This session, the Utah Legislature passed bills aimed at reducing recidivism among offenders and protecting children from domestic violence.
Here’s a closer look at some of the key legislation passed this session.
Corrections
Ahead of the legislative session, a performance audit report was released in late 2023 examining the performance of the Utah State Correctional Facility.
The report found that “current staffing numbers fall far short of full staffing needs for safe and secure operations at USCF.” Ultimately, the report recommended that the Utah Department of Corrections procure consulting, prioritize recruitment of correctional officers and evaluate their prison operations to ensure a safe environment.
During the session, lawmakers passed a few bills dealing with corrections. One of them sponsored by Rep. Melissa G. Ballard, R-North Salt Lake, seeks to “create a reentry division that focuses on the successful reentry of inmates into the community.” The bill also would refer inmates to higher education student advisors to create plans for further education.
Ballard told the Deseret News in January that her bill was aimed at encouraging “opportunity for inmates to be incentivized to work for a different outcome when they get out” and to help them prepare to “support their families.”
Noting that she hopes the bill could help people not reentry prison after they are released, Ballard said the educational component is key. “It really is a shift for keeping our prison populations lower because we hope to not have as many returning under this policy.” She added that she hopes the bill also results in people who are incarcerated receiving the educational opportunities they need.
Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, sponsored a bill about nurseries for mothers who are incarcerated. The bill says that “the department may not create or operate a nursery in a correctional facility to provide space for a female inmate and inmate’s child.” Instead, the bill creates an advisory board to make recommendations to the department and county sheriffs to develop policies “for placing an infant or incarcerated mother in a diversion program not located in a correctional facility.”
Pierucci’s bill said the bill came about because of emerging evidence around diversion programs.
“While new and limited in scope, prison and jail diversion programs — through which sentenced individuals attend community-based drug treatment programs as an alternative to incarceration — have also been successful at keeping mothers and their newborns together,” Jennifer G. Clarke and Rachel E. Simon wrote for the policy forum of the AMA Journal of Ethics.
Senate Minority Assistant Whip Jen Plumb, D-Salt Lake City, sponsored a bill that would allow prisons to give medication assisted treatment to inmates. This includes inmates who may have substance use withdrawal symptoms or opioid use disorder.
Domestic violence
Om’s law, also known as HB272, passed the Utah Legislature.
The bill was named after Om Moses Gandhi whose father killed him and then died by suicide. Gandhi’s mother and father were in the middle of a custody dispute.
In cases where domestic violence has been reported, the bill would require that the court weigh evidence of domestic violence before giving parents the right to see their children. It would also require that parental visits in cases where domestic violence has been reported take place under supervision of a professional training in child abuse reporting laws among other requirements.
Sponsored by Rep. Paul Cutler, R-Centerville, the bill was a priority for the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition.
Erin Jemison, director of public policy for the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition, told the Deseret News that the bill matters to advocates “to start down the road of providing more concrete guidance and tools for the family court system to help folks who are digging into really complex and difficult divorce, custody, parent-time cases.”
DUIs
When investigating cases where people are suspected of driving under the influence, a bill sponsored by Rep. Ryan D. Wilcox, R-Ogden, would require the Department of Health and Human Services to test blood and urine samples for both drugs and alcohol.
The department would also require that the department securely provide the test results to the Driver License Division and relevant law enforcement agencies. This bill passed during the session.
“Each law enforcement agency shall provide training to ensure that: oral fluid and portable breath testing techniques and practices comply with the rules” in a previous part of the bill, it states. And it adds “oral fluid and portable breath testing equipment is used in a manner consistent with manufacturer and industry standards.”
Another bill passed by the Legislature will reduce the blood alcohol concentration allowed for an individual to plea down to impaired driving and will require the Department of Public Safety to waive participation and testing fees either partially or entirely for some individuals who are participating in the 24-7 sobriety program.