Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, didn’t succeed on his first try to win committee approval for a bill requiring Utah’s rural counties to operate under a commission form of government. So he tried, and tried again.
That effort paid off Tuesday, with the House Political Subdivisions Committee voted 6-3 to advance HB257, which allows only a three-member commission for counties with a population below 11,000.
“Sometimes options can become weaponized,” Lyman said, “and the battle goes on in some of these rural counties.”
Tuesday’s hearing was the third time the committee had considered Lyman’s legislation, which originally included counties up to 31,000 population and in its current version exempts Grand County, where residents are in the process considering a change in governance.