S.B. 132 Spaceport Amendments

What this bill does

The bill would let the Spaceport Committee hold closed-door meetings to discuss businesses' trade secrets. It would also add reentry operations to the committee's study scope and move its site recommendation deadline from September 30 to November 30, 2026.

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

• 4 yes, 0 no, 2 absentSenate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee: vote to approve it · Jan 23, 2026Who voted how
• 23 yes, 2 no, 4 absentFirst of two Senate votes · Feb 5, 2026Who voted how
• 26 yes, 1 no, 2 absentFinal Senate vote · Feb 6, 2026Who voted how
• 10 yes, 0 no, 2 absentHouse Transportation Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 11, 2026Who voted how
• 68 yes, 1 no, 6 absentFinal House vote · Feb 19, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Jan 23, 2026 Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (7 turns)

  1. Chair Millner (presiding)1:30:04

     And the last bill that we have is Senator Stevenson, and it's SB 1 32 Spaceport Amendments. Senator Stevenson, uh, the time is yours, SB 1 32.

  2. Sen. Jerry W Stevenson1:30:26

     Thank you very much. This may not only be the last bill, but it may be the most important bill. There You go. Uh, last year, uh, we passed both House and Senate favorably, um, a bill, which allowed us to explore the, uh, um, or put together an exploration committee, uh, to look at the feasibility of putting a space port in Utah. I can honestly tell you, I don't know that I've ever participated in a bill or, or sponsored a bill that has had so much positive response to it. It's been, uh, at, uh, the lot of interest in the, in the newspapers and a lot of interest from the, the news media and, uh, but it's been a very, very positive no one, I don't think I've had any complaints at all on it. Uh, what what we have done though, is we've gone through this. We've actually, the committee is up and functioning, doing very well. We brought in, uh, where we're looking at, uh, sites across the state of Utah. We actually have seven, uh, sites that were studied, uh, both for logistical purposes and for favorable, favorable trajectories for subor, orbital and orbit launch, uh, launch sites and, uh, and recoveries. Uh, we've met, we think we've, we've looked at 'em through the FAA as far as safety requirements. And, uh, as a result, we're, we're moving forward very quickly. We have run into a bit of a glitch. Um, and the glitch is, is that we've brought a lot of people into the state, uh, to look at, at, at what's going on. We also have an amazing, uh, aerospace business in the state of Utah that are participating with us. Uh, we've looked at all the economic pro processes that take place with each site, but as we've looked at these, we found that we have a little bit of a flaw. And that is, is as many of these businesses come into the state of Utah, they have trade secrets that proprietary to their business. And we need to be able to discuss those in a, in a manner where that secret is not disclosed to the, their competition. As a result, uh, this bill that we have here does a couple of really, uh, it does some things that we're already doing, not, not as far as, uh, working with trade secrets, but it will allow the Spaceport Committee to hold the closed door meeting to discuss these, these, uh, trade secrets. What's very interesting is we have a lot of land use authorities. We have, we have, uh, special service districts. We have city councils and, and we certainly as a legislature, we can hold closed door meetings. But, but we, we hold them for a very, a lot of different reasons. And generally it's to discuss employees specific issues that the employees may have. It's discussed land purchases, but these things that we're talking about here are just as proprietary and just as, uh, just as sacred, if you will, that need to be discussed in, in private and not put out for the, for, uh, general public at a particular time, but at a time later designated if we choose that particular industry to work with or business to work with. So what this would do is this just allows the space board committee to hold closed door meetings to discuss trade secrets or trade proprietary with industry experts. It allows us, this bill also would allow us to add reentry operations into the committee's list of approved activities. Uh, what goes up must come down, and we did not get that in our bill last year, but we need to be able to consider the recommendations that they will make for us. And then we need to push the deadline for the recommendation that is coming back to us from the committees. We need to push it back two months from September 30th, 2026 to November 30th, 2026. Um, seems like a, a really quite a, a, a fairly simple operation, a way to make this thing work. And, uh, but we are still excited. The, the excitement around this bill is just this, and, and last year's bill is still just the momentum is there. I think Utah needs to take advantage of this. We have lots of places we can do this that would benefit our local and especially our rural economies. And also, uh, be a great opportunity to build the aerospace business in the state of Utah. That concludes my, uh, presentation.

