2025 Sex Offense Bills.
PASSED BILLS
HB 13 Sexual Extortion Amendments adds the threat to distribute a counterfeit intimate image to the crime of sexual extortion.
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.
We worked on HB 66 Ritual Abuse Amendments during the interim. Originally, the bill sought to create a new crime of ritual abuse with extreme penalties, but the compromised language creates an aggravating factor when abuse is committed as part of a ritual. It also requires law enforcement to have training on sexual assault committed during a ritual.
HB 78 Criminal Offenses Amendments removes the possibility of suspending prison for serious violent offenses, including child sex abuse or kidnapping offenses, murder, rape, aggravated sexual assault, and aggravated kidnapping. It also removes the ability to suspend prison for attempts of those cases except when the court finds it is in the interest of justice and the offender is not a risk to the victim or public, instead mandating probation. The bill also increases aggravated child abuse to a first degree felony and requires a prosecutor, when reducing the level of certain crimes in an information or as part of a plea deal, to explain their reasons on the record. We worked extensively with the sponsor, Rep. Gwynn, last year to narrow this bill, so we did not oppose it this year.
Similarly, we worked to narrow HB 105 Criminal Code Modifications with Rep. Gwynn last year so likewise did not oppose. This bill does the following:
makes attempted murder a first degree felony with an indeterminate prison term of five years to life
makes sexual relations with an adult high school student by a person in a position of special trust a third degree felony and removes consent as a defense
creates the crime of indecent exposure of another individual in public, which can be a class C or B misdemeanor depending on level of exposure or a class A if committed in front of a child under 14
repeals Title 76, Chapter 8, Part 8, Sabotage Prevention.
The original version had no exceptions for juveniles in the “pantsing” portion of the bill and included a broader list of individuals that could be charged if they engaged in relations with an 18-year-old high school student. We also tried to prevent attempted murder from becoming a 1st degree felony, but legislators were unwilling to remove that change. HB 105 failed last year because it didn’t receive funding, but it was funded and passed this year.
HB 127 Sexual Crime Amendments increases the prison terms for the crimes of rape, object rape, and forcible sodomy from 5 years to life to 10 years to life when committed against an incapacitated adult. It was amended at the last minute to bring the number down from 15 years to life. We did not love this bill but already made it as narrow as we could, since the proponents of the bill were pushing for even more severe punishment.
HB 148 Child Sexual Abuse Amendments passed. The original bill increased the penalty for sexual offenses when the actor traveled over 50 miles to commit the offense. We were able to negotiate it down to an aggravating factor, which will be applicable in cases where the actor traveled more than 45 miles from the actor's residence to commit the offense or if the actor paid a child to travel more than 45 miles from the child's residence for the actor to commit the offense. Even though the bill is loosely based on the theory that offenders who go out of their way to commit crimes are generally higher-risk, 45 miles is an arbitrary number, but Rep. Wilcox made the changes we requested and we withdrew our opposition.
HB 197 Criminal Conduct Amendments amends the crime of enticement of a minor to include communicating with anyone with the intent to solicit a minor, not just the minor, and provides elements to consider when the court is determining coercion in these offenses, including age, vulnerability, emotional harm, and fraud. It also requires a person petitioning for removal from the registry to have a court order authorizing their removal. This bill comes out of the belief that Utah is becoming a “sanctuary state” for sex offenders, who are moving to Utah to get removed from the registry.
A lot of our time this session was spent on HB 207 Sexual Offense Revisions and SB 144 Sexual Crimes Amendments. These bills represent a rollback of our heavily negotiated compromise with prosecution and Sen. Wilson two years ago in Sen. Wilson’s SB 167 Sexual Exploitation Amendments, instigated primarily by the AG’s office. We met with several stakeholder groups and legislators on these bills, including the AG’s office multiple times, to try and compromise again, but they were unwilling to make any changes. We tried to draft a substitute bill with Sen. Weiler, but the House pushed back on him and he did not run it. Our language would have stated that the felony offense of enticing a minor must have actually involved a minor and added a provision to sexual exploitation to include the creation of a link to a computer-based file or cloud-based file to allow repeated viewing of child sexual abuse material. We testified against both bills in committee numerous times, and although there was heated debate among committee members, both bills ended up passing. HB 207 was amended on the last day to exclude first degree felonies from the enhancements, largely due to pressure to reduce fiscal notes. The final versions of the bills do the following:
makes aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor over 14 a 1F instead of a 2F
increases the minimum prison term for sexual offenses by five years for each prior conviction and makes it mandatory
amends the definition of child sexual abuse material to include a depiction of a minor over 14 years old observing or being used for sexually explicit conduct
amends the crime of sexual exploitation of a minor to include accessing child sexual abuse material with the intent to view
HB 358 Criminal Sexual Conduct Amendments creates the third degree felony of unlawful sexual activity with a child using immersive virtual reality when the actor knows the avatar is controlled by a child. We were able to negotiate this penalty down to a class A misdemeanor offense when the actor is less than 10 years older than the minor. It also creates the class A misdemeanor of custodial solicitation of sexually explicit conduct from a person in custody, regardless of consent. This bill might go against the Ashcroft decision, but it passed.
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.
HB 425 Department of Public Safety Fee Amendments increases the annual fee for offenders on the Sex, Kidnap, and Child Abuse Offender Registry from $100 to $125. It also directs the Bureau of Criminal Identification to establish fees relating to concealed firearm permits for residents and non-residents and to share data with the Legislature.
