H.B. 318 Agency Fee Amendments

What this bill does

The bill would require Utah executive branch agencies to report the full cost of their fees, including overhead and internal service fund costs, to the governor's budget office and the legislative fiscal analyst. The bill does not set fee amounts, and first-year reports would be due November 15 instead of September 15.

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

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Every vote

• 11 yes, 0 no, 1 absentHouse Government Operations Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 6, 2026Who voted how
• 70 yes, 0 no, 5 absentFinal House vote · Feb 17, 2026Who voted how
• 5 yes, 0 no, 2 absentSenate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 23, 2026Who voted how
• 21 yes, 0 no, 8 absentFirst of two Senate votes · Feb 26, 2026Who voted how
• 27 yes, 0 no, 2 absentFinal Senate vote · Mar 4, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Feb 6, 2026 House Government Operations Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (10 turns)

  1. Committee chair1:53:43

     Alright, thank you for that. Uh, item number four, agency fee amendments. Uh, Representative Christofferson house Bill three 18. If you come forward, I'm not sure this one's quite as controversial or challenging. I hope not, but One never knows. So we'll turn the time over to you to present your bill. Alright.

  2. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:54:01

     All right. We may, Somehow things might go sideways. Uh, so thank you. Um, so this bill kinda has been percolating for a while and, uh, you know, I don't know if you've been into a appropriations committee where you might have, this is what happened to me. I'll just tell you what happened to me. I Uintah a appropriations, uh, subcommittee and was handed a big book of fees. And I said, this is, this is quite a while ago. And I says, what, what are these fees about? Or what, why are we approving this? And they said, it's your responsibility as a legislature to approve the fees. And I said, I don't know anything about these fees. And anyway, we, we got through that. So the interim, I said, is there a way that we can find out what the cost of these fees are? And, uh, so I started looking into that and some of the agencies said, uh, we don't know what our costs are. And then they said, well, here's our costs. And I said, well, does that include, uh, capital, your capital expenses and your utilities and things like that so that you know exact, you know, you know where you're at if you're charging a fee, you're covering those costs. And, and they said, well, we don't have that. So I ran a bill to make it so they knew what the capital expenses were. So they conclude that and then went on. And some, some agencies didn't have the, um, uh, the, uh, financial packets that they could keep track fees. And over the years, I mean, it has been a while. So, so they've got the, they've got the ability to keep track of it. Uh, two or three years ago we said, um, you can take You, you'll take the, uh, the new fees that you want and just give us the cost of the new fees and the ones that are changing. So that gave the finance department a chance to figure out how to use it in their system. And I think they're that point. And, uh, so what this is broken down, this is for the executive branch. It's broken down with, uh, um, just the regular fees and then the internal service fund fees. So you can see the code repeated a few times. And what it does is just say, you know, tell us the costs fully loaded, what your costs are, and if you, you know, give it to us individually per fee if you can. And if you can't group it, you can, you can do that in some cases you can group it. And basically that's all it does. And then it gives us a tool so that when we, uh, make decisions based on fees, we can, we, we know what to do. So this isn't saying set the fee at the cost, this is just saying, we wanna know your costs. This doesn't really have anything to do with the fees. It just says, let's, let's know what your costs are. Then we can control, we can manage those costs, hopefully we can reduce the costs. Uh, and if you wanna make a political decision, say we're gonna charge a lot more than the cost that's up to this body. If you wanna charge less than the cost and uh, subsidize it, that's your decision, but at least you know where you're at. So there's a little bit of a fiscal note to, uh, help a couple of the agencies get up to speed. That's a one time thing. And, and I think we will be able to manage that. So that's kind of the, that's what the bill is about. And I'll answer any questions.

  3. Committee chair1:57:54

     Alright. Well, I wanna thank you as chair of the committee that you brought the bill forward. I mean, uh, believe it or not, there have been some state agencies that have overcharged in the past, uh, exorbitantly. And, uh, at least this bill kinda brings that to light and, and allows legislature to perform. Its, it's one of its functions. And so I, I appreciate the bill personally.

