SENATE PASSES BILL INCREASING TRANSPARENCY ON UTAH LAKE
- Dan Harker
- Mar 7, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 14, 2022

Just days before the end of its legislative session, the Utah State Senate held a final vote on proposed changes to the Utah Lake Amendments.
The revisions, known collectively as HB 240, passed the Senate 27-1, with one absence. Its passage has been hailed by activists as a victory for conservation efforts and citizen oversight in the Utah Lake saga.
Orem Rep. Keven Stratton, who in 2018 co-sponsored the original Utah Lake Amendments with Provo Sen. Curtis Bramble, argues that the changes will make it easier for residents to scrutinize potential lake restoration projects.
HB 240 “puts in place a lot of transparency as well as sound process to allow that,” Mr. Stratton said.
The transparency measures included in the new amendments won particular praise from conservation advocates.
“The people of Utah deserve to know what’s going on behind closed doors to prevent improper and unwanted actions on the lake,” said Craig Christian, executive director of the non-profit group Conserve Utah Valley. “Utah Lake is part of the sovereign lands belonging to all Utahns. We appreciate that Representative Stratton and Senator Bramble have championed Fairness and greater public transparency in all legislative actions moving forward. As citizens of Utah, we deserve that.”
Mr. Christian’s comments were echoed by Benjamin Abbott, an assistant professor of ecosystems and ecology at Brigham Young University.
“I’m really grateful that the legislature is adding guardrails to the process of transferring sovereign lands. Utah Lake and other sovereign lands are meant to be a public trust for the people of Utah today and forever,” Mr. Abbott said. “There are real constitutional concerns whenever sovereign lands are privatized without compensation, and we need impartial oversight and transparency.”
Mr. Abbott recently became entangled in a legal dispute with Lake Restorations Solutions (LRS), a local developer. In January, LRS filed a $3 million lawsuit against Mr. Abbott, who had publicly criticized the company’s plans to build commercial and recreational islands in Utah Lake. LRS subsequently faced pronounced opposition from groups such as Conserve Utah Valley.
In the Senate Committee’s discussions on proposed Utah Lake projects, LRS repeatedly emerged as a point of concern. But despite the recent controversy surrounding the company, its leadership provided input to HB 240’s drafting and has supported its passage.
“We appreciate that Rep. Stratton was willing to work with us on changes reflected in the current version of the bill,” wrote Jon Benson, president of Lake Restoration Solutions. “Most encouraging, thanks to the many discussions surrounding HB 240 and Rep. Brammer’s Utah Lake Authority bill, it’s clear that legislators want to see significant improvements to Utah Lake.”
The new amendments will enter enrollment before arriving at the desk of Gov. Spencer Cox later this month.
The story appeared in The Daily Herald on March 4.
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