2025 Labor & Trafficking Bills.

HB 19 Child Labor Amendments was an interim bill that creates enhancements for repeat child labor violations. A first offense is a class B misdemeanor, this bill makes it a class A misdemeanor on a second offense and a third degree felony on a third or subsequent. While ideally we would want input on all penalty bills, this one was not high on our priority list.

HB 22 Prostitution Offense Amendments was an interim bill. This bill separates existing prostitution-related offenses into separate offenses based on the ages of the individuals involved and provides new penalties for child offenders of certain prostitution-related offenses that are based on the age of the child offender. Specifically, the bill: 

• creates a second degree felony offense of patronizing a prostituted individual who is a child, the level of which changes if the actor is a minor

• creates a class A misdemeanor for entering or remaining in a place of prostitution, enhanceable to a third degree felony on a third or subsequent offense

• creates a class A misdemeanor for sexual solicitation by an actor offering compensation to an adult in exchange for sexual activity, enhanceable to a third degree felony on a third or subsequent offense

• creates a second degree felony of sexual solicitation by an actor offering compensation to a child in exchange for sexual activity, the level of which changes if the actor is a minor

• and prohibits nonjudicial adjustments for patronizing a prostituted individual who is a child​ and sexual solicitation by an actor offering compensation to a child in exchange for sexual activity.

HB 57 Residential Solar Panel Consumer Protection Amendments requires solar retailers to register with the state to do business in Utah, prohibiting registrants that have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving theft, fraud, or dishonesty in the last 10 years.

HB 267 Public Sector Labor Union Amendments makes it a class B misdemeanor for public employers or members of a labor organization to use public money or property to support union activity. Unions were a large topic of discussion in the Legislature this session.

HB 278 Massage Therapy Amendments expands the class A misdemeanor offense for unlawful conduct of a massage therapist to include a range of offenses, such as operating without a license or concealing someone in the massage establishment and refusing to provide identification to law enforcement.

HB 287 Stalking Amendments creates an exception to the stalking statute for business owners engaging in conduct "reasonable and necessary" to protect their interest, as long as the conduct is not directed toward a cohabitant.

HB 337 Property Manager Requirements adds property manager license applicants to the list of those who require a criminal background check.

HB 405 Human Trafficking and Smuggling Amendments was a top priority oppose bill for us this session from Rep. Pierucci. The original version of this bill increased several penalties, including: making human trafficking for labor, human trafficking for sexual exploitation, benefitting from human trafficking for labor or sexual exploitation, and human smuggling first degree felonies; making benefitting from human smuggling a second degree felony; establishing a mandatory prison term of 10 years for the crimes of human trafficking of a child, benefitting from child trafficking, aggravated human trafficking, aggravated human smuggling, and human trafficking of a vulnerable adult. Rep. Pierucci agreed to remove the penalty enhancements for human trafficking for labor, human smuggling, or benefitting from these two offenses, but we disagreed with her and other members of the Legislature over the mandatory minimum sentence for aggravated human trafficking. The final version still increases penalties for aggravated human trafficking, which includes, among other things, trafficking 10 or more individuals or trafficking them for longer than 30 days. We argued that this broad definition loops in a lot more behavior that may not otherwise amount to trafficking, but since the bill didn’t change the definition, only the penalty, members of the Legislature were not responsive to our request to disqualify these two elements from the mandatory minimum sentence.

SB 44 Professional Licensure Background Checks creates a standard background check procedure for the Division of Professional Licensing and adds many professions to the list of those requiring a comprehensive criminal background check. In regards to licensees who failed to accurately disclose their criminal history, it changes the language from DOPL “will” revoke their license to DOPL “may" revoke their license.

SB 149 Natural Resources Modifications creates a class B misdemeanor of operating as a hunting guide without being registered or with putting clients in danger, as well as a class B misdemeanor for knowingly retaining a guide who is not registered (although clarifies that this latter offense is not subject to imprisonment or probation). These provisions were originally run in HB 153 Hunting Amendments, but when it looked like that wouldn’t pass in time, the provisions were placed in SB 149 on the last day of the session.