  4. Committee chair1:58:17

     Uh, I don't see any lights, uh, for clarifying questions from anyone. And so, uh, we'll, uh, open this up to public comment. Raise your hands if you wanna talk about this. This bill house bill three 18. Don't see any, we have any online? We don't representative. You are killing it. All right. Um, we'll bring it back to the committee for further action and or a motion. And I see a light representative. Pucci, go ahead.

  5. Rep. Carl Pierucci1:58:45

     Thank you. I'd like to make a motion that we favorably recommend HB three 18 agency fee amendments.

  6. Committee chair1:58:50

     Yeah, that's an order. Do you wanna speak to it?

  7. Rep. Candice B. Pierucci1:58:52

     Yeah, I appreciate the sponsor's persistence and diligence and always trying to protect taxpayer dollars and trying to make sure that our agencies are running efficiently. So I support this and I'm surprised it's 2026 and we haven't done this already, so I'm glad you're doing it.

  8. Committee chair1:59:08

     Alright, thank you. Um, the motion before us then is that we, uh, favorably pass out, uh, house bill three 18 agency fee amendments. Um, I'll go back to you, but you already probably made your, that was it. Thank you statement. So we'll go back to now to the, uh, bill sponsor for summation.

  9. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:59:28speaker not certain

     I'll waive Thanks. Alright.

  10. Committee chair1:59:30

      So we will take a voice vote on this one. Uh, the motion is favorably passed out house bill three 18. Uh, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright, that's unanimous. Thank you. Way to go. Thank you.

• Feb 17, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (8 turns)

  1. Floor clerk1:28:24

     House Bill three 18 agency fee amendments by Representative Christofferson. This bill was heard in government operations with the vote of 11 0 1

  2. Speaker (presiding)1:28:33

     Representative Christofferson.

  3. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:28:35

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, some of you have heard this story before from me, but, uh, you know, when I was first on the, uh, natural Resources appropriations committee, we had right at the end of the, it was like the last day of the, uh, appropriations, uh, subcommittee meeting. There was a thick book of, of, uh, fees that I got and I said, what am I supposed to do with this? And they said, well, the legislature has to approve those fees. And I said, I don't know anything about these fees. How am I gonna approve these fees? And, uh, so that kinda started a journey where I went around to some of those agencies and I said, what, what are the costs of these fees? Can you tell me the costs? And they didn't really have that information. So over the years we've worked with the finance department to make it so the accounting package can track those fee, uh, the costs and made it so also that, that, uh, the FCM can, uh, assign the amount of money that it costs to have the facilities that these agencies use. So basically this is just saying, we wanna know the cost of the fees that we get. So we can make a decision, we can make a decision to say, we, the fee is gonna be high, the fee can be lower than the cost can be the same as the cost. That's a political decision. But for us to make a good decision, we need to know what the cost is. And, uh, this, this deals with executive branch fees and the internal service fund fees. Um, some of these fees can be grouped together. It doesn't make sense to have everyone, uh, as a single fee. Sometimes they can group them and we allow for that. But, uh, I think this'll kinda make it so that we can manage, uh, what we do in the state. And if we know our costs, hopefully we can reduce our costs 'cause we can manage those. So with that, I'll answer any questions.

  4. Speaker (presiding)1:30:57

     Thank you, Representative Christofferson further dis or discussion to the bill Representative Barlow.

  5. Rep. Stewart E. Barlow1:31:04

     Oh, thanks Mr. Speaker. I just want to commend the spon, the sponsor of this, uh, legislation and the work and effort he's put in as this been, uh, you know, incredible amount of work for him. Uh, I think, uh, national natural, uh, resources especially, uh, is sensitive to this issue about, uh, uh, fees and staying away from the general fund. And they concentrate a lot on restrictive accounts, which, uh, fees have generated over time. So they have a, you know, they have skin in the game and in doing so, they're, they're more responsive as to where that money goes, the type of activities that it covers. And, you know, protecting that, uh, avenue of rev revenue for us as a state and also for the rest of the, um, divisions and so forth, it helps to, uh, you know, uh, create a, a a a balance that they're not losing their, their monies to su to supply, um, natural resource, na, natural resources or a similar, uh, organization. Thank you Mr. Speaker.

