2025 Juvenile Bills.
PASSED BILLS
HB 40 School Safety Amendments revises school safety provisions related to personnel, building code, and other infrastructure. The chair of the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee, Rep. Wilcox, has been overseeing the state’s efforts on school safety for a few years now. An earlier version of this bill also established a penalty for sexual relations with an adult high school student by a person in a position of special trust (e.g. teachers, principals, etc.). This provision was removed, but did pass as part of a different bill this session.
HB 128 Dangerous Weapons Recodification and Cross References is largely a recodification and clarification bill of firearm offenses. Originally, the bill only sought to clarify that the crime of possessing a dangerous weapon on school premises also applies to minors. This is still in the bill, but it also adopted a lot of language from HB 133 Dangerous Weapons Amendments when that bill did not pass out of Senate committee. Many stakeholders were concerned that HB 133 increased youth access to firearms, though the sponsor maintained that everything in the bill was already legal.
HB 167 Re-Entry Modifications expands on reentry and reintegration goals for the criminal justice system. It directs coordinating councils to adopt goals to connect those on probation or parole with resources (such as housing, employment, and treatment) and requires a local mental health authority to coordinate with the DOC when possible to provide continuous services to those on probation or parole. It expands on fresh start provisions, such as prohibiting a public employer from excluding an applicant from an initial interview for an expunged conviction or a juvenile arrest or for incarceration that was more than 5 years ago (reduced from 7 years). The bill also allows the DOC to procure or adopt technology to coordinate services with outside organizations involved in supporting individuals on probation or parole and creates a special revenue fund for DOC for reentry so they can accept donations.
HB 252 State Custody Amendments prohibits DHHS from initiating any hormone treatments or sex characteristic surgeries for transgender inmates and does not allow opposite sex individuals to share a youth room in a detention facility or a secure care facility. It also changes the age of the youth for which an actor can commit the crime of custodial sexual relations against from 21 to 25.
HB 302 Minors in State Custody Amendments requires the Department of Health and Human Services to apply for a Medicaid waiver to ensure that minors in the custody of the department who receive federal benefits will maintain resource-eligibility for Medicaid. It also requires DHHS to evaluate whether a minor in the custody of the department is receiving or is eligible to receive federal benefits and requires them to offer financial literacy training to the minor.
HB 308 Driving by Minors Amendments allows an individual with a learner permit to drive with a licensed adult other than a parent.
SB 98 Parental Education on Use of Technology Amendments requires a video presentation for parents regarding legal issues a student may encounter using technology to create or share sexual images.
SB 157 Nonjudicial Adjustment Amendments prohibits a minor from declining to enter into a nonjudicial adjustment agreement unless the minor has received advice from legal counsel. It also modifies duties of the IDC to include provisions that encourage nonjudicial adjustments, including providing legal advice at no cost and staffing an attorney to provide this advice.
SB 170 School Discipline Amendments prohibits corporal punishment and seclusion in schools, applies the Child Abuse and Neglect reporting and investigating requirements to complaints of corporal punishment, and gives criminal immunity to a school or person who makes a good faith report. It also qualifies any violations of this chapter as unlawful detention (which is a class B misdemeanor).
Alongside IDC, we fought to get SB 171 Indigent Defense Amendments passed during the last week of the session. This bill provides much needed funding to IDC, creating the Youth Defense Fund to pay for indigent defense services for a minor referred to the juvenile court for an offense.
SB 177 Child Welfare Amendments made a number of changes in the child welfare code. The final bill does the following:
Adds torture to the juvenile code and amends the definition of sexual abuse to include the act or attempted act of unlawful sexual activity and to remove the provision on repeated incidents.
Allows an adjudicative proceeding to be stayed during an active criminal investigation.
Requires an alleged perpetrator to file a request to review a substantiated finding within 30 days and prohibits them from filing a petition to review if they have been convicted or plead guilty or no contest.
In a shelter hearing, requires a court to consider relevant evidence regarding harm the child has suffered or will suffer due to the separation or continued separation from the child's parent or guardian.
Extends the presumption that reunification services should not be provided to situations involving severe abuse and neglect, human trafficking of a child, or torture.
