. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson28:13

     Representative Tom Peterson. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Uh, for decades we have modified contractor licensing, uh, requirements, and, uh, a huge thank you to staff and to dopel for tackling the, the monumental task of re codifying This section. Uh, there is no substantive changes that we've done with this. We've just, for years, we've kind of hodgepodge the contractor licensing requirements. And so we did an entire reification of, of our contractor licensing requirements so that it's easier to use, easier to understand. And that's, uh, my presentation on the bill. Oh, I would love somebody to adopt my first sub.

  3. Speaker (presiding)29:05

     Wow, you got a lot of friends. Representative Pucci.

  4. Rep. Candice B. Pierucci29:10

     Thank you. Motion to adopt the first substitute.

  5. Speaker (presiding)29:13

     Thank you representative. Uh, that motion is in order. Would you like to speak to it?

  6. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson29:16

     No, I think the sponsor will.

  7. Speaker (presiding)29:30speaker not certain

     Just a sec. Representative amendment? No. Or substitute? Substitute. Don't have an A amend There. It's there. Uh, let's circle Sub motion to circle.

  8. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson29:56speaker not certain

     Withdraw your motion. Withdraw my motion. And I would actually like to make a motion to circle.

  9. Speaker (presiding)30:00

     Thank you representative preachy. The motion before is the House Circle HB 40. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Will that motion passes. The bill's been circled. Madam Reading Clerk Second substitute House Bill 65

• Jan 27, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (15 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)47:00

     before is the House encircle HB 40. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Will that motion passes the bills encircled before the body for its consideration. Representative Tom Peterson.

  2. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson47:12

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. I'd like to move the first sub

  3. Speaker (presiding)47:14

     Thank you representative. We'd like to speak to that.

  4. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson47:16

     Uh, so as we drafted this legislation, uh, we just left out one of the sections and Doppel caught it and we just need to make sure that it gets included in the bill. So it's 58, uh, 55 2 12 got missed and it was part of the original draft, but got missed in drafting.

  5. Speaker (presiding)47:36

     Thank you Representative, uh, discussion to the motion to adopt. First substitute on HB 40. Any none will place the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Roll. That motion passes the bill substituted and before the body for its consideration. Representative Peterson for presentation.

  6. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson47:58

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned before, this bill is simply a re codification of our contractor licensing requirements. It's meant to, there's no substantive changes, it's just meant to clean it up after decades of, of modifying our contractor licensing requirements.

  7. Speaker (presiding)48:13

     Thank you. Representative discussion to the bill, Representative Thompson.

  8. Rep. Jason E. Thompson48:18

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. I'd like to move, uh, amendment one in my name.

  9. Speaker (presiding)48:23

     That motion is an order. Let me grab it real. Okay. Would you like to speak to that one? Motion to

  10. Rep. Jason E. Thompson48:28

      Amend? I do. I, um, I appreciate the work that the sponsor, uh, has done on the bill. This just addresses a, a major concern that I have. Um, with regard to temporary licensure, uh, for, uh, employees that are waiting for background checks. Uh, what we find is that when you have seasonal employees, uh, you get your state background check, that generally comes back pretty quick. You cannot count on the federal government to do anything in a timely Sense. Represent. I hate to interrupt you and I apologize.

  11. Speaker (presiding)48:59

      Uh, that amendment that you have is the amendment to the original bill. Okay. We need to get, if, if you'd like to make this change, we need, you need to get another amendment. Another amendment to the first substitute.

  12. Rep. Jason E. Thompson49:14

      Okay. So then I guess I'm gonna be making a motion to circle.

  13. Speaker (presiding)49:18

      Okay. Maybe we got a phone. A friend, Representative Monson. Motion to circle. Thank you, representative. The motion before is the house circle. First substitute HB 40. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Before that motion passes. Oh, sorry. I should have came back to you. Representative on the motion to circle. Anyways, we placed the motion. It passed. Uh, HB first substitute HB 40, uh, has been circled. Now let's go to Representative Roberts.

  14. Rep. Calvin Roberts49:53

      Thank you Mr. Speaker. Motion to Uncer first sub HJ R two.