  3. Chair Millner (presiding)1:35:02

     Alright. Um, thank you very much, Senator. Uh, are there any questions from the committee? Senator? He's still out. Okay. Um, so is there anyone from the public that would like to speak to this bill? Okay. Then I'm gonna come back to the committee for, uh, action. Senator Juab.

  4. Sen. Karen Kwan1:35:26

     Thank you Madam Chair. I, uh, move that we favorably recommend SB 1 32 to the full body of the Senate.

  5. Chair Millner (presiding)1:35:33

     Okay. Thank you very much. We have a motion to favorably recommend SB 1 32 to the full body of the Senate. Um, all in, uh, any discussion of the motion. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. I Member of this committee, I'm allowed to vote. Yes. Thank you. Any opposed? That motion passes unanimously.

  6. Chair Millner (presiding)1:35:55speaker not certain

     Uh, I wanna say thank you, Senator Stevenson. This has been an incredibly great project, but also wanna say, uh, thank you to Carlos Ros, uh, who's a co-chair of this committee. Uh, but, uh, UO uh, is, um, staffs this committee and they are amazing. Um, I, they do highways. They don't do space, but what they have put together to facilitate this project is just another form of transportation. Um, has been amazing and they should be commended for that. So thank you. UDOT is an amazing organization for the state of Utah and it's been an absolute pleasure to be able to work with them on this project. It has been, It has been. I think the other thing is they do work hard on providing more space on our highways. He's just flubbing for more highway. Okay.

  7. Chair Millner (presiding)1:36:50

     Uh, with that I need one more motion. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. You opposed? We will see you.

• Feb 5, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (6 turns)

  1. Senate President (presiding)1:05:12

     Senator Stevenson.

  2. Sen. Jerry W Stevenson1:05:13

     Senator Stevenson, thank you very much. Um, You know, last year we created, we passed a bill that created a exploratory, uh, committee that would, uh, launch Utah the space. And, uh, we looked at the feasibility of, of actually, uh, uh, okaying launches across the state, uh, Emery space. Uh, Ameri Space Court, uh, corporation, uh, recently concluded a feasibility study for us, and they determined that we have, uh, actually seven places in the state of Utah where we could make these launches and make them, uh, productive. So this includes both commercial launches and also governmental launch launches, um, or government space missions, um, such as satellite launches or orbital launches. It includes, uh, both, um, let's see in. Anyway, now the committee is working on the commercial aerospace companies to determine which site is logistically the best place for that to be. The legislation that we seek is, uh, this, in this legislation, we have three minor changes to the bill that we had last year. First, it allows the, uh, space port committee to hold closed door meetings with some of these companies because of the trade secrets that they have. So, uh, it will allow us to work with them and they would be able to work with the state without disclosing those secrets to competitors. Uh, it seems very important that we do have laws in the state that allow us to work under, uh, very, under closed doors. Uh, it expands the scope of the exploratory committee to include reentry and reentry options around the state. It also will push a deadline for the financial or for the final recommendation from the committee of the committee back from, uh, only two months from September 30th to November 30th. Reason we need that time is if we, as we start looking at reentry, um, this has been a quite an amazing committee to work with and it's, uh, it's surprising how well, and this has been accepted around the state of Utah. Um, we not only reflects Utah's deep commitment to space, but it also reflects that we recognize that 20% of our economy currently is ERO space. And it's certainly a great place for us to build great jobs. Uh, thank you Mr. President. That concludes my presentation.

  3. Senate President (presiding)1:07:44

     Thank you Senator Stevenson for that, uh, presentation. Looking for a discussion on spaceports. Seeing none back to you for a motion.