  6. Speaker (presiding)1:32:19

     Thank you Representative Barlow. Further discussion to the BLC none. Back to you, Representative Christofferson for summation.

  7. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:32:25

     I'll Waive. Thank you. Summation has been waived.

  8. Speaker (presiding)1:32:27

     Voting will now be open on HB three 18, all present, having voted voting is now closed. HB three 18 passes this body with 68 yes votes. Representative Corinne Peterson would like to ask leave of the body to cast an aye vote and Representative Wilcox, we'll go ahead and place that motion. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? Will our motion passes and Wilcox and Peter Kanosh Peterson will be allowed to cast the I vote. HB three 18 passed this body with 70 yes votes zero no votes will be sent to the Senate for its consideration. Madam Reading Clerk

• Feb 23, 2026 Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (25 turns)

  1. Committee chair (presiding)1:02:20

     Well, that was good timing. All right. We've got House Bill three 18 Agency fee amendments Representative Christofferson.

  2. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:02:28

     Okay. Thank you. Uh, so this bill deals with, uh, finding out what the cost of fees are. And, uh, uh, what happened is, uh, several years ago when I was in a, an appropriation subcommittee meeting, they handed me a big, thick book of fees. Said, said, you need to prove these. And I looked at 'em and I, it was natural resources, I thumbed through 'em, and, uh, there's a ton of fees in here. I have no idea what I'm approving. So, uh, they said, well, that's a responsibility of the legislature to approve those. And so I asked our, uh, the legislative fiscal analyst to say, to say, I just said, can you just gimme the cost of these fees so that when we approve 'em, we know what we're, what we're doing. And went on kind of a journey to, to realize that they weren't keeping track of the costs. And, uh, and so I worked through that a little bit and got and worked with the fiscal analysts, uh, and the, the office, uh, the governor's office to, to get their financial programs up to speed so that they would keep track of that. They had the ability a few years, uh, year or two ago, uh, we made it so that new fees and fees that were changing, uh, they needed to, to note the costs. And, um, and so, so that just helped them to kind of come up speed. We got the bugs. So I think they're ready now to, uh, do all of the fees including, uh, uh, or all of the cost of the fees, including the internal service fund fees. So what this does, what this does is just, uh, us that we get the, the cost including all of the overhead travel training, you know, all, all of the subcontracts and that so that we can make good decisions. This doesn't establish the fees. So the fees are, um, you know, politically assigned. We can either charge more than the cost or less than the cost or the same. But this doesn't really have anything to do with setting the fees. This is just saying, as a legislative body, we wanna know what the costs are so we can make better decisions. And, uh, with that, I'll answer any questions.

  3. Unknown speaker1:05:13speaker not certain

     Yeah, just clarifying. And you know, I was reading the bill and I noticed that a number of places, it talks about the in internal service fund and in your presentation you mentioned, so it's, it's broader than that then we're, we're not just talking about, um, a SF funds we're, you know, fees. We're talking about all fees then. Right?

  4. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:05:31

     So fees are all of the, uh, executive branch agency fees.

  5. Unknown speaker1:05:35speaker not certain

     Okay. So like on A-A-D-N-R fee or something, something the public might pay for a park or boat or anything along those lines. Those, those would be included in that.

  6. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:05:46

     Right. And they, and the parks do a great job. They have to know their costs because Yeah. They may be a Bad example, but, but, and like I say this and, and they can group 'em too if they want. Uh, I'd rather have them individual, but if they have to group 'em or if it's just, there's like for licenses, um, sometimes, um, for like fishing licenses and that sometimes it's easier to group 'em than to have individ individual ones. So they can do that if it's needed. But this does include internal service fund fees.

  7. Unknown speaker1:06:25speaker not certain

     And so does the, the information all go back to the governor's office planning and budgets? Is that where it goes? Or is it somewhere else?

