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 156 Burglary Amendments passed. This bill originally added damaging, disabling, or interrupting a connected service to the first degree felony offense of aggravated burglary, but we worked with the sponsor to make significant changes. The final version of the bill creates a third degree felony of interrupting a connected service in the commission of a burglary. This includes knowingly damaging, disabling, or interrupting electrical, internet, or telephone services.

HB 273 Sentencing Modifications for Certain DUI Offenses passed. This bill was brought forward due to the issue of victim notification in automobile homicide cases. Victims’ families would receive a notice saying that the offender may be released as early as one year and the victims’ families had the option to testify at the hearing in opposition. Although we are not aware of any offenders who have been released after only one year, the sponsor’s solution to this issue was to create a minimum mandatory incarceration sentence for automobile homicide of five to fifteen years. Our organization is strongly opposed to minimum mandatory sentences, and we believe that there is a better solution to this victim notification issue. We testified in committee regarding the importance of judicial discretion and deciding these cases on a case by case basis. We were able to get a substitute passed in the last few days that gave judges discretion to suspend the prison sentence if it is in the interest of justice and if the court details this finding on the record.

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.

HJR 13 Joint Resolution Amending Court Rules of Procedure and Evidence Regarding Preliminary Hearings was one of our highest priority bills this session. This bill was brought forward in response to our two prelim reform bills that passed last year, SB 87 Criminal Prosecution Modifications and SJR 6 Joint Resolution Amending Rules of Procedure and Evidence Regarding Criminal Prosecutions. The bill was prompted by concerns from prosecutors that last year's bill would require victims to testify in certain cases. These concerns were prompted by rulings from 2 judges in Utah County. It should be noted that in neither case was the victim required to testify. In fact, it seemed that prosecutors made deliberate strategy decisions to set the cases up for appeal. The bills clarified that victims may testify, but can not be compelled to do so. Importantly, 1102 statements are not admissible unless the state calls a law enforcement officer with knowledge of the details of the investigation. The bill also clarifies that details regarding the investigation can be developed through either direct or cross examination. Defense, prosecution, and victims groups all spoke in support of the bill and continued negotiations, including two of our attorneys. The bill passed after considerable compromise.

We spoke against SB 50 Aggravated Assault Modifications several times, which removes language that requires an act of impeding someone’s breathing or circulation to the point of “likely produce a loss of consciousness" in order to be charged as aggravated assault. Although we don’t love the bill, we were able to include language that requires that the act be “intentionally or knowingly”. This version of the bill passed. An identical bill was run that failed, HB 150 Aggravated Assault Amendments.

Another top issue this session was SB 110 Domestic Violence Amendments. In 2022, the sponsor ran H.B. 196, Transfer of Domestic Violence Cases, which allowed domestic violence misdemeanor cases to be transferred directly to district court in an effort to remove de novo review in a district court after a justice court trial. This was a priority oppose bill for us, but it managed to get through due to a rescinded amendment deal. This year, the sponsor ran SB 110 to extend domestic violence case transfer to 2029. In the last two years, we have requested specific language that would clarify that the victim must be contacted first before transfer can occur, but this change was never made. In speaking with the interested parties, we were led to believe that the bill was not going to pass, yet it did again. We worked with the house sponsor to add our requested language to HB 308 Crime Victim Amendments, which restructures victims councils and addresses relief for a violation of a victim's right. We were originally against HB 308, but backed it with our requested DV transfer language and it passed. However, in the last half hour of floor-time, the sponsor of SB 110 added an amendment to a different bill that further modified the requirement. The final DV transfer law that passed is not a large deviation from what we had attempted to pass. As it stands, the amendment removes the requirement to have the alleged victim consent to the transfer and requires that the prosecutor consult with the alleged victim before the transfer.

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.