  15. Speaker (presiding)49:57

      That motion is in order. We'll go and place the motion. The motion before us the house. Uncer hj. R two.

• Jan 30, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (23 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)38:28

     That motion is in order. We'll go ahead and place the motion. The motion before is the house and circle HB 40. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Roll. That motion passes. The bill's been encircled and before the body for consideration. Representative Peterson.

  2. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson38:43

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. Um, as you are all aware, um, we talked about this in a previous life, and I guess before I start with my presentation, I need to adopt the first sub

  3. Speaker (presiding)38:54

     Thank you representative. Do you, uh, that motion is in order, uh, to adopt first sub on, oh, sorry. First substitute has already been adopted. Did we get it adopted? We did get it adopted. So, uh, please continue with your presentation. Thank you.

  4. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson39:10

     So what this is, is just a reification of our contractor licensing. We spoke about it already on the floor, so I don't wanna belabor, uh, the conversation with, it's just simply a reification of our contractor licensing requirements.

  5. Speaker (presiding)39:22

     Thank you, Representative Peterson. Discussion to that bill, Representative Thompson.

  6. Rep. Jason E. Thompson39:27

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to, uh, offer Amendment one, two for substitute, uh, 40 in my name.

  7. Speaker (presiding)39:38

     Thank you, Representative Thompson. That motion is in order. Would you like to speak to it?

  8. Rep. Jason E. Thompson39:42

     I would, yeah. This is, um, this is a simple change. Um, what, what, um, my, my concern is, is that, um, I I wanna make sure that all employees, both contractors and call center employees and everyone have the ability to get a temporary license to work while background checks are being completed. One of the things that, um, that, that are being run into specifically in the alarm industry is we have a requirement for both a state and a federal background check, which I think is, uh, perfectly appropriate. And I agree with however, uh, federal back backlogs, um, lead to extended wait times. And sometimes you could be months waiting for somebody to be able to get a license to be legal to work. So what this, uh, amendment does is says, Hey, listen, as long as you've been a resident of the state of Utah for 12 months, as long as you've had a BCI background check that has come back, um, you can be issued a temporary, um, ability to work that shall not exceed, um, 90 days. This makes sure that we don't have businesses, um, at a disadvantage with contractors or employees who cannot, um, fulfill the function of their work and basically sit there and wait for the, the federal government to respond.

  9. Speaker (presiding)40:57

     Thank you, Representative Thompson Discussion or, uh, to representative Tom Peterson on the motion to adopt amendment number one under representative Tom Thompson's name.

  10. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson41:08

      Uh, I would just say that I, I've testified in the committee this was a reification and I'll leave it at that.

  11. Speaker (presiding)41:15

      Thank you. Uh, Representative Peterson. Uh, further discussion to the motion to adopt, uh, amendment number one, Representative Cutler.

  12. Rep. Tracy Miller41:26

      Thank you Mr. Speaker with the sponsor of the amendment to yield to questions.

  13. Speaker (presiding)41:30

      Representative Thompson will yield to a series of questions. Yes, yes. Representative Cutler.

  14. Rep. Paul A. Cutler41:36

      Could the Mr. Speaker, would the sponsor speak to, or or Mr. Speaker, what kind of things does a state background check catch? Specifically if there was someone that was convicted of a crime in another state, would, uh, this a state background check likely catch? Uh, something like that?

  15. Rep. Jason E. Thompson41:59

      Uh, thank you Mr. Speaker. From my experience, um, there, there are a lot of things that a state background check will catch. Uh, the federal background check is more comprehensive, and that's why we do both. But you do get overlap. You do get, um, you do get things on the, the state background check that that comes back. That will be the same thing as what you get on the federal background check.

  16. Rep. Paul A. Cutler42:23

      Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

  17. Speaker (presiding)42:28

      Thank you, representative Keller. Further discussion to the motion to adopt amendment number one, Representative Gwynn.

  18. Unknown speaker42:36speaker not certain

      Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last six years, I've had the privilege to do a ton of reification, and the one thing that I'm reminded of is when we're doing reification, we're typically not doing policy changes in those recodes. Um, typically policy changes aren't germane tree codification, and I would actually be a opposed to the amendment. Uh, it probably needs to bill be in a bill in event itself. Thank you.

