By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News | Photo courtesy of the Utah House of Representatives
The title of ‘part-time legislature’ feels inappropriate for the Utah State Legislature.
Despite official sessions lasting only 45 calendar days, state Senators and Representatives gather year-round for interim meetings to help shape the agenda and goals of the next year’s session.
Having recently wrapped up the June interim, Rep. Christine Watkins sat down with Castle Country Radio to discuss the session and preview what may be in store for the 2026 general session.
Opening our discussion, Watkins shared what distinguishes an interim session from a general session. “In the general session, we listen to bills. We have a whole big process for killing or passing bills and we can do that during the session. Then there are a lot of bills that either don’t make it through with time, or we keep killing in committee and saying, “You know what, you kind of got a good idea here, but it needs some more time and more discussion.” She continued,” So at the end of the session, we get to put in requests for bills that we want to have heard during the interim. We have all of our committees, but during the interim, our committees are comprised of senators and representatives. And so we bring in new ideas as well as bring in the ideas that did not pass in the general session.”
Serving on two major committees – public utilities and natural resources – Watkins shared what each was up to during the interim, starting with public utilities. “One of the things we had brought to us was by Rep. Carl Albrecht. And it’s a house concurrent resolution regarding advanced nuclear manufacturing. And so, what this resolution does is express support for advanced nuclear manufacturing … It declares the state’s desire to have nuclear manufacturing done in Utah. Our committee voted unanimously to pass that on to the 2026 session. And what it does, because we did it unanimously, it does not have to go through any other committees; it will go directly to the board.”
Moving to public utilities, Watkins provided some updates on what could be coming in the next general session. “We heard a Utah Broadband Center federal grants update. We listened to that and that was not something we had to vote on. We also heard from the Office of Energy Development and their new director who talked about the things that are going on in Utah with the nuclear world.”
One bill Watkins highlighted was the removal of the sunset provision on a program aiding in lead acid battery disposal. “That program started in the late 90s, and we’re still reviewing it, and it’s still successful, and it’s good. So one of the committee members said, ‘Hey, we don’t need to review this anymore. And if something goes south, we always have the power to come back and do this.’ And so we did take a vote on it. And with the exception of our dear Senator, everyone voted for that.”
Looking to the future, Rep. Watkins shared what she is currently eyeing for the 2026 session. “You know, things are very quiet. Usually, by now, I’ve had a whole lot of people come forward and say, ‘I want this bill done,’ or, ‘I need this law changed.’ However, I will also tell you that there is a real push by the speaker and by the governor; they want us to not have so many laws. You know, back off, in a sense.”
She continued,” So I have one bill that is already going to die. And then I have two others filed, and they deal more with one with DCFS and one with the Office of Recovery Services, and they’re directly from constituents … I do have some appropriation requests for the area. But they’re hard to get because even though the state is booming, we don’t have lots of extra money to spend. So I do have some of those things working that I want to work on.”
Closing our conversation, Watkins encouraged her constituents to get involved with the political process,” Pay attention if any of your cities have anyone who has contested races because that’s important. They’re your mayors and your city council.” Watkins added,” Reach out, you know, my phone number is 650-1969. If you see me at Walmart, or I’ve been working remodeling my little home, and I’ve got paint all over me and you see me, talk to me. I’m just out there like I live in this community. And I love it.”