We spoke against HB 16 Sexual Offenses Amendments during its committee hearings.This bill was an interim bill prompted by the Court of Appeals ruling in State, in re CN. The CN decision was the product of a prosecution where a juvenile female had anal sex with a 9 year old boy. Rather than charge Sodomy on a Child, the prosecution elected to charge Rape of a Child. Surprisingly, the case went to trial without a request to amend the petition and the defendant was adjudicated. At issue was the definition of the then undefined term “sexual intercourse” in the context of the Rape of a Child statute. This bill defined the term “sexual intercourse” to include the mere touching of genitals as well as the penetration, however slight, of the individual's genitals. It defines rape of a child to include "sexual intercourse” as previously defined as well as "simulated intercourse” whether the conduct occurs over or under the clothing. It also included a new definition of “masturbatory contact” with a minor. The bill was a House Judiciary Committee bill and was slated for passage. Although we supported the adopted substitute of this bill, which moved the definition of "masturbatory contact” from object rape (25 to life) to sexual abuse of a child, as well as making changes to Unlawful Adolescent Sexual Activity (Romeo and Juliet) that are very positive and will benefit youth who engage in mutually welcomed sexual activity, we spoke against treating over the clothing offenses as statutorily identical to offenses under the clothing. Despite our concerns, the bill passed.

HB 110 Sex and Kidnap Offender Registry Amendments was a cleanup technical bill from last session. Last year, management of the Registry was moved from the Department of Corrections to the Department of Public Safety. This bill makes technical changes in the code to reflect that, as well as clarifying that the purpose of keeping certain information for individuals on the Sex and Kidnap Offender Registry is "to assist law enforcement in investigating kidnapping and sex-related crimes and in apprehending offenders."

HB 147 Threat of Violence Amendments passed, which adds an imminent threat to commit a sexual offense under 76-5-4 to the Class B misdemeanor threat statute.

HB 148 Artificial Pornographic Images Amendments clarifies that certain prohibited materials in Title 76, Chapter 5b, Sexual Exploitation 9Act include computer-generated videos.

HB 225 Unlawful Kissing of a Child or Minor creates the class A misdemeanor offense of intentionally or knowingly kissing a minor on the mouth and penetrating the minor's mouth with the actor's tongue if the minor is under 14 or if the actor is older than the minor by 10 years or more. We worked with the sponsor to narrow the bill to forceful kissing that involves the tongue, as well as to allow the defense that the actor was not aware of the minor’s true age, which can be raised as long as the minor is over the age of 14. This can be a viable plea down option.

HB 238 Sexual Exploitation of a Minor Amendments was another high priority AI bill this session that passed. This bill adds artificially generated images to the child sexual abuse material statute, thereby removing the affirmative defense that no minor was actually depicted in the material. The newer version of the bill removes the original language stating that child sexual abuse material includes "a depiction that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that a minor is engaging in sexually explicit conduct." The bill is unconstitutional on its face in light of the United States Supreme Courts decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Ashcroft. We spoke against the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Despite its patent unconstitutional nature, the bill passed. The sponsor anticipates constitutional challenges and believes the U.S>Supreme court, given its current make up, will over rule the Ashcroft decision.

HB 322 Sexual Assault Investigation Amendments passed, requiring POST to establish and annually review the best practices for investigating sexual assaults in consultation with the Utah Victim Services Commission's subcommittee on rape and sexual assault. We will attempt to learn when the model policy is created, but anyone handling these cases should be aware of, and ask for that policy when working their cases.

