H.B. 556 Special District Board Appointment Amendments

What this bill does

The bill would require that, when a special district board member who is not elected is serving in place of a city or county, any tax or fee increase vote be cast by an elected alternate member instead. It would let an appointed expert still attend board meetings and take part in discussions, but the elected alternate would be the one who votes on tax increases.

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Every vote

• 11 yes, 0 no, 1 absentHouse Political Subdivisions Committee: vote, which it did not pass · Feb 19, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Feb 19, 2026 House Political Subdivisions Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (27 turns)

  1. Committee chair44:52

     Okay. We'll go to item number two, house Bill 5 56, special District Board appointment Amendments. Representative Strong welcome, Representative. Strong.

  2. Rep. Mark A. Strong45:02

     Thank you. Glad to be back. Go ahead whenever you're Ready. So, uh, house Bill 5 56 has come from, uh, one of my mayors, uh, in Bluffdale. She called me and she said, she said, we have people sitting on boards that have the ability to increase taxes, but they're not a elected. So, for example, on the Jordan, uh, oh geez, Jordan Water Conservancy District, um, Bluffdale and Riverton share a position on that board, excuse me, Bluffdale and Draper. And Draper is, has just, I guess they, I don't know if they bou bounce it back and forth, but Draper assigns someone to be on that board. And they have a person in their community that's very talented and knowledgeable in this water area. So he attends these board meetings, and when they have to do a rate increase or whatever they need to do, he votes for that. Um, and so there's no tieback to an elected official. So, as I worked with the drafting attorney and some others, we had kind of basically three options before us. One was to say that everyone on one of these boards needs to be an elected official. So now you've got somebody elected on there, they're least, um, re um, responsible back to some voters. The other one, which is written in the bill, the second option is to have, allow someone like this man from Draper to sit on the board. But then if there's ever gonna be a vote that involves a tax increase or an increase, they would have an alternate member that would need to come and actually cast the vote. So that would allow a place like Drer, for example, that has an expert that can really give some good input to be there for the discussions and to do that. And then they'd have to bring this alternate member with them to vote. And that's what's actually written in the bill. The third option would be to say that you can assign somebody to serve on these boards, but then they would need to go back to the legislative body. So in the case of, of the Jordan Water Conservancy District, that person would need to come back, not just to river, uh, Draper, but also to Bluffdale and have a vote of the city council to agree to a tax increase. And that's, that's, we're trying to get back to a little bit of the spirit of, um, the, uh, what do we call, I drew a blank taxation, uh, without representation, but what do we call it? Truth in taxation, truth in taxation, tea parties, all that stuff. So, no. Um, so that's, that's the, the spirit of the, uh, of the bill. And I've talked to a number of you about this and, and there'll be a couple of people probably that'll come up and talk today a little bit about some of the, the, uh, the issues that could arise from a piece of legislation like that, that, but, uh, with that option number two, uh, which I referred to, is to have that alternate that can vote, but that is an elected person is how the bill is written. But with that, I will end my presentation and send it back to you. Thank

  3. Committee chair48:23

     You, Representative Strong to the committee for clarifying questions. I have some, if nobody else does. So do I. Representative Peterson. Ben Peterson.

  4. Rep. Peterson (identity unclear)48:39speaker not certain

     Um, thank you. Um, Representative Strong, I appreciate, um, the spirit of the bell, right? I think it is really important. And, and this is actually an area where I've worked. So like two years ago, I passed legislation around if, um, a special service district was going to, um, pass a tax increase or bond that they needed to go back to their city council and make sure that the city council was informed that, that the special service district was, um, gonna do that. It was a little tricky space to work in because things like bonds, um, are a little tricky. And ensuring that our, our special service districts can get bonds without creating a lot of uncertainty was also a little bit sticky. So, um, so I guess my question, um, is really, um, I guess I'm just trying to think through, like, sometimes we need the expertise on the board, right? I'm an elected official and I don't know everything. And if I was on a really specialty board, like a, maybe even the fire district board or something like that, I might want my fire chief on there. You know, I might want to be that to be the person I'm sending. So I guess, how do we balance having expertise on the board with having elected officials on the board? Because we need both things to make the right decisions for our taxpayers. So that's my question. Yeah. And that is the question.

