HB 15 Criminal Code Recodification and Cross References is the annual criminal recodification bill. It modifies criminal provisions in Title 76, Utah Criminal Code, by redrafting offense statutes into a new structure and clarifying existing law. This bill doesn’t make any substantive changes and passed this session.

Several bills were run this session aimed at limiting Utah’s advisory commissions, such as the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) and the Utah Sentencing Commission (USC), all of which passed. SB 200 State Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice Amendments reduced the number of members on CCJJ and USC, as well as requiring the Legislature to approve the sentencing and supervision length guidelines and the juvenile disposition guidelines developed by CCJJ. We spoke in opposition to SB 200, as did other defense and prosecution groups. HB 532 State Boards and Commissions Modifications sets repeal dates for the Criminal Justice Data Management Task Force, the Domestic Violence Data Task Force, the Crime Victim Reparations Assistance Board, and the Utah Council on Victims of Crime. HB 534 Boards and Commissions Modifications repeals the Criminal Code Evaluation Task Force and the Sex Offense Management Board this year. Many stakeholders were concerned with repealing the Criminal Code Evaluation Task Force when they are only partway through recodification. The House member that oversees that task force ran HJR 30 Joint Rules Resolution - Interim Subcommittee Amendments, which would have created a recodification subcommittee, but it ran out of time to be heard. We expect that this subcommittee will be formed during the interim.

SB 63 Board of Pardons and Parole Amendments was a bill originally opposed by certain prosecutorial agencies and the defense bar. The original bill allowed the Board of Pardons and Parole to intervene in any judicial or administrative proceeding, including a criminal action, in which the board's jurisdiction may be affected. Prosecutors requested that the allowed time frame in this bill for the board to correct an illegal sentence be shortened from 90 days to 30 days, and the compromise was 60 days. This amendment was adopted and the bill passed.