Sen. Mike Owens, sponsor of Senate Bill 74, told the Government Operations Committee on Feb. 14 that the measure makes five technical and operational changes at the Utah Department of Corrections (DOC), and the committee voted unanimously to advance the bill out of committee with a favorable recommendation.

The bill clarifies that courts may be prohibited from granting petitions to change an individual's name or gender marker on a birth certificate when the petitioner is an offender and the court finds criminal intent tied to the record, and it extends that prohibition to people on probation or parole. It also grants DOC limited authority to conduct criminal investigations and to refer findings to other agencies; allows revenue from offenders' use of department electronic devices (tablets and phones) to be used to pay for education and programming; and broadens the statutory options for drugs that may be used in lethal intravenous injection when previously available drugs cannot be obtained.

The measure is coded as a second substitute with a Senate amendment added in committee to make the probation-and-parole language consistent across statutes. Sen. Owens said the tablet program supports continuing education when inmates transfer between county jails and state prisons and estimated the fiscal note for devices at roughly $1.7 million, saying he did not have the exact figure available in committee. The committee record shows the amendment adding probation and parole came in the Senate amendment (lines referenced in committee materials as lines 46–48).

Representative Pucci moved to adopt the first amendment to the second substitute; the committee adopted the amendment by voice vote. Representative Pucci later moved that the committee pass the second substitute, as amended, out of committee with a favorable recommendation; the committee approved the motion by voice vote, with no recorded opposition.

Committee members asked for clarification about the lethal-injection language and the origin of funds for tablets. Sen. Owens and committee members characterized the changes as technical cleanups and operational updates that DOC has requested as it modernizes tools and procedures.

The committee did not receive public testimony on SB 74 in the hearing and completed action on the item in one session. The bill now proceeds with a favorable committee recommendation toward consideration by the full chamber.

Details recorded in committee minutes and the sponsor's presentation were limited to the points above; exact fiscal-note figures and the final statutory line numbers will be available in the bill packet distributed by the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.