Why you should care about interim
You may be wondering how legislatures can pull off passing so many bills during their 45-day legislative session. How can they possibly learn about all these different issues and then make decisions…. well… they don’t.
The general legislative session goes on for 45 days between January and March. During this time, legislators are hyper-focused on getting bills passed. The legislative session includes a cycle of proposing, debating, and amending bills until they pass as laws. During the session, legislators are stretched thin and sometimes don’t even get to all the proposed bills.
Due to these time constraints, a period of time where legislators can study issues and plan for the next session known as the interim session came to be.
Why Should I Care?
The official interim session meetings happen about once a month outside of the general legislative session. At these sessions, legislators are assigned to one or two interim committees that focus on specific issues.
These issues include:
Health Care
Transportation
Public Lands
& more!
Each committee holds a public session at these monthly meetings addressing Utahns concerns, new issues, potential bills, and recently passed laws. This meeting is also where legislators can call in experts, organizations, businesses, and others to give more in-depth information on specific topics.
Important decisions are being made during these sessions, and plans are put forward for future legislation discussions. Constituents (this includes you!) have the opportunity to weigh in on these decisions and help shape the conversation.
How to get involved?
Now that you know what Interim sessions are and their importance, you may be asking yourself…how can I get involved?
Attend a meeting! These meetings and recordings are all available online, and are easy to attend.
Call or send a letter to committee members and your senators to voice these concerns.