  4. Sen. Jerry W Stevenson1:07:55

     Thank you. I would, uh, I would move that, uh, Senate bill, uh, 1 32. Um, be moved to the third reading calendar. Thank

  5. Senate President (presiding)1:08:03

     You. And the question is, shall Senate Bill 1 32 be read a third time Roll call vote. Senator Vickers Baldy Aye. Lewin Brammer plus Colmore Es. Camilla Fillmore Grover Aye. Harper Aye. Hankins. Ipson Johnson. Aye. Juab McKay Aye. Mikel Aye. Milner Musselman Owens Pitcher Plum Rebi Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vickers. Weiler Aye. Wilson Winterton, president Adams Aye. Senate Bill 1 32, having received 23 yay votes, two nay votes, four being absent. Shall be read a third time. Senator Mikel, do you want a personal privilege?

  6. Sen. Michael K. McKell1:09:20

     I would love a personal privilege. Mr. President. Granted,

• Feb 6, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (13 turns)

  1. Senate President (presiding)23:12

     Senator Stevenson.

  2. Sen. Stevenson23:13

     Senator Stevenson Spaceports. We, uh, we discussed this yesterday, um, the Spaceport committee is met and they're, they're working on a, on a very regular rotation, and we need three of three. Uh, this bill does three things that, uh, we would like to see pass. First, it allows the space committee to hold closed door meetings to discuss trade secrets with aerospace companies. Um, this would allow us to continue our work and not, uh, disrupt anything. And this is, is already done across the state in many other areas. It would allow us to expand the scope of the Exploratory Committee to include reentry, uh, operations. And it would push a deadline for the final report and recommendation from the committee back, uh, two months from September the 30th to, uh, November the 30th.

  3. Senate President (presiding)24:07

     Thank you, Senator. Uh, any further explanation that, that draws my conclusion? Thank you. Looking for discussion. Senator Riebe To Spaceport.

  4. Sen. Riebe24:19

     Thank you, Mr. President. I've had some people contact me about the, uh, descriptions on line 1 0 7 and 1 0 9 that discuss that. It's just a trade secret and they're wondering if this is in violation of the Open Meetings Act and, um, if there could be a better definition of a trade secret. Um, are some of our constituency believes that too much of this work is happening behind closed doors and it, it's, um, it's disconcerting to them. So is there a better different definition for Trade Secret and or does this, uh, violate Open Meetings Act?

  5. Sen. Stevenson24:54

     Senator Stevenson, will you yield? I would yield. Go ahead. Uh, thank you. We, we've, uh, in the review of this, we feel it does not violate their Open Meetings Act. And, uh, the only interest anyone would have is if they were a competitor. We don't feel that it's, that it's in violation of anything. We just, they don't want their secrets on the market. Or we discuss these with several different companies, several different options. And we feel that it's a, a good place for us to be, to be able to discuss that and Club behind Closed doors. Thank you.

  6. Sen. Riebe25:30

     Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I appreciate that answer. Like I said, I've constituents that are just concerned that we are doing too much work behind closed doors and I wanted to make sure that this wasn't part of the Open Meetings Act. Thank you.

  7. Senate President (presiding)25:41

     Thank you Senator Stevenson. Seeing no further discussion going to you for any summation and, and, uh, motion.

  8. Sen. Stevenson25:48speaker not certain

     Uh, I think we've had adequate summation. I would move that SB 1 32 Space Board, uh, amendments Pass.

  9. Senate President (presiding)25:55

     Thank you. And the question is, shall Senate Bill one thirty two pass Roll call vote. Senator Vickers Baldy Lewin Brammer Bus Colmore ASCA Fillmore Grover Harper Hankins Ipson a Johnson Juab McKay Mikel Milner Musselman Owens Pitcher Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Weiler Wilson Winterton. President Adams Aye. Senate Bill 1 32. Having received 26 a votes, one nay vote two being absent passes, this body will be sent to the house for their consideration. Lemme make sure I called that right.

  10. Senate President (presiding)27:23

      Senator Owens.

  11. Sen. Owens27:27

      Thank you President, I move to encircle Senate Bill per substitute Senate Bill 1 35.