  19. Speaker (presiding)43:06

      Thank you, representative Gwen. Uh, back to your Representative Thompson on the summation to adopt amendment number one.

  20. Rep. Jason E. Thompson43:15

      Yeah, I, I'll just sum, uh, Mr. Speaker with, uh, this is, this is not a, a huge policy change. We're already doing this for employees that are in a call center, in an office administrative facility, uh, of an alarm company. This just, uh, enables general contractors that tend to be seasonal workers to fall under that same, um, same category. I would generally agree with, um, the, the good representative, um, that we don't want substantive policy changes and re reification, but this is far from a substitute, uh, policy change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

  21. Speaker (presiding)43:48

      Thank you, Representative Thompson. So, with that, we'll go ahead and, uh, place the motion. The motion before us is that the house adopt first substitute HB 40 under Representative Thompson's name. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No rule. That motion fails. Act to discussion on the bill. None. Back to your Representative Peterson for summation on first substitute HB 40.

  22. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson44:20

      I thank you for your support on this. It's a lot of hard work from staff. I wanna tell staff thank you for all their hard work and appreciate your support.

  23. Speaker (presiding)44:28

      Thank you. Representative Peterson voting will now be open on first substitute HP 40. Representative Whyte, would you like to vote? Seeing all present, having voted voting is now closed. First substitute HB 40 passed this body with 70 yes votes. One no vote will be sent to the Senate for its consideration.

• Jan 30, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (21 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)39:06

     So, uh, please continue with your presentation. Thank you.

  2. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson39:10

     So what this is, is just a reification of our contractor licensing. We spoke about it already on the floor, so I don't wanna belabor, uh, the conversation with, it's just simply a reification of our contractor licensing requirements.

  3. Speaker (presiding)39:22

     Thank you, Representative Peterson. Discussion to that bill, Representative Thompson.

  4. Rep. Jason E. Thompson39:27

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to, uh, offer Amendment one, two for substitute, uh, 40 in my name.

  5. Speaker (presiding)39:38

     Thank you, Representative Thompson. That motion is in order. Would you like to speak to it?

  6. Rep. Jason E. Thompson39:42

     I would, yeah. This is, um, this is a simple change. Um, what, what, um, my, my concern is, is that, um, I I wanna make sure that all employees, both contractors and call center employees and everyone have the ability to get a temporary license to work while background checks are being completed. One of the things that, um, that, that are being run into specifically in the alarm industry is we have a requirement for both a state and a federal background check, which I think is, uh, perfectly appropriate. And I agree with however, uh, federal back backlogs, um, lead to extended wait times. And sometimes you could be months waiting for somebody to be able to get a license to be legal to work. So what this, uh, amendment does is says, Hey, listen, as long as you've been a resident of the state of Utah for 12 months, as long as you've had a BCI background check that has come back, um, you can be issued a temporary, um, ability to work that shall not exceed, um, 90 days. This makes sure that we don't have businesses, um, at a disadvantage with contractors or employees who cannot, um, fulfill the function of their work and basically sit there and wait for the, the federal government to respond.

  7. Speaker (presiding)40:57

     Thank you, Representative Thompson Discussion or, uh, to representative Tom Peterson on the motion to adopt amendment number one under representative Tom Thompson's name.

  8. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson41:08

     Uh, I would just say that I, I've testified in the committee this was a reification and I'll leave it at that.

  9. Speaker (presiding)41:15

     Thank you. Uh, Representative Peterson. Uh, further discussion to the motion to adopt, uh, amendment number one, Representative Cutler.

  10. Rep. Paul A. Cutler41:26

      Thank you Mr. Speaker with the sponsor of the amendment to yield to questions.

  11. Speaker (presiding)41:30

      Representative Thompson will yield to a series of questions. Yes, yes. Representative Cutler.

  12. Rep. Paul A. Cutler41:36

      Could the Mr. Speaker, would the sponsor speak to, or or Mr. Speaker, what kind of things does a state background check catch? Specifically if there was someone that was convicted of a crime in another state, would, uh, this a state background check likely catch? Uh, something like that?

