Legislative Wrap Up Utah 2025
Utah State Capitol
Utah’s 2025 Legislative Session has come to an end with over 500 bills passed. Read below for a review of disability-related bills that have passed or failed, as well as related funding items and resources.
Bills that Passed
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 read a manuscript from Paula Virgil, Ashley's mother, and Jeff Spears from Utah State University.
HB 310 (S1) 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 344 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! Read the IDRPP's brief on HB 334.
SB 199 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.
Bills that Failed
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.
SB 193 S3 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 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 canceling 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
The Division of Services for People with Disabilities (DSPD) Waitlist was funded at $6 million; the Social Services Subcommittee had recommended $12 million and this was cut in half. Additionally, DSPD was given $11 million for ongoing needs.
Despite being included in the Governor's budget request, no funding was appropriated for DSPD's request for money towards competitive integrated employment services.