National battles come to Utah: 3 key issues up for debate in the coming legislative session

The day after President-elect Donald Trump reclaims the White House on Jan. 20, the Utah Legislature will dive head-first into debates already stirring the nation.

Republican lawmakers made it clear on Monday that Trump’s top issue, immigration law enforcement, will also be their top priority early in the 2025 legislative session, with a stack of bills aiming to facilitate the incoming president’s deportation agenda and to enhance penalties for immigration-related crime.

Other dominant issues this year will include a reevaluation of higher education funding, an overhaul to election oversight, changes to the vote-by-mail process, potential reforms to the judiciary system and another look at culture war clashes in public schools.

Recent years have seen the state’s GOP supermajority develop a habit of fast-tracking bold bills in the first weeks of the 45-day session, according to House Democratic Whip Jennifer Dailey-Provost.

In 2024, the legislative session was front-loaded with a bill prohibiting discriminatory Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in public institutions and a bathroom privacy measure requiring transgender individuals to use public facilities that correspond with their sex.

This year’s “early session surprise” appears like it will be immigration, according to Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City, with some lawmakers saying Utah’s crackdown on illegal immigration could draw national attention.

Here are some of the other hot-button issues that could turn the typically bipartisan procedures of the Utah Capitol on their head.

Higher education

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and House Speaker Schultz, R-Hooper, are of one mind on at least one thing this session: higher education in Utah will not look the same after 2025.

The governor backs legislative leadership’s goal of identifying transformative spending “reallocations” from low performing majors to high-demand programs at Utah’s 16 institutions of higher education.

Last month, Schultz told the Deseret News that if higher ed doesn’t produce the “right outcomes” it should not be subsidized at the current levels, noting how tuition and spending per pupil have jumped at some universities in recent years.

In an editorial board meeting with the Deseret News, Cox echoed Adams’ framing, calling the budget changes to higher education a “reallocation,” instead of an across-the-board cut, where money will be redirected from canceled programs to new or expanded ones after a review process by the Utah Board of Higher Education.

Republican lawmakers have couched higher education discussions around talk of cost-savings amid disappointing tax revenues. But some Utah Democrats feel the true inspiration has little to do with fiscal responsibility.

“My concern is that the real motive is the philosophical one, but the stated motive is the budgetary one,” Dailey-Provost said.

Instead of strengthening the pipeline from universities to the workplace, Dailey-Provost worries the budget cuts will focus on culture war debates surrounding progressive research topics, hurting the state’s educational diversity and missing an opportunity to cooperate with university presidents on what they think is best for their students.

But for Cox there is no reason to separate funding discussions from debates over the kind of values being promoted in higher education because they are public institutions supported by taxpayer dollars.

“There’s no question that this is part of the culture wars,” Cox said. “This is part of the discussion that’s happening across the country. I think it’s a really important discussion to have.”

Immigration

Lawmakers announced around a dozen bills on Monday focused on ensuring public safety following the record-breaking increase in immigration under President Joe Biden.

The Legislature’s policy initiatives ranged from increasing Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention capacity in the state, to qualifying migrants convicted of class A misdemeanors for automatic deportation, to increasing criminal penalties for gang activity, fentanyl distribution, human trafficking and driving without a license.

“If we get all the legislation passed that we are proposing and have planned, it will make Utah one of the most safe and protected states from illegal immigration problems in the country,” Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, said. “It definitely is going to be one of the biggest issues of this entire session.”

The concern for some Utah Democrats, including Dailey-Provost, is that the Legislature’s “zeal” for addressing illegal immigration will lead to “strident and politically charged” approaches to a complex federal problem that have left many Utah families, including children, vulnerable to policy changes.

“So that’s definitely something that is going to take up a lot of time and attention and emotional bandwidth,” Dailey-Provost said.

Flags in the classroom

Immigration is far from the only Republican priority that will test the emotional bandwidth of colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

Lee has revived a bill from last session that would limit the kinds of flags public school teachers can display in their classrooms to the U.S. flag, state flags, municipal flags, tribal flags, military flags and the flag of the school where the classroom is located.

“I know a lot of people are upset about the LGBTQ flag being banned but this bill really is about bringing political neutrality back to classrooms as it pertains to just flags in general,” Lee said. “I don’t want MAGA flags being flown just as much as I don’t want a pride flag flown.”

Removing the ability for teachers to display flags with political connotations in classrooms will remove a potential source of discomfort for students and parents and will “help teachers get back to what they do best,” Lee said.

The law would be enforced by allowing parents to sue schools if the Local Educational Agency fails to respond to a complaint about a flag within 10 days.

Equality Utah, one of the largest LGBTQ activist groups in the state, is already having discussions with Lee about the bill, according to the group’s policy director, Marina Lowe.

Equality Utah sees the proposal as a “heavy handed” attempt to tell teachers how to do their job and to target pride flags, which Lowe said many teachers began placing in their classrooms in response to rising mental health concerns among students that identify as LGBTQ.

“Those students didn’t feel a sense of belonging,” Lowe said. “So I think very well meaning teachers in Utah public schools sometimes posted a rainbow flag or a pride flag as a way to help students who were feeling isolated.”

Lawmakers are also considering revisiting the so-called transgender bathroom bill from last year that enhanced criminal penalties for individuals who enter a changing room, locker room or bathroom that does not match their biological sex.

Discussions are focused on closing enforcement and reporting loopholes in the bill, according to Utah Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka.

Other issues to watch

Elections: Utah lawmakers are planning significant electoral reforms for 2025 following an election cycle and two legislative audits that highlighted problems with signature-verification, postmark deadlines and election oversight.

The proposals include creating a new executive agency to manage elections independent of the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, requiring voters to opt in to receive mail-in ballots, increasing the transparency of signatures on primary nomination packets, and allowing state convention winners to advance uncontested to the general election if they meet a certain threshold of votes.

Judiciary: Some of Utah’s most influential lawmakers have proposed making the state’s judicial branch more accountable to voters after the Utah Supreme Court ruled against the Legislature on redistricting ballot initiatives, abortion and public education funding. Speaker Schultz and others have floated making retention votes for judges more accessible to voters or implementing term limits — which would likely require a constitutional amendment.

K-12: The conservative think tank Sutherland Institute will be pushing for legislative action to reward public school teachers for making their curriculums more accessible to parents. Dailey-Provost plans to introduce a bill that would prevent the state’s new school voucher scholarship from being used on sports or extracurricular activities because these are already available to homeschooled children at public schools.

Taxes: In addition to streamlining regulations to boost housing and energy supply, Gov. Cox has said he will prioritize eliminating the state tax on Social Security benefits in 2025. But the $143.8 million tax cut may be a tough ask in a tight budget year. Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, said he will also propose another income tax reduction this session.

Homelessness: With funding for the state’s new central campus limited, Republican lawmakers are looking to address chronic homelessness by cracking down on consistent enforcement of anti-camping laws and ensuring shelters remain drug-free. There will be debate about fully funding the construction and operation of a massive new facility to be built along the Wasatch Front.