  13. Rep. Jason E. Thompson41:59

      Uh, thank you Mr. Speaker. From my experience, um, there, there are a lot of things that a state background check will catch. Uh, the federal background check is more comprehensive, and that's why we do both. But you do get overlap. You do get, um, you do get things on the, the state background check that that comes back. That will be the same thing as what you get on the federal background check.

  14. Rep. Paul A. Cutler42:23

      Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

  15. Speaker (presiding)42:28

      Thank you, representative Keller. Further discussion to the motion to adopt amendment number one, Representative Gwynn.

  16. Rep. Gwynn (name not matched to roster)42:36

      Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last six years, I've had the privilege to do a ton of reification, and the one thing that I'm reminded of is when we're doing reification, we're typically not doing policy changes in those recodes. Um, typically policy changes aren't germane tree codification, and I would actually be a opposed to the amendment. Uh, it probably needs to bill be in a bill in event itself. Thank you.

  17. Speaker (presiding)43:06

      Thank you, representative Gwen. Uh, back to your Representative Thompson on the summation to adopt amendment number one.

  18. Rep. Jason E. Thompson43:15

      Yeah, I, I'll just sum, uh, Mr. Speaker with, uh, this is, this is not a, a huge policy change. We're already doing this for employees that are in a call center, in an office administrative facility, uh, of an alarm company. This just, uh, enables general contractors that tend to be seasonal workers to fall under that same, um, same category. I would generally agree with, um, the, the good representative, um, that we don't want substantive policy changes and re reification, but this is far from a substitute, uh, policy change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

  19. Speaker (presiding)43:48

      Thank you, Representative Thompson. So, with that, we'll go ahead and, uh, place the motion. The motion before us is that the house adopt first substitute HB 40 under Representative Thompson's name. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No rule. That motion fails. Act to discussion on the bill. None. Back to your Representative Peterson for summation on first substitute HB 40.

  20. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson44:20

      I thank you for your support on this. It's a lot of hard work from staff. I wanna tell staff thank you for all their hard work and appreciate your support.

  21. Speaker (presiding)44:28

      Thank you. Representative Peterson voting will now be open on first substitute HP 40. Representative Whyte, would you like to vote? Seeing all present, having voted voting is now closed. First substitute HB 40 passed this body with 70 yes votes. One no vote will be sent to the Senate for its consideration.

• Feb 5, 2026 Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (8 turns)

  1. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson1:22:19

     Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. It's a pleasure to be with you. Uh, this afternoon, HB 40 is just a re codification of our contractor licensing requirements. Uh, I, first I want to thank Dopel, uh, their staff, uh, uh, Tyler Moore, uh, all the people that have, alright, This is the Oscars. Let's go all The, all the people that have put so much time and effort into doing this. It was a monumental feed. It's just under a hundred pages long. Uh, it was a, it was a big deal, but for decades, we have piecemealed, our contractor licensing requirements we've added, taken away. Uh, so this is just a reification, uh, no substantive changes.

  2. Committee chair1:22:58

     Okay. Does that conclude your presentation? Yes. Okay. Questions from the committee. Seeing none, I'm gonna ask one myself.

  3. Committee chair1:23:07

     Uh, I did not review all a hundred pages, so help me here real quick. I know I didn't even ask for the crosswalk, which is unusual for me. How many hours is my neighbor going to have to go through for continuing education? Uh, and is it increasing so that he's gonna be mad at me?

  4. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson1:23:22speaker not certain

     It's not increasing. But what does he do for a living? He's a general contractor. Six hours every two years.

  5. Committee chair1:23:28

     Alright. Might need to double that. I'm, no, it's good to know. Thank you. You won't Hear an argument from me. No, that's, I that's a good point. I just, you know, anytime we change something, I always hear from my friend. So, uh, okay. Thank you very much for having that question. We'll go to the, uh, we'll go to the public for public comment, seeing no public comment. We'll bring it back to the Committee for action on the bill. Senator Wilson.

  6. Sen. Chris H. Wilson1:23:53

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. A motion that we favor recommend House Bill 41st substitute to the full body of the Senate. Okay.

