GOP's midnight heist to split Salt Lake County was five seconds too late
On the final night of the 2026 Utah Legislature, the Republican majority rammed through a bill to split the state’s largest and most Democratic county in two. Just one problem: they did it five seconds past the constitutional deadline.
HB212 from Rep. Jordan Teusher, R-South Jordan, lowers the barrier for creating a new county out of an existing one, specifically targeting counties with over 1 million residents, which currently only applies to Salt Lake County. A city or municipality with at least one-third of the county’s population can pass a resolution to trigger a feasibility study and election to secede and form a new county.
There is no single city in Salt Lake County that matches that criteria, but the bill allows smaller cities to band together if they make up at least a third of the population.
The final vote on HB212 was in the Utah Senate, where it passed 17-12. But the final two votes on the bill from Sen. Ron Winterton, R-Roosevelt, and Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, came after the clock had turned over to midnight. An analysis of the video shows Adams did not cast his vote in the affirmative until approximately five seconds after midnight. The official video board in the Senate clearly reads “Day 46” and notes the date as March 7 when Adams announces the results of the vote.
Utah Senate video of the final vote on HB212
Those five seconds could blow up the whole thing.
Under Utah’s Constitution, the annual legislative session is strictly limited to 45 calendar days. The legislature operates on a hard “midnight” deadline for the 45th day under Utah code and legislative rules, which both say the House and Senate must cease their business at midnight.
The official legislative record for HB212 records the vote at midnight on March 7, which is the exact moment their authority to conduct business had expired, meaning the vote came too late. Either that timestamp will invalidate the bill, or it could open a path to challenge the law in court.
Proponents argue Salt Lake County is too large and “unwieldy” to govern, and residents in the south and western portions of the valley have different needs than those in the county’s urban core.
Opponents, including Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, argue it’s a politically motivated effort to dilute the influence of the state’s largest county, which just happens to be Democratic-leaning, and that it could lead to significant tax increases for residents.
Teuscher sponsored a similar bill last year, but HB533 died without being considered by lawmakers.
If Adams playing fast and loose with procedural rules sounds familiar, it should. At the start of the 2025 session, the Senate moved to nominate Adams for another term as president by acclamation.
When the motion was put up for a vote, then-Sen. Daniel Thatcher clearly said “no.” Under parliamentary rules, the motion fails if there’s a single no vote. Thatcher’s objection was improperly ignored, and Adams was declared elected “by acclamation.”
According to the official Senate journal, Thatcher’s no vote has still not been acknowledged.
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