House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, hugs Rep. Karen Kwan, D-Murray, after Kwan’s resolution honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander communities passed unanimously in the House during a special session of the Legislature at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Though controversy over critical race theory sucked most of the oxygen out of the Utah Legislature’s special session on Wednesday, lawmakers acted on a host of other bills — including changes to the budget to accept over $1.6 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds.
In the special session called by Gov. Spencer Cox to deal with the budget and pass 22 bills — including one to ban school mask requirements this fall except for special circumstances — the Utah Legislature approved legislation to initially spend only $571 million of the federal funds funneled to the state by the American Rescue Plan Act, leaving the rest to be spent after more specifics can be ironed out in the 2022 general session in January.