  7. Committee chair1:24:00

     That motion's in order I speak to that I'll waive Okay. To sponsor Waive. Okay. The motion before us is to, uh, recommend first substitute House Bill 40, Utah Construction Trade Licensing Act Amendments by Representative Peterson. All in favor, please say Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. We are, that passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Representative Peterson. Thank you

  8. Rep. Thomas W. Peterson1:24:23

     To my 29th favorite senator. Hey, believe it or not, I'm moving up. So Reconsider our actions. That's not bad. Yeah, that's, we could reconsider our actions. Make consider around for a while. Oh boy.

• Feb 11, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (6 turns)

  1. Sen. Evan J. Vickers38:00

     Thank you Mr. President. This is the classic reification of 20 years of work. As we've gone through all the construction trade licensing it, it moves, uh, the licensing requirements for an alarm company from one section of the code to another. And then it goes back through and cleans it cleans up, uh, everything to do with licensing in that construction trades. There's no substantive change at all and in any of the professions, uh, just real realistically is that classic reification and cleanup that we do periodically through different parts of our code that I'm open for. Any questions?

  2. Senate President (presiding)38:48

     Thank you for the presentation. Looking for discussion, seeing no discussion. Going to you for a motion

  3. Sen. Evan J. Vickers38:58

     Waive summation and move.

  4. Senate President (presiding)38:59

     The first substitute has Bill 40 be read a third time. Thank You. The question is, shall first substitute House Bill 40 be read a third time Roll call vote.

  5. Senate clerk (roll call)39:06

     Senator Vickers Baldy Lewin Bramer Bus Comore Escamilla Fillmore Grover Harper Kinins Ipson Johnson. Kwan McKay. Mikel Milner Milner. Ann Musselman Owens Pitcher Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vicars Aye. Weiler Wilson Winterton.

  6. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (Senate President, presiding)40:04

     President Adams First substitute House Bill 40 having received 27. Yay. Hold it. Let me wait for Senator Hinkins you up on the bill. Senator. Oh, well, I'll wait for, let me call the bill first and I'll come to you for personal privilege. Oh, excuse me. I, I I wanna make sure I won't Thank you. I first substitute House Bill 40, having received 28 yay votes. One nay. Let me say this again. First substitute House bill 40, having received 28 yay votes. One nay vote, zero being absent shall be read a third time. Senator Hinkins for personal privilege.

• Feb 12, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (7 turns)

  1. Sen. Evan J. Vickers59:04

     Thank you Mr. President. Uh, this bill is the one that makes a, a minor change moving one section, one license from one part in the code to another, and then it goes through and cleans up some language. That's basically the every 15, 20 years you have to go through. There are codes and, and modify things as we make changes over and over again. You get seeing things out of alignment or in different sections. This, that's all this bill does. There's no substative change to any license, uh, or any in any of the construction trades. Thank you. So with that, I'm open for questions.

  2. Presiding officer59:36

     Yeah. Thank you for the que uh, presentation. I have not seen discussions. I'm gonna go to you for some, for motion.

  3. Sen. Evan J. Vickers59:43

     I would waive summation move the first substitute house bill 40 pass.

  4. Presiding officer59:46

     Thank you. The question is, shall first substitute house bill 40 pass Roll call vote. Senator Vickers. Baldy Aye. Lewin Aye. Ramer bus Aye. Colmore es Camilla Wilmore a Grover Harper Kinins Aye. Ipson johnson. Aye. K Juab McKay Mikel Milner Aye. Mussman Owen's pitcher Lum Rebi A Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vickers Aye. Weer a Aye. Wilson Aye. Winterton bus? Aye. President Adams Aye. First substitute house Bill 40, having received 24 yay votes, one nay vote, four being absent passes. This body will be signed by the President. And return to the house for the signature of the speaker.

  5. Presiding officer1:01:07

     Senator Brammer. Senator Brammer.

  6. Sen. Chris Brammer1:01:11

     Yeah, we, we've talked a little bit about this. This arises from the our mentee, uh, Supreme Court decision. This restores government immunity for in disaster situations and for EMS and firefighters delivering emergency services. And so with that, I'll open for any questions.

  7. Presiding officer1:01:30

     Looking for questions. Say none to you for summation and a motion we'll