SB 41 Sex, Kidnap, and Child Abuse Offender Registry Amendments recodified the Registry. This was a significant piece of legislation that was intended to make the code much easier to read. Please update any motions or documents that cite to sections of this code.
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 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.
FAILED BILLS
We spoke in opposition to HB 17 Limitations on the Use of Polygraphs several times. This bill would have prohibited law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and other government officials from requesting or compelling polygraph examinations of victims during sexual offense investigations. We testified that polygraphs have a 75-90% accuracy rate and that it can be helpful to have both the accuser and the accused take one so that counsel on both sides can evaluate the strength of their cases. We said we would not oppose the bill if the language prohibiting the request for victims to take a polygraph was removed, and there was a senator who felt similarly who attempted a hostile amendment to remove that language, but the sponsor was against making that change. She cited the Violence Against Women's Act (VAWA), and took the language directly from this act to write the newest sub. There was some confusion that removing the request language would result in a loss of federal VAWA funding for the state, but our research showed that this was not the case, at least not right now. The Senate subsequently killed the bill.
HB 35 Sex, Kidnap, and Child Abuse Offender Registry Modifications failed the House vote. This bill would have required the DOC to conduct a risk assessment for every individual registered on the Sex, Kidnap, and Child Abuse Offender Registry. This represented the pared down work of the Sex Offense Management Board to use more evidence-based practices for sex offenders. Even though the only thing this bill was designed to do was to administer risk assessments for the next few years so that we could evaluate how accurate they were and whether the State could rely on using such tools to remove people off of the registry, it was seen as too much of a step towards leniency on sex offenders and was defeated soundly. Fortunately, this provision was also included in a larger criminal justice bill, HB 354 Criminal Justice Revisions, which passed.
HB 117 Sexual Abuse Statutes of Limitation Amendments sought to remove the civil statute of limitations for sexual abuse and allow victims to bring a cause of action regardless of whether criminal charges were filed or the perpetrator was convicted. We did not publicly oppose this bill because the sponsor runs a version of it each year and it has not gained traction so far.
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 137 Human Trafficking Expungement Amendments would have allowed for expungement without a certificate of eligibility for prostitution, aiding prostitution, or sexual solicitation when the individual was subject to force, fraud, or coercion at the time of the conduct.
HB 377 Sexual Offense Amendments was this year’s affirmative consent bill. The bill was different this year than in previous years, instead of creating a new offense or amending the definition of a specific, existing offense, the bill sought to change the definition of consent, providing that silence or lack of protest alone do not demonstrate consent. We were ready to forcefully oppose this bill, since it would amend every sexual offense, but after a discussion with proponents of the bill, they chose to not push the bill this session and it never came out of Rules. We expect another version of the bill next session.
HB 401 Adult-oriented Performance Amendments was a bill largely opposed by most criminal justice stakeholders. It would have created the offense of adult-oriented performance in a public place or in the presence of a minor, a violation of which would be a class A misdemeanor on a first and a third degree felony on a subsequent for adults or a class B misdemeanor if the actor was between 16 and 18 years old. Rep. Jack ran a similar bill last year that was worked on and compromised extensively and it was unclear to CCJJ why it was insufficient to the point of needing this bill. Moreover, CCJJ determined that this bill would actually make statute less clear to practitioners and it was one of the few bills they voted to oppose this year. The bill did not end up moving forward.
HB 518 Sexual Abuse Material Modifications wasn’t criminal, but we still tracked it in case. This bill sought to prohibit a commercial entity from knowingly or intentionally publishing or distributing obscene material or child sexual abuse material on the Internet and provide civil remedies for violations.
SB 81 Care Provider Abuse Modifications would have made it a class A misdemeanor for a care provider to have sexual relations with a vulnerable adult in their care. We worked to add an exception when the actor is married to, cohabiting with, or has a pre-existing consensual sexual relationship with the vulnerable adult before they were placed under the actor's care. There was some consternation in the Senate that this should be a felony and some concern in the House that this shouldn’t be criminal at all. The sponsor really just wanted a way to track people who engage in this behavior and then move on to a different job to do the same thing, so there might be a possibility of this bill coming back in a non-criminal place next year.
SB 155 Sex, Kidnap, and Child Abuse Offender Adjustments faced too much opposition and was not prioritized by the sponsor, Sen. Weiler. This bill would have allowed people with a lifetime registration requirement to petition to be removed from the registry after 12 years rather than 20 years. If their petition was denied, it also would have reduced their waiting period to reapply from 8 years to 5 years. Sen. Weiler brought this bill forward to address the hundreds of people who took plea deals for two counts thinking they would be on the 10-year registry and are instead on the lifetime registry due to a misunderstanding.
SJR 8 Joint Resolution Amending Rules of Evidence on Admissibility of Evidence of Crimes or Other Acts was a top priority oppose. This bill sought to allow evidence of past sexual assault cases to be admitted for consideration in a sexual assault case to prove a defendant's propensity to commit the charged crime. This bill came from Judge Paul Cassell, who said in his presentation that this provision has been in federal rules of evidence for 30 years and in a majority of states around the country. We were strongly opposed to this bill and testified that it would allow any evidence of any allegation to be considered and it would be impossible to disprove. The bill passed favorably to the floor but was not prioritized and was thus not voted on in time. It is likely that we will see this issue again, as Judge Cassell has been active in this policy space for many years and has been involved in the failed affirmative consent legislation.