  12. Senate President (presiding)27:34

      Go ahead. Uh, we have a motion to encircle. The motion is to encircle first substitute Senate bill 1 35. Is that right? Nuclear Processing Amendment. Senator? That's correct. Present. Okay. Discussion of that motion. Seeing none, I'll place the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Will the motion passes. The bill is Uncircled. Senator Owens.

  13. Sen. Owens27:55

      Thank you President, uh, most, uh, move to, uh,

• Feb 11, 2026 House Transportation Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (12 turns)

  1. Committee chair2:10:29

     Thank you, Senator. Thank You. Uh, next item on the agenda is item number seven, Senate Bill 1 32 Spaceport Amendments by Senator Stevenson.

  2. Sen. Jerry W. Stevenson2:10:53

     I guess that works. Thank you.

  3. Committee chair2:10:57

     Are we, are we ready? We're ready. Thank you, Senator.

  4. Sen. Jerry W. Stevenson2:11:00

     Thank you very much. Uh, you know, last year, uh, we passed a bill. Well, first of all, over 20% of the, of the, uh, economy of the state of Utah is tied to aerospace. And last year we passed a bill that created an exploratory committee, uh, to launch an initial, uh, feasibility study to explore how our state could fit into the, uh, our state's potential in future Space Hub. And, uh, we have worked through that this summer. I have, in fact, in the audience here, this is Mr. Carlos Braceros, our director of transportation, and he, uh, he co-chairs that committee with Senator Ann Milner. I'm on the committee, and I ran the bill last year. So I, I was elected again this year. This is really quite a simple bill, and I think we'll move through this fairly quickly. But we, aerospace Corporation recently conducted this feasibility study to determine whether space launches fit safely and could be and can be, uh, conducted in the state of Utah. Uh, seven poten potential sites were evaluated, and the findings show that Utah can safely support, uh, space launches. Uh, this includes both commercial and governmental space missions, such as satellite launches and oral orbital launches. Uh, now the committee is working with commercial aerospace companies to determine which site is logistically and economically most ideal. This legislation seeks to make three major or three minor adjustments to last year's bill to facilitate the exploratory, exploratory, uh, committee's work. The first thing that it does, it would allow the Spaceport Committee to hold closed meetings to discuss trade secrets with industry experts, allowing them to work, uh, with the state without disclosing secrets to competitors or our public or in public meetings. The second thing that it does, it would expand the scope of the exploratory committee to include reentry, reentry operations. And we know that we have done the reentry in the state before, and, uh, but we need to make sure that's backed up by our, within our study. And the third thing that it does, it just pushes the, the final date of recommendation back, uh, final rate of rate of recommendation from the committee back by two months from September the 30th to November the 30th of 2000, uh, 2016 or 2026. So three things. And that concludes my presentation.

  5. Committee chair2:13:39

     Great. Thank you, Senator. We'll come back to the committee for any clarifying questions. Okay. Seeing no questions will go to the public. Is there anybody from the public that would like to speak to this bill? Seeing no one online will close the public portion of the meeting and take it back to the Committee for Action.

  6. Committee chair2:14:08

     Representative Thurston.

  7. Rep. Norman K Thurston2:14:10

     Thank you Mr. Bill. I move that we favorably Mr. Chair. Sorry. Uh, Mr. Chair, I have moved that we favorably recommend Senate Bill 1 32 Space Port Amendments.

  8. Committee chair2:14:19

     Okay. The motion is to favorably recommend Senate Bill 1 32 space, uh, space Port or Mo Amendments. Would you like to speak to that motion? I love this bill. He loves this bill. Okay. We'll go back to the, the sponsor.

  9. Sen. Jerry W. Stevenson2:14:32

     I just that this, this reflects, uh, our commitment in the state of Utah to the, to the, uh, aerospace industry, and also that, uh, the potential, the vast potential we have of, of seeing this come to pass. This is, uh, this really, it, it's been amazing to sit on that committee and watch this bowl together this summer. So, uh, big industry and a big deal for our state, lot of potential 47 G is kind of headed this thing up as we move through that process.

