Breathe Utah - SB 124 Landscaping Procurement Amendments

SB 124 Landscaping Procurement Amendments

This bill failed to have a final vote in the House on the final day of the session.

This bill was substituted again in Government Ops on 2/12. The 4th substitute limits the applicability of this bill to government owned facilities in counties with 200,000 people or more, stretching from Weber to Utah counties (covers non attainment areas). This does not apply to 4-stroke equipment, only 2-stroke, so leaves lawn mowers out. Instead of a phase-in, the bill now would simply require when new equipment is purchased and older equipment is retired it would be replaced with electric. The committee members were appreciative of the work Sen. Pitcher did on the several drafts of this bill.

The 2nd substitue, adopted in Senate Government Ops on 1/24, changed this bill quite a bit. Instead of focusing on procurement for government contracts, this bill focuses on requiring electric landscape maintenance equipment. There would be a phase in period for mandatory use of electric landscaping equipment on state or government facility grounds based on size. The Director of the Division of Facilities Construction and Management may grant an exemption to the requirement based on certain conditions such as slope, erosion, or in emergency situations where using electric equipment is not feasible.

Original bill:

Establishes a timeline to phase out gasoline powered landscaping equipment at state government facilities as follows:

Begining 7/1/25, a procurement unit may not purchase or otherwise acquire gasoline powered landscape maintenance equipment to manintain landscape on a state government facility.

Begining 7/1/26, gasoline powered landscape maintenance equipment may not be used for landscape maintenance on a state government facility.

Begining 7/1/27, all procurement contracts for the performance of landscape maintenance on a state governement facility shall preclude the use of gasoline powered landscape maintenance equipment in the performance of the contract.

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