Curt Bramble

Bramble was elected to the Utah Senate in 2000 and took office in January 2001. He initially served on the Business, Labor and Economic Development, and Revenue and Taxation Standing Committees; and on the Health and Human Services Joint Appropriation Committee. In 2004, Bramble became the Majority Leader of the Utah Senate for the 57th Utah Legislature and the Co-Chair of the Retirement and Independent Entities Joint Appropriation Committee. He also served on the Executive Offices and Criminal Justice, and Higher Education Joint Appropriations committees and Chaired the Retirement and Independent Entities Standing Committee. He also served on the Revenue and Taxation Committee for the 57th Utah State Legislature. Bramble was reelected to his third term to the Utah Senate in November 2008, defeating Democrat Radene Hatfied.

Senator Bramble is currently up for reelection and has two challengers in the primary.[4]

• Business, Economic Development, and Labor Appropriations Subcommittee
• Executive Offices and Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee
• Retirement and Independent Entities Appropriations Subcommittee
• Senate Business and Labor Committee (Chair)
• Senate Retirement and Independent Entities Committee
• Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee

In 2008, Bramble received the National Legislator of the Year Award from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and he has served on the Board of Directors of ALEC.[5] Bramble served as president of the National Conference of State Legislatures from 2015–16.[6]

In 2014, Bramble sponsored S.B. 54 Second Substitute Elections Amendments.[7] The enacted bill allows for an optional open primary.[8] During the 2016 legislative session Senator Bramble passed a bill that would require doctors to give anesthesia to fetuses during an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.[9]

The Deseret Morning News and Salt Lake Tribune called for an ethics investigation into an incident involving Bramble, Representative Becky Lockhart and Mountainland Technical College (known at time as the Mountainland Applied Technology College). Allegedly Bramble and Lockhart asked the college to build the Republican party a float to use in parades. The college used its money to pay for the float which, the papers alleged, violated Utah law, e.g., that "a public entity may not make expenditures from public funds for political purposes." When questions arose, college President Clay Christensen told State Auditor Auston Johnson he was under "tremendous pressure" by the Utah County GOP and lawmakers to build the float, but later that same day, after a conversation with Bramble, he changed his statement. Bramble first denied speaking with Christiansen but later acknowledged he "may have called," but couldn't "recall what was said."[10] No investigation ensued.