SALT LAKE CITY – Gov. Spencer Cox has called all Utah lawmakers to a special session of the Legislature slated for Wednesday, June 19.
That gathering was announced late on June 14, after consultation with Senate President J. Stuart Adams (R-Layton) and Speaker of the Utah House Mike Schultz (R-Hooper) on June 11.
Under the authority granted to him by the Utah Constitution, Cox called all members of the 65th Legislature into its third special session of 2024 starting at 4 p.m. on June 19.
Members of the governor’s staff said that the special session was being called to address urgent state matters that have arisen since the end of the Legislature’s general session in March.
At the top of the agenda for the special session is Senate Bill 161 (Energy Security Amendments) passed during the 2024 general session of the Legislature, which dealt with the future of the Intermountain Power Agency’s plant in Delta.
That plan currently supplies most of its power to California, fueled with coal from southern Utah.
Under California mandates, that plant is slated to be converted to natural gas fuel from Wyoming.
Senate Bill 161 established a decommissioning authority to get Utah leaders the opportunity to review plans for the future of the power plant, including the question of whether the Beehive State can reclaim water rights previously given to the plant’s operators.
The state’s lawmakers will also consider strategies to respond to new threats of federal overreach on public land in Utah; changes to so-called repeal dates for laws recently written into the Utah Code; and amendments that might be necessary with respect to the new Title IX regulations published by the U.S. Department of Education.
The Utah Senate is also expected to confirm recent government appointments announced by the governor during the June 19 special session.