SALT LAKE CITY Gov. Spencer Cox signed three bills dealing with policing in Utah, including changes to the state s revenge porn law that arose from the investigation of slain University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey when an officer shared graphic images of her with others.
They were among a batch of 57 bills the governor gave final approval to on Thursday.
The Legislature approved a scaled-back version of HB147 that was inspired by issues surrounding the McCluskey investigation. The new law will specifically outlaw the sharing of intimate images without consent outside legitimate law enforcement investigative purposes, regardless of whether a victim is alive to suffer emotional distress.
SALT LAKE CITY The question of whether the government or even your boss should be able to order you to take the COVID-19 vaccine sparked debate on Utah s Capitol Hill as the Legislature nears the end of its 2021 session.
With one week to go, lawmakers have passed almost 200 bills and resolutions out of more than 700 filed. Of those, three involving nearly $100 million in targeted tax cuts focusing on families and retirees are advancing after legislative leaders detailed plans to help return to Utahns some of the surplus money the state is seeing.
One controversial bill that apparently will not advance would ban transgender athletes from competing in girls sports in Utah s public schools. A Senate committee held the bill in a meeting late Wednesday.
Deseret News
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Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY The question of whether the government or even your boss should be able to order you to take the COVID-19 vaccine sparked debate on Utah’s Capitol Hill as the Legislature nears the end of its 2021 session.
With one week to go, lawmakers have passed almost 200 bills and resolutions out of more than 700 filed. Of those, three involving nearly $100 million in targeted tax cuts focusing on families and retirees are advancing after legislative leaders detailed plans to help return to Utahns some of the surplus money the state is seeing.
SALT LAKE CITY State lawmakers are considering ways to limit the governor s power in an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening their own hand in declaring when an emergency is over.
The Utah Legislature is also in a brewing firestorm over transgender rights as it wraps up its fifth week of meetings that included the House passing a ban on transgender athletes competing in girls sports in the K-12 public school system.
Vickers bill would limit the duration of a public health order to 30 days. It would also only allow the Legislature to extend or terminate an order and would give lawmakers the power to end an emergency earlier than that 30-day time period. The bill would also ban restrictions on religious gatherings and prohibits a local health department from issuing a restriction without the approval of the county executive, such as the county mayor or commission.
Deseret News
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Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY With the Utah Legislature marking the midpoint of its annual 45-day session, the issue of regulating centers for troubled teens got a high-profile boost when celebrity Paris Hilton testified on Capitol Hill about her time spent in such a facility in Provo.
Sitting in front of a panel of Utah lawmakers on Monday, Hilton said she’s had the same nightmare for the past 20 years in which she’s “kidnapped in the middle of the night by two strangers, strip searched and locked in a facility.”
Hilton and other “survivors of the troubled-teen industry” gave chilling testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee in support of SB127, sponsored by Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork. The bill would require treatment centers to document instances of physical restraints and involuntary confinement and submit monthly reports to the Utah Office of Licensing. It wou