2025 Week One Wrap Up

To my Constituents and Friends

So the session begins! We’ve been through a week of legislation, and I am thankful to be up here serving you and working with my great colleagues. We are working on changes that I believe will benefit our district and all those in Utah. I invite you to be engaged and participate with me. I love to hear from you, and I am thankful for your support. I’d like to share how I’m getting along.

Image above: Representative Thurston (right) taking the oath of office and beginning the 2025 General Legislative Session.

A New Committee

This session marks the beginning of the brand-new General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, which I am excited to co-chair. One of our goals is to ensure the responsible use of your tax dollars by cutting unnecessary fees and administrative costs. Those add up!

So far, we’ve had the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget (GOPB) review their budget, and I am confident we can improve efficiency. We allowed public comment for the first time on Friday the 24th. It’s rare for appropriations committees to invite public input, but I feel it is important to hear from you about how your money is spent.

Image above: Representative Thurston calls the General Government Appropriations Committee to order on Wednesday, January 22nd.

In addition to this new committee, I am also be serving on these committees this session:

Image above: Representative Thurston addressing the House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee.

An Injustice in the Healthcare System: Rebates and PBMs

Utah’s residents should not be overpaying for pharmaceutical drugs. My bills HCR 2 and HB 257 mandate that health benefit plans and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) ensure that all rebates go to the patients and not into the pockets of PBMs.

Image above: Representative Thurston and Chet Loftis, executive director of PEHP (right) present HCR 2 in committee.

Topic on the Hill: Elections and Mail-in Ballots

Our vote by mail system needs a fix–Utah uses the Postmark Rule to decide whether to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day. In many recent elections, several ballots that were mailed on time were postmarked too late to be counted. As a result, in some cases, this could have changed the outcome of the elections. Additionally, federal courts have recently ruled that it is unlawful to count ballots received after Election Day. I’m advocating for Utah to require mail-in ballots to be in the hands of election officials by the close of polls. Changing this system will help ensure that every vote gets counted fairly.

Supporting Election Transparency

Our county clerks currently keep very few election documents, and these are almost never available for research. Other states are much more transparent. My bill HB 263 would require county clerks to retain a digital copy of all election documents, including ballots and tally sheets. These documents would be available to elected officials for research purposes.

An Update on My Bills

With the beginning of the session comes a new set of bills. This week I presented bills on the floor and in committee; here’s a status report that will be updated every week:

HB 14 – Emergency Personnel Amendments: Allows trained emergency medical personnel, like paramedics, to be employed to perform non-emergency medical work for all authorized employers. This passed ✅ in the House and is going to be heard in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
HCR 2 – Concurrent Resolution Directing PEHP Regarding Pharmaceutical Rebates – Requires PEHP to offer point-of-sale pharmacy rebates for all members. I presented HCR2 in the House Health and Human Services Committee where it passed ✅ and is now awaiting a vote in the House. To keep up, you can watch the floor vote here.
HB 190 – Motorcycle Amendments: Increases penalties for motorcycle lane splitting, wheelies, and hiding your license plates. This will soon be heard in the House Transportation Committee.

These bills are awaiting assignment to committees:

HB 156 – Education Board Amendments: Clarifies that the state board of education follows the laws the legislature makes when managing our public education system.
HB 165 – Process for Submitting Nonbinding Question: Allows the legislature to put a question on the ballot that will not become binding law to gather input about public sentiment.
HB 205 – Ballot Counting and Ballot Drop Box Modifications: Requires ballots be in hand by the close of polls on election day and requires a ballot box to be within an hour’s drive of 95% of Utahns. (See related story above)
HB 216 – Income Tax Revenue Amendments: Specifies that when state revenues go up due to federal action, the legislature must actively vote on whether to spend or return the money to taxpayers.
HB 257 – Pharmacy Benefit Amendments: Requires that health benefit plans and pharmacy benefits managers ensure money from pharmaceutical rebates goes to their consumers. (See related story above)
HB 263 – Election Records Amendments: Requires that county clerks retain more copies of election documents and allows elected officials to use them for research.
HB 278 – Massage Therapy Amendments: Provides new pathways for people to become massage therapists. Also requires massage establishment owners to more carefully oversee the workers and services provided.
HB 320 – Municipal Ordinance Amendments: Allows a municipality to impose civil fines above Class B misdemeanor level if the offender is a repeat violator (three or more times within 12 months).
HJR 1 – Joint Rules Resolution- Sponsors Statement: Allows the sponsor of a bill legislation to write a short statement about the bill that helps the public readers better understand it and its purpose.