Senate Bill 96 was defeated by a 48-26 vote in the Utah House of Representatives on February 27, 2006. The bill was the culmination of about half a year's worth of public antievolution statements by Senator Chris Buttars (R-District 10), beginning with his announcement of plans to introduce legislation calling for the teaching of "divine design" -- "Divine design," he told the Salt Lake Tribune (June 3, 2005), "doesn't preach religion ... The only people who will be upset about this are atheists." As introduced, however, SB 96 was silent about "divine design"; instead, it directed the state board of education to emphasize the existence of disagreement among scientists with regard to "any theory regarding the origins of life, or the origins or present state of the human race." Despite opposition from the state's scientific and educational communities, protests from the ACLU of Utah and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and critical editorials in the state's leading newspapers, a revised version of the bill was passed by the Utah Senate on January 23, 2006, by a 16-12 vote.
SB 96 then went to the House of Representatives Committee on Education, where it underwent further revision; in particular, the directive to the state board of education to emphasize the existence of disagreement among scientists with regard to "any theory regarding the origins of life, or the origins or present state of the human race" was replaced with a directive to "stress that no scientific theory, hypothesis, or instruction regarding the origins of life or the origins of species has been indisputably proven." The new revision of the bill was narrowly passed by the Committee on Education on February 8, 2006. Then on February 27, 2006, Representative Stephen Urquhart (R-District 75) amended the bill's text, leaving only "The State Board of Education shall establish curriculum requirements relating to scientific instruction." The gutted bill was then defeated, the Salt Lake Tribune explains (February 27, 2006), "to stop the Senate from having the ability to revive the issue." Buttars told the Tribune that it was "doubtful" that he would propose a similar bill in the future.