  8. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:06:37

     Well, it goes to, it goes there and to, um, The fiscal analyst. The fiscal analyst for the legislature. Okay. And then it's, we give 'em a couple of months this first year to give 'em extra time, but usually it's September 15th. That will give him time to get the information in, um, for the fiscal analyst to do their jobs and, and, and for the governor to do what he needs to do for, for budgeting purposes for the first of the session.

  9. Unknown speaker1:07:10speaker not certain

     One more follow up. Yeah. And your ex expectation then. So next year as we prepare for the legislative session and we get that big book of fees, uh, then there'll be data on all, all of those fees at that time. Yeah, that's what I'd like to see. Yeah.

  10. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:07:25

      Right. That's the expectation.

  11. Unknown speaker1:07:27speaker not certain

      So is it the hopes that we'll see some of this in, uh, the interim committee towards the end of

  12. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:07:35

      Yeah, by, well, this, In January, This first year it'll be November 15th. 'cause we gave 'em a little extra leeway to make sure they're okay. They worked on their books. They, you, you should be able to see that already on new fees and change fees. They should have that information, but I think they're just setting up the reports to contain all that, so.

  13. Committee chair (presiding)1:07:57

      Okay. Alright. Any other questions? Seeing none, let's go to the public. Is there someone that would like to comment on this? Bill? Nobody online. So we'll close public comment and come back for further consideration. Senator Vickers?

  14. Sen. Evan J. Vickers1:08:18

      Uh, thank Mr. Chair. I would make a motion. We favorably recommend Hospital three 18 Discussion to that.

  15. Committee chair (presiding)1:08:26

      Let's go back to the sponsor for summation.

  16. Rep. Kay J. Christofferson1:08:29

      Uh, it's something we worked on a long time and I think that we're prepared to do it. So I think it'll be, it's good timing now,

  17. Committee chair (presiding)1:08:36

      Right? Senator Vickers summation.

  18. Sen. Evan J. Vickers1:08:38

      Yeah, and I, I just wanna express my appreciation to Representative Christofferson because he has spent and spent a few years actually working on this in this very thing. And I chairing, uh, an appropriation committee that oversees about half of the fees in the United State government. There's, there's a lot to, and we've, we've looked at the, uh, fees under our purview there. And so I think this, this information is valuable as we go forward in making those determinations.

  19. Committee chair (presiding)1:09:10

      Okay, we'll call a question in all those, uh, in favor of recommending favorably house Bill three 18 Agency Fee Amendment. Say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

  20. Committee chair (presiding)1:09:26

      Senator Bus?

  21. Sen. Emily Buss1:09:32

      I'm sorry, it cut out. I didn't hear the question.

  22. Committee chair (presiding)1:09:35

      Uh, calling the question. Uh, to favorably recommend three 18.

  23. Sen. Emily Buss1:09:39

      Oh, I'm an aye. Okay. Thank you. Mm-hmm.

  24. Committee chair (presiding)1:09:47

      Okay. All right. That favor? This, that passes out favorably. Thank you very Much. Thank you. And she was stuck in a meeting. If she could go, our last presenter is in another meeting. She wanted to go last and I think we're at the end of the agenda. Um, Okay.

  25. Unknown speaker1:10:38speaker not certain

      You wanna take final action on it? Okay. I mean, I know I, Okay, I'm just Concerned.

• Feb 26, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (9 turns)

  1. Sen. J. Stuart Adams1:00:32

     Thank you Mr. President Pro Tem. Uh, we've had a significant, uh, effort in the last few years to justify our fees and we, there's an awful lot of fees that happen in state government. Uh, the appropriation committee that I co-chair, uh, covers about 50% of those. Um, the good sponsor in the house has been working on this for a few years. He started when he was, uh, chairing with natural resources and looking at fees. So we've moved forward with and kind of had some incremental steps. One is that any new fee has to have, has to be able to justify the cost. This move is moving it to, you know, pervasive across all fees now. And we're actually requiring them, requiring anyone that comes forward with a fee to have it, have it justified, have it have the costs and analysis done, and submit that data and then start reviewing all of our fees so that they can have the same analysis scrutiny so that we can be ensured that as a fee is proposed, that it is a, a proper amount and it's performing the duty for those for the cost and intended and re and doing the, the work that is intended. So essentially, like I say this, this is kind of the moving forward and this is the more toward the final step of justifying all of our fees as they go forward. With that, I'm open for any questions.

