What has passed — and what’s still to come during the 2025 Utah legislative session

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah’s legislative session is a little more than halfway over, and as of the Tuesday after Presidents’ Day, lawmakers have passed 73 bills.

A dozen bills have already been signed into law — mostly base budgets to keep the government running — including bills on two hot topics, a ban on collective bargaining by public labor unions and specifics on where transgender students can live

in college housing.

Hundreds of bills are still working their way through the legislative process. So, what’s been done, and what’s still to come from the 2025 legislative session? Here’s a breakdown:

Judicial changes are likely

It’s not clear yet whether Utah’s Supreme Court will get expanded, but a bill to explore that has been opened.

A proposal also seeks to make a higher threshold for retention elections and a newly unveiled bill would create a committee of lawmakers to make recommendations for judicial retention to voters on the ballot.

A pair of bills moving forward would also change when injunctions can pause a law challenged on its constitutionaly, and who has third-party standing to file suit. Citing worries about the separation of powers, groups like the Utah Bar Association have opposed several of these changes.

Election changes still to come

A big election bill that would require voters to return their mail-in ballot in person to show ID has yet to come forward in the House because negotiations are currently ongoing with the Senate about a version that could pass.

Some members of Senate leadership say they are more supportive of a policy that wouldn’t require returning ballots in person.

They also like the idea of ballots being in the clerk’s office by the close of election day in an effort to speed up results.

Other election changes still being decided on would create a runoff in primary elections where the winner didn’t get 50%, and removing Utah from a nationwide voter registration group called ERIC aimed to determine if voters are registered in other states.

A lawmaker also wants to make Election Day a holiday and eliminate Columbus Day.

Tax cuts haven’t been decided on

Revenue estimates are expected to be unveiled on Wednesday which will largely determine how much money there is to work with for the next fiscal year — $165 million has already been set aside for some tax cuts, but where the cuts are made and how much is cut hasn’t been publicly decided.

A bill proposes bringing the income tax rate down by 0.5 percent, and income tax cuts are what legislative leaders have made clear they want.

Gov. Spencer Cox wants to eliminate the income tax on social security income tax for older Utahns. There’s also a proposal to expand the child tax credit. Utah’s House Speaker has told Inside Utah Politics that lawmakers will try to do all three.

Education funding could change and Utah Fits All expand

A little-known proposal to change how property taxes flow toward education is only one vote away from passing the legislature. Right now, local property taxes go directly to local school districts and they collect interest on that revenue.

S.B. 37 would change the flow of that money, depositing it instead into a state account where they’re required to send the per pupil unit for enrolled students back to the school districts.

But lawmakers can use income tax dollars to pay that, freeing up the account with the local tax dollars for other state purposes.

The sponsor said on the Senate floor that this is needed for equalization so the state can help smaller school districts where enrollment is declining. Education stakeholders worry that money could flow elsewhere.

Meanwhile, a proposal to add more money and tighten parameters to the Utah Fits All Scholarship — which critics call a voucher program — has started its legislative journey. The bill would also make it so families who receive the state funds to help with their kids’ private, or homeschool education can’t use it on things like ski passes or furniture.

More kids could get free school lunches while cell phones get banned

There are two proposals to provide free and reduced lunches to kids in K-12 schools — one got shot down, the other was cut down but is moving forward.

HB 100 will expand the free and reduced lunch program for kids in grades K-6 after the lawmaker subbed the bill that cut his original ask in half.

The sponsor of the other proposal has admitted her bill was a heavy lift, but it would have provided all K-12 students free lunch and breakfast. It didn’t make it out of committee.

Meanwhile, a proposal to ban cell phones in Utah schools in most circumstances is waiting for a House vote.

Lawmakers look long-term

With the 2034 Winter Olympics in sight, lawmakers are looking at some long-term planning. Proposals expanding nuclear energy capacity in Utah have moved forward, as have plans to bring air taxis in time for the Games.

A bill to create a committee to study spaceports needs another look for its fiscal impact. Bills increasing housing density are also moving forward.

Higher education changes imminent

A plan to reorganize funds in higher education is waiting for a Senate committee hearing.

Utah’s House Speaker is championing a bill to create more “catalyst” centers — local area high schools that give students career technical education which can help those who may not seek a 4-year degree.

Utah will also look to pay its college athletes directly for their name, image, and likeness — an effort its sponsors say is needed for the state’s universities to stay competitive with new NIL rules nationwide.

Lawmakers want to change the constitution

There are currently 5 proposals to change Utah’s constitution and more could be in the works. It’s not known yet which ones — or how many — will be on the ballot for voters in 2026 or how much they would each cost taxpayers.

One proposal looks to remove the newspaper publication requirement that got lawmakers in trouble with the state’s high court over Amendments A and D.

Another would require initiatives dealing with taxes to earn 60% approval from voters.

Government transparency on display

A proposal to overhaul the state records committee is moving forward after its sponsor left intact a key test that allowed otherwise private records to be made public if there was compelling public interest.

The bill will still take the seven-member state records committee and require an administrative law judge to oversee records appeals.

Another transparency-related bill started as a way to prevent county clerks from tracking the ballots of elected officials, but a late switch added a provision that would protect the state from having to pay legal fees when government entities lose open records cases, unless the government acted in “bad faith.”

Immigration enforcement still coming

A big bill aimed at state enforcement of illegal immigration still needs a Senate hearing and full vote.

HB226 would add a day of jail time for certain offenses long enough to trigger federal deportation proceedings. It would also allow for non-profits to be dissolved if they knowingly transport undocumented people.

It could also hold undocumented people in jail before a trial by considering undocumented immigrants a “flight risk.”

But jail space, particularly in Salt Lake County, may be an unintended consequence. A member of House leadership is also proposing new requirements for when criminals can be released from jail due to overcrowding.