  10. Committee chair2:15:02

      Great. Thank you, Senator. Any discussion from the committee to the emo to the motion? Okay. Seeing none, the motion before us is to favorably recommend Senate Bill 1 32 Spaceport amendments. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Say nay. I'll rule that passes unanimously. Thank you, Senator.

  11. Unknown speaker2:15:23speaker not certain

      Thank you very much. Yes. Oh, nevermind. Sorry.

  12. Committee chair2:15:29speaker not certain

      Oh, okay. Oh, did you wanna do consent? Yeah, but it'll be faster. Okay. Um, great.

• Feb 18, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (4 turns)

  1. Reading Clerk17:30

     Senate bill 1 32 Spaceport Amendments by Senator Stevenson. This bill was heard in transportation with the vote. 10 0 2.

  2. Speaker (presiding)17:39

     The House sponsors representative Val Peterson, Rep representative Corinne Peterson. Motion

  3. Rep. Val L. Peterson17:47

     To circle Thank you representative That motion's in

  4. Speaker (presiding)17:49

     order we're go and play sponsors off the floor. So we'll go ahead and place that motion. Uh, the motion before us the house circle SB 1 32. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Roll that motion passes. Uh, SB 1 32 will be circled. Madam Reading Clerk First Senate bill 1 91.

• Feb 19, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (9 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)21:43

     We'll go ahead and place the motion. The motion before is the house encircle SB 1 32. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Roll. That motion passes The bill's been encircled and before the body, uh, for its consideration. Back to your Representative Peterson for presentation.

  2. Rep. Val L. Peterson22:00

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So last year we passed the Spaceport bill and we've been working on that diligently throughout this past year. This bill does three things. One, it allows Spaceport to hold a closed meeting if they're talking about trade secrets with some of the companies who are bidding. So some of these companies have trade secrets that are tied to their equipment that they have. And so in that case, it would allow us to have a closed meeting with them as we explore what that technology is. The second thing it does is it expands the exploratory committee scope. So it allows them to look at reentry operations. Obviously as you start to launch, uh, spacecraft into the sky, uh, you have some reentry probably with, uh, booster, booster rockets, things like that. And so you need to look at where that impact is to make sure that we're doing it safely. And then the third thing it does is it allows us to push the final site recommendation from the committee back two months from September 30th, 2026 to November 30th, 2026. And so the reason for that is, is we've identified seven sites throughout the state as potential sites, and as we're working through that process, we just need a little bit more time in order to make a final recommendation that, uh, uh, takes into account all the things that we're looking at. And so with that, Mr. Speaker, I'm open for, uh, any questions or discussion.

  3. Speaker (presiding)23:35

     Thank you, Representative Peterson. Discussion to the bill Representative Hansen.

  4. Rep. Leah Hansen23:50

     There we go. Representative Hansen. Thank You Mr. Speaker. We'll sponsor yield to a question.

  5. Speaker (presiding)23:53

     Representative Peterson will yield to a question Sponsor will yield.

  6. Rep. Leah Hansen23:57

     Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, I just wanted to know, I mean, like, what would be considered like a trade secret?

  7. Rep. Val L. Peterson24:06

     Well, obviously you have different systems out there that allow reentry or, or how the spacecraft is operating. And so some of those things are proprietary to the different companies that are, uh, launching satellites into space. And so they don't want to let those secrets out to their competitors, uh, which would give them a disadvantage.

  8. Rep. Leah Hansen24:27

     Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker.

  9. Speaker (presiding)24:31

     Thank you. Representative Peterson, uh, sorry. Representative Hansen. Sorry. Uh, back to Representative Peterson for summation. Waive Summation has been wad voting will now be open on SB 1 32 in all present, having voted, voting is now closed. SB 1 32 passes this body with 68 yes votes one no vote will be sent to the Senate for its consideration, or sorry, signed by the speaker and sent to the Senate for the signature of the president. It's called Representative Tom Peterson.