  5. Rep. Mark A. Strong49:53

     Um, how, how do we thread this needle? And I've, if you can't tell, I've kind of come with a, an attitude of, I probably don't have the answer in this bill. Um, and so, uh, you know, there, there probably needs to be some discussions and, uh, I'm willing to have those discussions. So, yep, That's My question. Thank you, Roseanne

  6. Unknown committee member50:14speaker not certain

     Peterson. So I agree it's an issue. I mean, we want accountability. It's hard when we have people that aren't answerable to the voters that are passing tax increases. In your case, how do, how does that work? So if, if you have one representative, they go back to two cities. What if the cities disagree, then what do cut 'em in half? What do you do?

  7. Rep. Mark A. Strong50:35

     Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. Uh, and if you go back to three cities, then majority rules. Yeah. If you go back to two cities, and one does and one doesn't, but it, it, it's something that needs to be addressed and mm-hmm. I mean, Bluffdale is quite a different, uh, community than Draper. And especially when you're talking about water. I mean, I live on an acre and everyone where I live lives on an acre where you probably won't see as much of that over in, in Draper. Um, so I, I, I actually don't have an answer other than maybe we should look for some answers.

  8. Committee chair51:11

     Well, I appreciate your offering up what's behind Curtain one, two, and three, and you're presenting curtain two to rips and Peterson's point. You need expertise on this. It may not be an elected official. It may have been a former elected official that now has expertise on it. I don't know if there's a timeliness issue, you know, or if you have plenty of time on these to go back and, or if you direct the appointed official to take it to the governing body ahead of time. But it's an, it is an issue. So let's see if we can find some wisdom in the public. I see. No further questions. Let's open to public comment. Who would like to speak to this? Okay, we have two come forward. LA Grand. If you'll introduce yourself and sign the witness sheet

  9. Te Anu Tonga51:58

     KTA committee members. My name is TI Tonga, and I am an ordinary citizen here representing my family. I really appreciate Representative Strong bringing this to, um, just to discussion last year, I tracked bills with my legislator from Weber County for the, for the 45 days. And I was surprised I much, um, fee making authority, rulemaking authority tax making authority enforcement making authority policy making authority was delegated to government entities of unelected people. And in fact, after session, my county held a legislative town hall meeting with all of our county delegation. And I asked Speaker Schultz the question is that constitutional, to delegate constitutional authority to individuals who have not been elected by the people. And, um, he, um, did his best to answer me, um, which wasn't that great. So Senator Johnson wrote an op-ed specifically for me to answer that. Um, I don't know what the answer is either, but I love that this discussion is being brought forward because I am, I became a citizen 10 years ago, and as a citizen, I take an oath just like you do, to defend and support the US Constitution. So me and my family have been discussing and studying the Constitution for years. And so when I see on the state level, my legislators delegating constitutional authority to officials that have not been elected, that that's a red flag for me. And I think that for the majority of people, it would be for them too. I, I, I acknowledge the dilemma of there needs to be experts, but I also want to just post and offer to the committee that you're, um, constituents and ordinary citizens are also experts in a different way. And I would love for this conversation to, um, gain more traction. I think that there are a lot of legislators that just don't even know, um, who don't even know that there's, um, that this is happening or that they are giving rulemaking authority, um, unconstitutionally, in my opinion, um, Senator Johnson may have a different opinion on that. And so, anyways, thank you for the discussion. Please keep having it. And, um, as an ordinary citizen, I would love to be one of the stakeholders at the discussion table. Thank you very much.

