SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - The Utah State Senate and House have voted to delay implementation of House Bill 477.
Governor Gary Herbert met with legislators Monday to voice his displeasure with the bill.
HB 477, which was passed quickly by the legislature last week, would severely curtail Utah's Open Records Law and deny access to Utah public records.
Over the weekend, criticism of the bill mounted on the Internet, especially on Facebook.
National critics also weighed in, saying no other state had as restrictive a law as Utah was considering.
Between 9 am and 1 pm, Monday, the governor's office received a total of 853 calls on HB 477, a vast majority were opposed to the bill.
The "ripple effect" of public discord was felt among legislators on Monday as well.
Early Monday afternoon, Rep. Carl Wimmer (R-Herriman) announced via Twitter: "I met with the Governor this morning and am trying to coordinate a recall of the bill."
In addition, two rallies against the bill were planned for Tuesday and Thursday.
HB 477 passed only two days after being introduced in a House committee on Wednesday.
It passed a house vote on Thursday after very little debate.
On Friday, several witnesses who stood in opposition to HB 477 testified against it in a Senate committee.
After passing by a 5-2 committee vote, the bill passed by a 21-7 vote in the Senate fewer than than 90 minutes later.
But the Legislature has now voted to delay implementation of the bill until July 1st of this year.
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