HB 418 Student Offender Reintegration Amendments passed. This bill is very problematic for young people and school success. It creates a new definition of “sexual crime” and “sexual misconduct” to include any conduct described in: Title 76, Chapter 5, Part 4, Sexual Offenses; Title 76, Chapter 5b, Sexual Exploitation Act; Section 76-7-102, incest; Section 76-9-702, lewdness; and Section 76-9-702.1, sexual battery. It requires an LEA to adopt a policy regarding a student who commits a violent or sexual crime. If a student has committed a violent felony or sexual crime, it provides a process for a school resource officer to provide input for the LEA to consider regarding the safety risks a student may pose upon reintegration. Establish a process to inform a school resource officer of any student who is on probation. Creates procedures for determining an alternative placement for a student if the student attends the same school as the victim of the student's crime and an individual who has a protective order against the student. This bill also adds the actual use of violence or sexual misconduct to the list where a LEA shall suspend or expel a student and clarifies reintegration plan requirements. This bill DID NOT connect to the statute on what would trigger a reintegration plan. So with HB 362, it expands to include serious offenses which would be violent felony (76-3-203.5), theft of a firearm offense (76-6-4), or a weapons offense (76-10-5). The bill did add to the list of what is required in a reintegration plan: if the violent felony was directed at a school employee or another student within the school, notification of the reintegration plan to that school employee or student and the student's parent. A school district may not reintegrate a student into a school where: a student or staff member has a protective order against the student being reintegrated; or a student or staff member is the victim of a sexual crime committed by the student being reintegrated unless the victim consents. We also worked with the sponsor of SB 246 Juvenile Justice Modifications, which requires an LEA to transfer a youth's reintegration plan to their new school for one year following the notification from the court's to the school.

HB 424 Lewdness Involving a Child Amendments passed, increasing the penalty for lewdness involving a child from a class A misdemeanor to a third degree felony and adding simulated offenses to the lewdness involving a child statute as class A misdemeanors IF THE ACTOR IS OVER 14.

We spoke against HB 432 Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Amendments at every hearing. This bill provides that clergy members may report abuse or neglect even if the perpetrator made a confession to the clergy member. The clergy member must have a good faith belief that the abuse is “ongoing” but the statute provides no guidance as to what constitutes “ongoing” abuse, what type of information can be reported or whether a clergy person is required to warn a penitent that their statements may be subject to reporting. The bill will make it more likely that religious institutions will be sued for failures to report if they honor the traditional priest penitent privilege. We testified that allowing reporting undermines the sanctity of the priest penitent privilege and that permissive reporting may push the behavior further underground. Despite our objections, the bill passed. Other bills this session that attempted to alter this section of code failed, such as HB 131 Clergy Child Abuse Reporting Requirements which allowed clergy to report, and HB 444 Clergy Reporting Requirements which required clergy to report. HB 398 Child Abuse Reporting Amendments also failed, which would have changed required reporting to only apply in situations of "heinous" abuse and neglect and made exempt from the requirement individuals who believe that reporting heinous abuse or neglect would further endanger the child.

SB 11 Sex and Kidnap Offender Registry Access makes some information searchable on the registry. In our discussions with stakeholders on this bill, it appears that it will enact a reverse telephone number search, meaning that someone can search a phone number to see if it belongs to someone on the registry. We have concerns that this bill will allow people to run programs searching for hundreds or even thousands of numbers at once and use it to harass people, but the bill has passed despite this concern.

SB 23 Offender Registry Amendments passed after negotiations between the Registry and prosecution/defense attorneys. This bill merges the Sex and Kidnap Offender Registry and the Child Abuse Offender Registry into a single registry called the "Sex, Kidnap, and Child Abuse Offender Registry." Before this bill passed, the registry had an unlimited time period to find a plea agreement illegal, which affects criminal outcomes years after a case is resolved. We were opposed to merging these registries unless the window of time was shortened considerably. The compromise we struck was adopted, which provides a 60-day window for the registry to intervene in illegal plea agreements. We were opposed to the provision that moves the crime of enticing a minor from those with a ten-year registration requirement to those with a lifetime registration requirement, but that remained in the bill.

SB 213 Criminal Justice Modifications was another one of our highest priority bills this session, as the original version did a laundry list of reform rollbacks. We worked on this issue with the sponsor, and as it stands, the passed version of the bill: defines habitual offenders as those with six or more felony cases in the last five years; requires a court to detain a habitual offender if they are on probation or parole or if they have 9 or more convictions; requires courts to order a presentence report for all habitual offenders; directs the sentencing commission to create guidelines for sentencing habitual offenders; requires the sentencing commission to create risk categories for probation; allows courts to consider victim statements with the same weight as victim testimony; allows victim notification to occur through email or website notification in addition to mail; in sex offenses, considers 18 year olds in high school the same as 17 year olds; gives judges greater discretion to send high-risk, high-needs individuals to drug court for non-drug charges that are still drug abuse-related; allows for an 18 year old in high school engaging in "mutually welcomed" sexual activity to be charged under unlawful adolescent sexual activity versus rape of a child or sexual abuse of a child and prevents registration for the offense.