SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Legislature's Senate Education Committee gave unanimous approval to a bill that would treat all students equally with respect to sex education instruction and the House narrowly advanced a bill that would allow capital punishment for sex trafficking deaths.

Sen. Mike Lee also addressed the legislature and discussed why Congress is overturning executive orders made by Obama.

Here is a roundup of what's happening during the current legislative session:

Legislature endorses statewide suicide crisis hotline

A bill to create a statewide mental health crisis hotline passed unanimously in the Utah Senate on Tuesday and now awaits the signatures of Legislative leadership before heading to the governor's desk.

SB37 sponsor Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, said the bill will help save lives by providing a reliable resource for Utahns suffering from mental illness or thoughts of suicide when they need it most.

"This bill will help us put together a process so we can have a single number statewide anybody can call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and get a live person on the line," he said.

Sponsor says bill treats kids equally in Utah sex ed instruction

The Utah Legislature's Senate Education Committee gave unanimous approval Tuesday to the latest version of SB196, which the sponsor says is intended to treat all students equally with respect to sex education instruction in Utah public schools. The amended legislation emphasizes instruction that encourages fidelity in marriage and eliminates a specific prohibition against "advocacy of homosexuality" from Utah's statute on health education.

"We're focusing on making sure we’re treating all kids equally. What this bill does is it allows us to focus on just that, making sure we treat everyone equally whether it's homosexuality and heterosexuality. The state has a compelling interest to teach all children," said Senate Majority Whip Stuart Adams, R-Layton.

The bill "sustains and verifies the fact our statute focuses on fidelity and abstinence before marriage," Adams said.

Senate committee backs bill allowing sunscreen at school

A plan that would allow students in Utah to use sunscreen in school without a note from a parent and a doctor has received full support from a panel of lawmakers. Members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday voted unanimously in support of the proposal.

Bill sponsor Rep. Craig Hall, R-West Valley City, says state law does not allow sunscreen or other over-the-counter medications regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be used in school without written permission.

The plan would also allow a school employee to put sunscreen on a student if the student brings a note from a parent.

Bill to remove incapacitated elected officials on hold

The controversy surrounding Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott and concerns about what to do when health issues prevent elected officials from doing their job likely won't see a solution for at least another year.

A House committee voted unanimously Tuesday to hold HB364, a bill that would allow the removal of elected officials due to mental incapacity, with lawmakers saying the bill needs intensive study over the summer.

Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City, said she brought the bill to the House Political Subdivisions Committee to gather input on the current draft, and after fielding a variety of questions and concerns, she acknowledged it isn't ready for "prime time."

Lee: Too much power given to too few people

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told the Utah Legislature on Tuesday that Congress is plowing through a list of executive branch rules made late in the Obama administration that need repeal because they are too costly, too burdensome or fall outside their constitutional authority.

The Congressional Review Act of 1996 had only been used once in 16 years when Congress invoked it earlier this month to kill a controversial stream rule impacting coal mining operations.

"It was an atomic bomb of sorts they were going to drop on the coal industry," Lee said.

The rule issued in late December put restrictions on coal mines operating near waterways and required monitoring by the mines to determine impacts. Lee said there were a host of rushed midnight regulations that inappropriately empowered the executive branch to essentially craft law, which is in the domain of Congress.

"When we allow (rules) to be made by just a few people, by the executive branch acting alone … that causes some problems," he said. "This is about returning power back to the people … where it belongs."

Bill tweaks process to turn around low-performing schools

A Utah Senate committee gave unanimous support Tuesday to a bill the sponsor says "tweaks" the ongoing process to turn around low-performing schools.

SB234, sponsored by Sen. Ann Millner, R-Ogden, spells out the process for a low-performing school to develop a turnaround plan and the roles of state, local and private partners in the process.

After a year of a school turnaround program in place, the bill "will allow us to make sure our program and approach are financially sustainable, that it best meets the needs of our schools, that it helps to accelerate our turnaround effort and makes sure we're achieving our goals," Millner said.

Under the plan, the turnaround process would occur over three years with an opportunity for a two-year extension "to make sure we provide sufficient opportunity for turnaround," she said.

House backs capital punishment for sex trafficking deaths

A plan that would expand capital punishment in Utah so criminals convicted of aggravated human trafficking or child sex exploitation that leads to death could be executed has made it through the Utah House of Representatives.

The plan passed by a single vote Tuesday when House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, returned to the floor to break the tie.

HB176 sponsor Republican Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, says human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes, so the death penalty should be an option for prosecutors.

Report: Most Utah young adults ill-prepared for workforce, ineligible for military

An overwhelming majority of Utah's young adults ages 17-24 are ineligible for military service because they are overweight, have a criminal history or can't pass the test, according to a new report.

The Council for America hosted a panel discussion Tuesday at the state Capitol to detail why so many young adults in the state are not "citizen ready," or readily equipped to take on the challenges of adult life.

A citizen readiness index shows Utah is among the more than three-fourths of states in the country that earned a C grade or worse based on the number of young adults who missed the mark.

"The ambivalence we sometimes see out there needs to change," said Utah Gov. Gary Hebert, who gave closing remarks at the event.

Council for America is made up of 9,000 members that include law enforcement leaders, retired admirals and generals, business leaders, pastors and prominent coaches and athletes.

Lawmakers support bill to research causes, solutions of child homelessness

Lawmakers voted in favor of a bill to gather information on poverty and methods of preventing homelessness.

HB283, sponsored by Rep. Robert Spendlove, R-Sandy, received unanimous support from the House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee on Tuesday. The bill now moves to the full House for consideration.

The measure would clarify that funding from the Family Employment Program is meant to prevent families and children from becoming homeless. It also would provide funding for the Utah Intergenerational Welfare Reform Commission to research the causes of homelessness and the methods of assisting those affected by it.

Committee OKs bill that would make sexually motivated extortion its own crime

The Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday recommended a bill that makes sexual extortion its own crime.

Supporters of Senate Bill 232 say sexual extortion crimes are not adequately accounted for under current laws targeting so-called "revenge pornography" and extortion cases in which money is the motive.

The measure would define sexual extortion as a threat made to a person "with an intent to coerce a victim to engage in sexual contact, in sexually explicit conduct, or in simulated sexually explicit conduct."

Such threats could include a threat to the person's property or their reputation, or could include demands that the victim participate in sexually explicit conduct or provide an "intimate image or video" of themselves engaged in such conduct.

Committee recommends bill increasing penalties for prostitution-related crimes

The Senate criminal justice committee approved enhancing penalties for prostitution-related crimes as well as clarifying the definition of prostitution in a hearing Tuesday.

Senate Bill 230 would change patronizing a prostitute from a class B misdemeanor to a class A misdemeanor, with a third conviction for that crime becoming a third-degree felony.

Aiding or facilitating an act of prostitution would also be enhanced to a class A misdemeanor, with all subsequent convictions becoming third-degree felonies.

The committee unanimously voted to recommend the bill to the full Senate.

Contributing: Katie McKellar, Marjorie Cortez, Associated Press, Amy Joi O'Donoghue, Ryan Morgan, Ben Lockhart

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