  2. Presiding officer1:01:57

     Thank you. Do we have discussion to this bill? Seeing none, Senator Vickers back to you For summation or motion,

  3. Sen. Evan J. Vickers1:02:05

     I would waste summation move the house. Bill three 18, be read third time

  4. Presiding officer1:02:09

     And the question is, shall house bill three 18 be read for a third time? Roll call vote.

  5. Senate clerk (roll call)1:02:13

     Senator Spry Lewin Aye. Bremmer? Yes. Bus. Aye. Hello. More as Camilla. Aye. Fillmore Aye. Grover. Aye. Harper. Aye. Hankins. Aye. Ipsen Aye. Johnson Aye. Quan Aye. McKay? Aye. Mikel Milner Bussman Owens pitcher Plum Rebi Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vickers miler Aye. Wilson. Aye. Winterton, president Adams

  6. Presiding officer1:03:06

     House Bill three 18, having received 21 yay votes, zero na votes say Being absent will be read for a third time. Senator Wilson, I was looking for you. Thank

  7. Sen. Chris H. Wilson1:03:16

     You Mr. President Pro temp, uh, motion. A table on third house Bill three 18 for physical impact Discussion. That motion seeing none.

  8. Presiding officer1:03:25

     All in favor of tabling on third, say aye. Aye. Any polls over that passes That bill is tabled on.

  9. Sen. Brady Brammer1:03:54

     All right, thank you. So this is, uh, the bill that bans proposition betting or clarifies that it is already banned, to be honest. Uh, and what it does is it amends one small thing to say. The proposition betting means a gambling bet on an individual action statistic, occurrence or non occurrence. And so our constitution is extremely clear on this. Article six, which is the legislative article section 27 states that the legislature shall not authorize any game of chance, lottery or gift enterprise under any pretense or for any purpose. That's our constitution. That's the oath we took. Okay. Some may not like it, but here's the reality. These bets, these proposition bets are gambling.

• Mar 4, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (6 turns)

  1. Sen. Evan J. Vickers35:45

     Thank you Mr. President. Uh, this bill is the one we've, that we've been working on actually for a couple of years in setting up, uh, requirements for the agencies when they establish a fee to be able to justify that fee with the costs. And this, uh, simply is going through and finalizing. We've done some pilots part, part of it, I guess you could call it pilot with some of the things that we've been doing over the last couple of years. This is putting a more into permanent position. So that is, as a new fee comes on, and also existing fees as they are reauthorized, those, the agency would have to come up with the, the cost to justify the fee where it's at. And with that, I'm open for any questions.

  2. Senate presiding officer36:28

     Looking for questions. Do the bill say no questions. Senator, I'm gonna go to you for a motion.

  3. Sen. Evan J. Vickers36:34speaker not certain

     Thank you, Mr. President. I would waive summation and move that house. Bill three 18 pass.

  4. Senate presiding officer36:38

     Thank you. And the question is, shall house bill three 18 pass. Roll call vote.

  5. Senate clerk (roll call)36:43

     Senator Ipson Baldry Lewin Ramer plus Cullimore. Escamia Fillmore Grover Harper Kins Ipson Johnson. We will read Those. We need to fist bills. We can't Juab give fist Bills. McKay Ronnie Mikel. Milner. Musselman. Yeah, that's Because everyone's waiting for their fit. Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vickers Weiler Wilson Winterton. President Adams

  6. Senate presiding officer37:31

     Aye. House Bill three 18. Having received 27 a votes, zero nay votes two being absent passes this body and will be re signed by the president. Return to the house for the signature of the speaker.