  10. Committee chair54:16

      Thank you for your comments, our next witness. That right there,

  11. LeGrand Bitter, Utah Association of Special Districts54:26

      Thank you, chair and committee members. I'm La Grande Bitter with the Utah Association of Special Districts. I appreciate, uh, Representative Strong visiting with us earlier this morning. Had a very pleasant discussion and, and appreciate understanding some of the things that have given rise to his concerns here. I receive calls, uh, with some frequency from individual citizens around the state on this, on similar this and similar issues as well. And I've found that sometimes there is confusion between what a special district and a special service district is, and the entity that they have concerns about that are not a special district or a special service district. It may be a PID or something else that is much different. Uh, sometimes, you know, that may be an area that we need to take a look at as well. But I appreciate Representative Strong visiting with us about, um, a little bit about the background. This is an important area. Uh, sometime, uh, in the past 10, 12, 13 years, uh, Senator Bramble ran a similar bill, and we had negotiations with all the parties brought to the table to try and work through the problem and find a solution that worked. He put together a shopping cart of items, and that, that seemed to work quite well. Uh, subsequently, about six years or so ago, five or six years ago, Senator Fillmore, uh, addressed the issue again, and we circled back with him, with other, with the interested parties as well, and tried to come up with something that was polished and better. And that's what we're currently functioning under. There have been changes, uh, since starting with Senator Bramble's Bill and through Senator Fillmore's bill with the composition of a lot of these boards. Uh, we would like to understand more clearly some of the things that are giving, rise to the concerns here and be able to help, uh, in addressing it. And so we, our ask of, uh, Representative Strong and the committee would be that we work together during interim and understand clearly the, the issues that are still existing. And if we need to make some adjustments, we'd be happy to work with them with all the parties together to do so. We have a lot of different types of boards. We have a boards, we have, uh, inter multi-county boards that are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, for example. And then we have boards that have some appointments from counties, county Commissions. Many of those are elected officials and so forth. But just some different types of things that if we can have some time to sit down together, find out what the problems are that are given, rises to the questions, and then work through a solution, we'd be happy to be a play a positive role there.

  12. Unknown committee member57:05speaker not certain

      Thank you. Uh, I have a question for you. Can you succinctly delineate the difference between special service district and a special district?

  13. LeGrand Bitter, Utah Association of Special Districts57:13

      Yes. A Title 17 D specialist Service Districts, they were first created in the 1970s as a result of a constitutional amendment. They're referred to as dependent districts because they are partially dependent on the entity that created them. Generally, they are created by a county commission. The only way they can go through truth and taxation is to have the county commission be the body that goes through that truth and taxation, hearing the body that created in the first place, special districts Before you leave, types of services they provide. Uh, there are, I think 15 or so, 15 to 18 services, water, sewer, solid, waste disposal, mosquito abatement, cemetery, fire, police, irrigation, drainage, and so forth. Okay.

  14. Unknown committee member58:05speaker not certain

      Thank you. Service districts.

  15. LeGrand Bitter, Utah Association of Special Districts58:07

      Um, yes. So they're about over 400 districts in the state. Uh, about a third of those are special service districts that we just talked about. The other would be two thirds would be special districts. Those are referred to as in as independent districts under Title 17 B. They were first created in the late 1890s, uh, 18 hundreds, and then have continued to be created to the present. They are created by petition of the people or by the, uh, a body that, uh, initiates creation. And, uh, once created by a vote of the people, that entity has taxation authority, they can go through truth and taxation because it's gone to a vote of the people that authorized them to tax up to a certain levee. So they can go through truth, truth and taxation, just like any other political subdivision at the State of Utah. A Couple of examples, Uh, of a special district independent, um, large ones, uh, Jordan Valley Water Conservancy, district, central Utah Water Conservancy District, uh, south Davis Sewer District, uh, Weber Service, uh, improvement District, which is a sewer district. Uh, many mosquito abatement districts. Um, the, uh, unified Fire in Salt Lake, uh, those are some examples. Were They ever called independent districts? They don't refer to them as independent districts. The state auditor's office refers, refers to them as such, because if they're dependent district, then the county that created it needs to include the financial information as a component unit in their financial statements. Uh, and the reason that they're somewhat dependent is, again, because the county created them. And there are various powers that are retained by the entity that created them. The names are so similar. They are, you should come up with a different name. Yeah, Yeah. For, for one of 'em. You know, just The reason we went back to specials been since the 1890s special districts. Uh, there was a change made in those about 12 years ago, 15 years ago to local. Then we ran into a problem during COVID because at the national level, special districts are utilized across the country, about 40,000 of them. And there's there, in order to have access to resources at the federal level, we needed to be consistent with them. And so we went back to special districts and, uh, we understand your concern.

