 Today was the sixteenth day of the 2025 General Session of the Utah State Legislature. |
There’s only 29 days left! |
P.S. - If you ever have any feedback, comments, suggested action alerts, or tips from the Hill, feel free to reach out at chase@betterutah.org!
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🔍 Observations from the Hill 🔎 |
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JUDICIAL MEDDLING: Sen. Brady Brammer doesn’t think that Utah’s judicial system is treating laws passed by the Legislature with enough respect, so he’s introduced a pair of bills that will expand the Legislature’s powers and allow potentially unconstitutional laws to stay in effect. Bear with me, I’ll try to keep the lawyer-speak to a minimum.
SB 203 Judicial Standing Amendments takes a bedrock judicial principle—standing, or the ability to bring a case in court—and sets out the requirements for standing in Utah Code. While this is questionable in and of itself because of the separation of powers set up under the Utah Constitution, his bill would grant extraordinarily broad power to the Legislature to bring any civil action that has “significant” public importance and in which they may have an interest, potentially violating the Open Courts Clause which seems to specifically require “an injury” to have a remedy under the law. This broad power would also almost undoubtedly lead to a waste and misuse of taxpayer dollars on frivolous and potentially politically motivated lawsuits on behalf of an already overly powerful supermajority in our state.
Luckily, Sen. Todd Weiler also had some questions about the constitutionality of the bill and cast the consequential vote leading to a tie on the bill, potentially killing it until legislative lawyers could prepare a constitutional note.
Brammer’s other bill, SB 204 Suspensive Appeal Amendments, would create a new process in lawsuits for the Legislature and other government entities to determine the constitutionality of laws that have been enjoined, or paused, from going into effect. Basically, the bill requires a court to make an immediate determination on the constitutionality of a challenged law when requested by the government and, if the government then appeals that decision, will allow the potentially unconstitutional law to still go into effect while it’s being appealed to the Utah Supreme Court. Believe me, I’m also trying to understand why it would be good policy to allow laws that have already been determined to be unconstitutional to go into effect.
Unfortunately, after his first bill had gone down in flames, Brammer called backup to have other senators appear online to help push this bill through, and it was favorably recommended by the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee by a vote of 6-2. If you’re reading this, justices of the Utah Supreme Court, stop treating Brady Brammer’s unconstitutional laws with such “levity.”
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FIREARMS EDUCATION: After being stuck in the House Education Committee for a couple of weeks, a bill that would require firearm safety classes in Utah’s public schools started to move forward today.
HB 104 Firearm Safety in Schools Amendments, sponsored by Rep. Rex Shipp, would require the State Board of Education to develop minimum standards for firearm safety instruction in public schools and then require that it be taught once in K-6 schools, once in middle school, and once in high schools, though parents would be able to opt-out their children from the courses. The bill passed the Committee today by a vote of 9-2.
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OTHER BILLS: -
SJR 2, a proposal to amend the Utah Constitution to raise the approval threshold to 60% for ballot initiatives that raise taxes, sponsored by Sen. Lincoln Fillmore and Rep. Jason Kyle, passed the Senate today by a vote of 21-8.
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HB 269 Privacy Protections in Sex-Designated Spaces, a bill sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Gricius and Sen. Brady Brammer that would prohibit transgender Utahns from using sex-designated university dorms that align with their gender identity, passed in the Senate on second reading by a vote of 22-7.
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OTHER NEWS: - ‘It’s retaliation’: Utah lawmakers scrap public union compromise, move to again ban collective bargaining (The Salt Lake Tribune)
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Could Utah dam the flood of campaign cash? (Utah Political Watch)
- Utah lawmakers’ constitutional changes could cost taxpayers millions in 2026 (ABC 4)
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Lawmakers say Utah houses are for families, not big investors with big cash (CBS 2)
- Legislature: ‘No cell phones in class’ bill advances (Deseret News)
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Bill seeks to clear Utahns of their spouses’ medical debts after they die (KSL NewsRadio)
- ‘I’m threatened with my life over a missed called strike’: Legislators look to protect sports officials (The Salt Lake Tribune)
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As noted above, HB 269 is yet another discriminatory bill aimed at transgender Utahns, this time at students who just want to go to school and live ordinary, fulfilling lives. The bill will most likely come up for a final Senate vote tomorrow.
Be an ally to this marginalized community and send an email to your senator today to ask them to oppose HB 269. You can use our action alert page, which includes talking points and a sample email, to directly email your senator. If you haven’t already done so on this bill, speak up today!
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⛅ On Tomorrow's Schedule ⛅ |
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