Here are key public safety issues Utah lawmakers tackled this session 

Whether it’s increasing penalties for certain crimes, expanding access to drug rehabilitation programs in prisons or changing child custody dynamics, lawmakers tackled a number of crime and public safety related bills this session. 

One of the most contentious debates to come to the House floor this session happened late Friday night over a bill that would require a district attorney in first-class counties — the most populated counties in the state — to track the time spent on criminal cases, and provide an annual, written report to a legislative committee. 

SB273 would also allow the governor to recommend the Utah Supreme Court appoint a replacement prosecutor in a first-class county “if the governor determines that the district attorney has failed or refused to adequately prosecute crimes.”

Salt Lake County is the only first class county in Utah, so the county’s District Attorney Sim Gill, a Democrat, is the only prosecutor impacted. The House sponsor, Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, said the bill was in response to “crimes not being prosecuted.” 

That was a sticking point for the House Democrats. 

“I think we ought to be ashamed of ourselves trying to go after an elected official, when yet we still in this body are going to let another elected official get away with going after a child,” said Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake City, during an impassioned speech that presumably referenced Natalie Cline, a Utah school board official who questioned a high school student’s gender on Facebook. 

In response, Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, said it was “disappointing that the voters of Salt Lake County had not taken a hard look at what’s going on.” House Minority Leader Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, interrupted with a point of order. 

“He’s attacking another elected official,” she said, later telling the House, “this is an attack on Salt Lake City, and this is an attack on us as representatives from Salt Lake City.”

Ultimately, the bill and its amendment passed both the House and Senate. 

Om’s law

Known as “Om’s law,” HB272 was inspired by a notorious case of domestic violence that happened last year on Mother’s Day weekend when 16-year-old Om Moses Gandhi was murdered by his father, who then turned the gun on himself. 

During a Senate committee meeting in February, Om’s mother, Leah Moses, described more than a decade of “psychological, physical, sexual and emotional abuse of our children, drug experimentation with them and calculated, coercive control of all of us” from her ex-husband. 

Yet the courts still granted him custody of their son. Leah Moses says he was so manipulative, the courts and victims services accused her of being hysterical. 

“The more I tried to protect, the more I was accused of lying,” she said.  

HB272 would require courts to set a “tiered approach” for supervision of parental visits where domestic abuse has been reported. 

Ideally, the bill reads, the visits would supervised by a professional or private agency trained in child abuse reporting laws and other abuse dynamics. If that’s not available, the court may appoint a person who can “provide physical and psychological safety and security to the child” and is also trained in child abuse reporting laws, among other considerations. 

The bare minimum would be someone who is able to protect the child from physical or emotional harm. The court would give preference to people suggested by the parties, including relatives.

Courts should also consider evidence of domestic violence before granting parental visitation rights. It would also require that professionals weighing in on custody disputes must have prior experience working with victims of domestic violence, according to the bill. 

“Utah leads the nation in many areas. One area where we are above average that we’re not proud of is child abuse and child maltreatment, where we are significantly above the national average,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Paul Cutler, R-Centerville. “We hope to reduce that.”

The bill now goes to Gov. Spencer Cox. 

Other public safety bills

In addition to Om’s law, legislators passed dozens of other bills, now awaiting the governor’s signature, dealing with the state’s criminal justice system. They include:

• HB30 defines “road rage” so the state can better compile data, while enhancing penalties for aggressive driving. Those stiffer fines would be used to fund a new anti-road rage education campaign. 
• HB328 allows survivors to terminate the parental rights their abuser has over a child conceived in sexual assault. It also extends the period Utah law enforcement keeps sexual assault kits. 
• SB212 allows Utah’s two prisons to offer medical assisted treatment for inmates struggling with opioid addiction. 
• HB424 changes the criminal penalties for what constitutes lewdness involving a child — things like simulating masturbation or performing an act of “simulated intercourse” with the intent to cause “affront or alarm” to a child could be considered a class A misdemeanor. 
• HB223 builds on legislation from last year decriminalizing incidents where travelers accidently bring a gun through airport security. The bill prohibits a citation for first-time offenders who negligently bring a firearm to the airport; fines after that will be similar to a traffic citation. 
• HB114 establishes standards of care for rape crisis centers so survivors can expect a uniform list of services no matter where they go. Those standards would include providing advocacy, crisis intervention support, outreach and hospital accompaniments. 
• HB68 directs the judge to impose a minimum seven-year prison sentence for someone arrested for trafficking drugs with a firearm — the bill clarifies the firearm would have to be used during the drug crime, which includes brandishing or threatening someone with it.