When considering reunification, requires a court to consider if the parent's rights were voluntarily terminated.
Provides that substantiation findings will be available only to those with statutory authority to access the Licensing Information System.
SB 223 Public Education Bullying Amendments amends the definition of "bullying" and defines the terms "staff bullying" and "student bullying."
SB 249 Student Integration Amendments prohibits a school district from integrating a student into a school if the student has committed, or allegedly committed, a forcible felony (a felony involving the use of force or violence against an individual that poses a substantial danger of death or serious bodily injury).
FAILED BILLS
HB 83 Child Welfare Modifications would have authorized a juvenile court to issue an investigative warrant related to the health, safety, or welfare of a child.
HB 121 Health Education Amendments is another bill that this sponsor runs each year that hasn’t gained traction, although this is one we support. This bill would have required curriculum to include instruction in sexual assault resource strategies, sexual violence behavior prevention, and the legal implications of electronically distributing sexually explicit images. We are supportive of strategies that target the prevention of crimes, rather than punishment on the back end. It is a concern that so many bills pass that increase penalties for sexual offenses when there is little support for the education piece that might have a stronger deterrent effect.
HB 187 Imitation Firearm Amendments sought to make it an infraction for a minor to possess an imitation firearm, like an airsoft gun with the orange tip removed. The sponsor brought this bill after an incident in West Valley where some kids had an airsoft gun but members of the public called the police thinking it was a real gun. The sponsor is a new legislator, Representative Fitisemanu, and he was really good about reaching out and getting the defense perspective on this bill, but we were still concerned that this bill criminalized normal kid behavior. Even the director of CCJJ admitted he was called while he was a police chief because his son had done this exact thing. Rep. Fitisemanu was pretty adamant that an infraction offense was appropriate because it is not overly punitive and allows law enforcement to decide not to file charges, but we saw education as more appropriate. In the end, we were able to get the first offense reduced to a written warning, and get a class C misdemeanor removed for someone who was caught in the act of removing the orange tip, but the bill was still unpopular with legislators and ultimately wasn’t heard on time.
HB 206 Chronic Absenteeism Pilot Program aimed to address students that are chronically absent, defined as a rate of 10% or more, by creating an attendance incentive program. It would have allowed students that are part of the program to earn up to $400 over the school year for their my529 account if their attendance is 90% or above. Research shows that keeping students in school can prevent future interactions with the justice system, but the bill had a large fiscal note and very little support in Utah’s fiscally-conservative legislature.
We were strongly opposed to HB 359 Juvenile Justice Amendments and were able to get it turned into a study item for the interim. This bill was brought forward by new Rep. Peck after some teachers in her district indicated to her that drugs are rampant in their school and they and SROs have very little power to investigate or punish the students involved. Our juvenile attorney, Pam, worked with the sponsor and testified that teachers are actually required reporters. The bill sought to send students distributing drugs through the judicial process instead of through the nonjudicial adjustment process and prevent expungement for two years. The committee was very concerned with this bill and with the procedural issues for SROs in student investigations and did not pass it to the floor.
HB 384 Child Support Requirements sought to prohibit the juvenile court system from ordering child support to be paid to the state because a child is in state custody. Although there was cited evidence that it may cost as much money to receive these payments than it saves in child care costs, there was concern in the committee that this lessens accountability and it was held.
HB 399 School Attendance Amendments was a top priority for our juvenile attorney due to the link between education and likelihood of future interaction with the justice system. The bill originally allowed a school administrator, a local education agency, or the Division of Juvenile Justice and Youth Services to bring a petition alleging habitual truancy against a child and the child's parent or guardian, but the later version was solely a data tracking bill of chronic absenteeism (defined as a student missing 10% or more of school days in an academic year, regardless of whether the absences are excused or unexcused). The bill failed the committee vote for unclear reasons.
SB 93 Juvenile Justice Career Training Amendments sought to add juvenile justice as a delineated talent advisory council.
SB 281 Corporal Punishment in Schools Amendments sought to create a class B misdemeanor of unlawful use of implements in physical discipline of a minor.