2025 Utah Legislative Session Policy Wrap-Up

By Aubrey Snyder | March 13, 2025
chandalier in the Utah Capitol rotunda

Utah’s 2025 Legislative Session has come to an end with over 500 bills passed! Below you can find a summary of bills and funding items the IDRPP tracked. See also some links to resources where you can learn more.

Passed Bills 

▪ HB 76 Public Education Revisions: HB 76 adds the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind as a qualifying Local Education Agency that may participate in the Salary Supplement for Highly Needed Educators Program.

▪ HB 79 Adaptive Driving Equipment: HB 79 will provide tax exemptions for owners with adaptive vehicle equipment (e.g., a wheelchair or scooter life, swivel seat, hand or foot control, etc.) installed in their car.

▪ HB 127 S1 Sexual Crime Amendments: HB 127, AKA "Ashley's Law", will make sexual crimes committed against "incapacitated adults" a first-degree felony. To learn more about the background of HB 127, you can click here to read a manuscript from Paula Virgil, Ashley's mother, and Jeff Spears from Utah State University.

▪ HB 265 Higher Education Strategic Reinvestment: HB 265 approves a cut to institutions of higher education, including Utah State University, across the state. You can read USU's response and more information on HB 265 here.

▪ HB 300 S4 Amendments to Election Law: After many substitutes to this bill, HB 300 passed. HB 300 makes changes to the vote-by-mail system in Utah by phasing out automatic vote-by-mail by the year 2029 and will require voters to opt-in for mail-in ballots. This bill also requires the last four-digits of a driver’s license, state ID card, or social security numbers to verify signatures on a mail-in ballot.

▪ HB 310 Disability Coverage Amendments: HB 310 will require the Utah Dept. of Health and Human Services to apply for a Medicaid waiver or state plan amendments to provide wrap-around services to individuals with disabilities. Qualifying individuals will be required to make cost-sharing payments according to a sliding scale established by the Utah Dept. of Health and Human Services.

▪ HB 334 Guardianships and Supported Decision-Making Agreements Amendments: HB 334 establishes Supported Decision-Making in Utah and makes changes to the guardianship process for people with disabilities. This bill was the last bill to pass out of the Senate at 11:59pm! You can read the IDRPP's brief on HB 334 here.

▪ HB 363 S3 Maternal and Infant Amendments (Previously titled Newborn Infant Testing Amendments): After some additions to the bill, HB 363 has passed. This bill will now require all female inmates being held in a jail setting for over 72 hours and under 50 to be tested for pregnancy. - 1 - Additionally, the bill will require DHHS to provide a consent form to parents and guardians to store and maintain an infant's blood sample and makes hearing loss testing a required newborn test. You can read an Opinion piece on this bill.

▪ SB 48 Behavioral Health Amendments: SB 48 expands the scope of practices for mental health therapists and creates the Mental Health Professionals Education and Enforcement Fund. This fund will support education and training of licensees and the public.

▪ SB 170 S3 School Discipline Amendments: SB 170 defines and outlines appropriate uses of physical restrain and seclusion in schools as well as bans the use of corporal punishment. Additionally, the bill requires school districts to collect and report data on incidents of student confinement and outlines parental notifications.

▪ SB 199 S1 Guardianship Amendments: This bill creates a separate process and guardianship for individuals with "severe disabilities." With this type of guardianship, individuals with a "severe disability" are exempt from retaining the rights outlined in the Guardianship Bill of Rights, limiting decision-making and choice for this population.

▪ SB 206 S2 Estate Planning Amendments: SB 206 removes the requirement that a person who is allegedly incapacitated be present in person at their guardianship hearing.

▪ SB 334 Center for Civic Excellence at Utah State University: This bill creates the Center for Civic Excellence at Utah State University and establishes a pilot program looking to revise and replace the existing model of general education curriculum for students. The Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President at USU issued a statement including, “USU, like all USHE institutions, will continue to be required to offer breadth social science, life and physical science, creative arts, and quantitative literacy. The bill has more to say about humanities, composition, and American institutions; however, across all general education areas, it is left to the faculty to build the curriculum. Interpretations of the bill otherwise are inaccurate.” 

Failed Bills 

▪ HB 63 S3 Criminal Justice and Mental Health Coordination Amendments: This bill would have required local mental health authorities to provide education and information on guardianship and conservatorship options for individuals experiencing mental health crises and established a Behavioral Health Crisis Response Committee.

▪ HB 123 S1 Pharmacy Accessibility Requirements: HB 123 would have asked pharmacies to use accessible prescription labels for patients who identify as visually impaired or request an accessible label.

▪ HB 178 Noncitizen Health Insurance Policies Amendments: HB 178 would have removed eligibility for children who are noncitizens to receive CHIP. 

▪ HB 213 Voting Revisions: HB 213 would have changed the primary way of voting in Utah to in-person; mail-in ballots would have to be requested by the voter.

▪ SB 32 Class Size Reduction Modifications: SB 32 looked to target class size reduction strategies including creating LEA policies for teacher-student ratios and using allocated funding for additional supports to reduce class sizes. Some hesitation from disability advocacy groups to support this bill due to worries of further segregating students with disabilities in order to reduce class sizes.

▪ SB 81 S3 Care Provider Abuse Modifications: SB 81 would have made it a criminal offense for certain care providers to have sexual relationships with a "vulnerable adult". Some hesitation for supporting this bill from disability advocacy groups as the bill did not quite address situations where consent could be provided and if it was not a “vulnerable adult”, the relationship would be appropriate.

▪ SB 107 Education Scholarship Amendments: SB 107 would have made changes to the Carson Smith Opportunity Scholarship.

▪ SB 135 Educational Medical Services Amendments: SB 135 attempted to support students who are “medically fragile” in smaller school districts by adding definitions to our code that could then allow us to support these students with sufficient funding.

▪ SB 155 S2 Sex, Kidnap, and Child Abuse Offender Adjustments: SB 155 would have reduced the amount of time that a person on the sex, kidnap, and child abuse offender register requiring a lifetime registration to be able to petition for early removal and file and additional petition for removal if previously denied. 

▪ SB 167 Guardianship Modifications: This bill would have impacted a person’s ability to vote if they have a guardian unless authorized by a Court.

▪ SB 193 Medicaid Provider Reimbursement Amendments: SB 193 would have provided an annual cost-of-living increase for certain disability service providers including those who offer services through the Division of Services for People with Disabilities and Intermediate Care Facilities.

▪ SB 214 S1 Health Insurance Coverage Amendments: SB 214 would have expanded the scope of who can diagnose Autism to include specific individuals with a Master's degree. SB 214 hoped to address the ongoing waitlists for Autism screenings, particularly in rural areas. 

▪ SB 246 Medicaid Reimbursements Rate Modifications: SB 246 would have increased the fee-forservices rate for applied behavior analysis.

▪ SB 257 Medicaid Accounts Amendments: SB 257 would have defined a Medicaid shortfall and, if a shortfall occurred, directed state agencies or divisions expending state funds for the Medicaid program to cut Medicaid services, including canceling coverage for any optional services and cancelling or reversing all provider payment rate increases approved or implemented the year prior to the shortfall (requiring providers to pay back what they earned over that year from the rate increase). A similar bill, also ran by then Rep. Brammer, was introduced last year but also failed to pass (HB 463).

Funding Items

▪ DSPD Waitlist: $6 million

▪ DSPD Ongoing Needs: $11 million

▪ Baby Watch Early Intervention: $1.5 million one-time

▪ Competitive Integrated Employment: None

▪ You can see find the Executive Appropriations Committee budget summary and additional proposed funding items.

Resources

Share This Story