Published by Paul Ivinskas
Sunday, October 25, 2026

Everything Utah, every day.

Help Utahns understand their communities and hold government accountable. Our mission →

Public officials and candidates

John D. Johnson

State senator, Senate District 3 · Republican

John D. Johnson in an official Utah Legislature portrait.
Official portrait. Photo: Utah Legislature (photographer uncredited) · Copyright retained by rights holder · Utah Legislature official member portrait

Northern UtahSummit & Wasatch

Office held

State senatorSenate District 3
Counties: Morgan, Summit and Weber
Service listed by the Legislature: January 1, 2021
Source

Voting record

Utah Senate, 2026 sessions

The official record lists John D. Johnson's vote on 1,083 roll calls in the 2026 sessions. The latest:

  • March 7, 2026 · Vote 2267Voted: Yea
    1st Sub. HB 212: County Formation Amendments
    2nd Reading, Passage on 2nd & 3rd Under suspension of the rules · Result: Passed, Ayes 17 Nays 12 Abs 0 · Official record
  • March 6, 2026 · Vote 2266Voted: Yea
    3rd Sub. SB 181: School Discipline Amendments
    Concurrence, Final Passage · Result: Ayes 27 Nays 2 Abs 0 · Official record
  • March 6, 2026 · Vote 2264Voted: Yea
    2nd Sub. SB 165: Economic Mobility Initiative
    Concurrence, Final Passage · Result: Ayes 28 Nays 1 Abs 0 · Official record
  • March 6, 2026 · Vote 2262Voted: Yea
    2nd Sub. SB 304: Protective Order Amendments
    Concurrence, Final Passage · Result: Ayes 21 Nays 6 Abs 2 · Official record
  • March 6, 2026 · Vote 2260Voted: Yea
    4th Sub. SB 278: Development Authority Modifications
    Concurrence, Final Passage · Result: Ayes 27 Nays 1 Abs 1 · Official record
  • March 6, 2026 · Vote 2258Voted: Yea
    2nd Sub. SB 184: Justice System Amendments
    Concurrence, Final Passage · Result: Ayes 29 Nays 0 Abs 0 · Official record
  • March 6, 2026 · Vote 2256Voted: Yea
    4th Sub. SB 170: Vitamin K Amendments
    Concurrence, Final Passage · Result: Ayes 22 Nays 6 Abs 1 · Official record
  • March 6, 2026 · Vote 2254Voted: Yea
    2nd Sub. SB 149: Licensing Modifications
    Concurrence, Final Passage · Result: Ayes 27 Nays 0 Abs 2 · Official record
  • March 6, 2026 · Vote 2252Voted: Yea
    6th Sub. HB 492: Transportation, Infrastructure, and Housing Amendments
    Final Passage · Result: Passed, Ayes 27 Nays 0 Abs 2 · Official record
  • March 6, 2026 · Vote 2250Voted: Yea
    6th Sub. SB 284: Local Land and Water Modifications
    Concurrence, Final Passage · Result: Ayes 24 Nays 3 Abs 2 · Official record

Votes are listed as the official record shows them, newest first. Source: Utah Legislature, floor vote records (le.utah.gov). Updated October 15, 2026.

All votes by John D. Johnson

Economics and university teaching

John D. Johnson earned an economics degree at Weber State University and a doctorate in economics at Texas A&M University. His Senate biography records teaching at the University of Mississippi from 1987 to 2000 before joining Utah State University's Huntsman School of Business. At Utah State he chaired Management Information Systems and taught subjects including data analytics, entrepreneurship and web-based business development. [1]

Technology ventures and public communication

Johnson co-founded FNC Inc., a financial-technology company involved in real-estate collateral analytics that was later acquired by CoreLogic, according to his Senate biography. It also describes other technology ventures and his PoliticIt interview podcast. Those activities form a professional and public-communication background separate from his elected office; the biography is not a financial disclosure or a valuation of those businesses. [1]

District 3 and education leadership

Johnson entered the Senate in January 2021 and represents District 3, covering portions of Morgan, Summit and Weber counties. The Senate identifies him as chair of its Education Committee. His current roster also lists Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services. His education leadership therefore sits alongside economic-development responsibilities, connecting his academic and business experience with two distinct areas of state policy. [1] [2]

In the 2026 General Session, John D. Johnson was chief sponsor of S.B. 34, Public Education Revisions. It is a public education clean-up bill: it defines the State Board of Education's general control and supervision, lets the board authorize the state superintendent to appoint and supervise the head of the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, renames the Catalyst Center Grant Program as the Applied Educational Experience Grant Program, and makes several other program changes. The governor signed it on March 19, 2026. [3]

In the 2026 General Session, John D. Johnson was chief sponsor of S.B. 153, Election Amendments. It reorganizes the rules on who may see voter registration information depending on why they ask, and on how voters get extra privacy protection for their records. The governor signed it on March 18, 2026. [4]

School funding and oversight

The Legislature lists Johnson on both Public Education Appropriations and Higher Education Appropriations, as well as the Education Interim Committee. Additional responsibilities include General Oversight, the Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel and interim law-enforcement and criminal-justice work. Those assignments bring school and university budgets, agency scrutiny and child-welfare oversight into his portfolio beyond the standing education committee he chairs. [2]

Profile sources

Profile refreshed October 20, 2026. Candidate statements describe the candidate's own experience or positions; official records and reporting are labeled separately.

  1. Utah Senate — official senator biography · Official record
  2. Utah Legislature — official member biography and assignments · Official record
  3. Utah Legislature, S.B. 34 Public Education Revisions · Official record
  4. Utah Legislature, S.B. 153 Election Amendments · Official record

From the Legislature's roster

Profession
Professor
Education
Ph.D.
Committees

As listed by the Utah Legislature.

In the news

No Utah Ledger stories name John D. Johnson yet.

Sources

  1. Utah Legislature, legislator roster data (le.utah.gov)
  2. Utah Senate, John D. Johnson

Office and ballot data as of October 15, 2026. See something wrong? Tell us.

Saved on this device. Statewide news and alerts remain available.