  16. Committee chair1:00:31

      Okay. Thank you, Representative Hansen.

  17. Rep. Leah Hansen1:00:33

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a dumb question. May I ask it? Please. Um, so what's, I mean, I've heard of districts now. I mean, like, what are authorities? I mean, I know that they're probably not a part of that, but what are those?

  18. LeGrand Bitter, Utah Association of Special Districts1:00:45

      That is a good question, and you are correct. This illustrates what I mentioned, uh, in the start of my testimony, that I get calls frequently from citizens with questions about entities that are not a special district or special service district in authority. I am not an expert in them, but they are, I think they fall more under the, um, municipal portion of the code, if I'm not mistaken. Um, there are districts that, that can be created for special assessments like a lighting district or some other types of things, perhaps some that are shorter lived. A special district, as we've talked about with representative, is that it deals more with services that are foundational to operation in the public. UTA was another one I, me, transit, I should say. There are several transit districts in the state, the things that are really foundational to the function of, of the public. Good. I hope that's helpful representative.

  19. Committee chair1:01:37

      Thank you, Representative Hansen. And thank you Mr. Bitner. Thank you. Okay. We'll close the public comment pre and come back to the Committee for consideration. Representative Arthur.

  20. Rep. Arthur1:01:52

      Thank you, chair. I would like to make a motion that we hold HP 5 56.

  21. Committee chair1:01:58

      Okay. Representative Arthur moves that we make a recommendation that we hold the bill and recommend it for interim study. Is that your recom? Is that your motion? Yes, exactly.

  22. Unknown speaker1:02:06speaker not certain

      Representative VAR moves that we hold the bill with a recommendation for interim study represents strong to that motion.

  23. Rep. Mark A. Strong1:02:13

      Yeah. Um, first of all, I wanna thank LA Grande for that history lesson. Um, I learned a lot until this morning. I was moving along thinking, this is a great bill, and in concept it is. I've talked to many of you and you're like, that's, that's good. You know, that's a good, uh, you're going the right direction. And then I talked to, uh, the grand and, and a couple others, and they brought up a whole lot of things that, uh, I hadn't considered. And so I think this would be a great idea to look into this whole Deeper Millard.

  24. Rep. Miller (identity unclear)1:02:48speaker not certain

      Um, and thank you. I, I support the motion to hold, but I also, um, just, I wanna thank you for bringing it forward and being willing to dig in on, dig in on this. 'cause for me, it's not really any particular problem, it's just the overall concept of who should be voting on tax increases and that being the elected officials for that. So, um, anyway, appreciate your work on this and look forward to continue to work on this.

  25. Committee chair1:03:14

      Thank you Representative Miller. So Representative Arthur for summation. Yeah,

  26. Rep. Arthur1:03:19

      I'll just say, um, I think that the, the policy as well as those who get to continue working on this will be the better for it. So thank you.

  27. Committee chair1:03:28

      Thank you. The motion is to hold house Bill 5 56 special district board appointment amendments with a recommendation for interim study. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Say no. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Represe tro.