How the Utah Legislature impacted families this year

Yahoo

11-03-2025

The Utah Legislature wrapped up its 2025 legislative session late Friday, having passed 582 bills. Utah families will be impacted by these laws — let's look at a few that passed and a few that did not.
SB242 by Sen. Calvin Musselman, R-West Haven, expanded coverage for infertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization, for anyone covered by the Public Employees' Benefit and Insurance Program. According to KSL, the insurance premiums for state employees will increase by about 37 cents per member per month.
Doulas, trained to support and help pregnant, laboring and new mothers, could be covered by Medicaid if approved by the federal government. SB284 by Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, passed nearly unanimously and requires Utah to apply to the federal government for permission to expand its Medicaid plan to cover doula services by Oct. 1.
HB129, by Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, will allow adopted individuals to access their adoption records when they turn 18. All Utah adoptions are currently sealed records.
HB30 by Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, would have allowed Native American tribes in Utah to establish foster home standards and oversee child custody cases, ensuring community-driven, culturally aligned solutions for Native children. This bill never made it out of the Rules Committee after being introduced the first day of the session.
HB100 by Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, expands the free school breakfast and lunch program in Utah to families who qualify for reduced school lunch under current federal guidelines. This bill was a priority bill for the Utah Policy Project this year.
The Utah Fits All scholarship has some new funding guidelines and accountability guardrails under HB455 by Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman. Homeschooled Utah Fits All students 5 to 11 years old will have access to $4,000 a year, while those 12 to 18 years old will get $6,000. Private school students are still eligible for $8,000 a year, the previous amount available to all. The new law also limits extracurricular expenses to 20% of the scholarship amount and limits physical education expenses to an additional 20%. Also — families can't buy furniture with this money.
HB209, by Rep. Nicholeen Peck, R-Tooele, removes the requirement for homeschooling parents to attest to their own criminal background when choosing to homeschool their children. That means convictions for child abuse, domestic violence committed in the presence of a child, child abuse homicide, sexual exploitation of a minor and other felony offenses no longer need to be disclosed.
No cellphones, smart watches or other devices in schools under SB178 by Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan. This bill will go into effect this summer, impacting the 2025/2026 school year. While local schools and districts can create their own policies that are different, this is now the default policy across the state.
HB104 by Rep. Rex Shipp, R-Cedar City, requires schools to teach firearm safety, beginning as early as kindergarten. The instruction would be required three times during elementary school, at least once in junior high and at least once in high school. Parents can opt out if they choose.
SB189 by Escamilla and Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, would have allowed vacant, state-owned buildings to be retrofitted for licensed child care facilities. Under the bill, 40% of the slots would have been allocated for state workers and military families. However, this bill did not pass the Legislature for a second year in a row. The day after this bill was killed, and 44 minutes before International Women's Day, the Utah Legislature officially eliminated the Women in the Economy Commission, the group that had advocated for this plan.
HB363 by Pierucci addresses newborn testing via heelstick screen that occurs shortly after birth. This bill requires a privacy consent form, and the destruction of the baby's blood sample, following the Department of Health's retention schedule, or immediately following the test if parents do not consent to the retention schedule. It also requires a newborn hearing screening.
HB81 by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, prohibits the use of fluoride in public water systems and prohibits local governments from passing or enforcing any rules or ordinances that would allow or require fluoride to be added to public water systems. Utah will be the first state in the nation to ban fluoride in drinking water once this bill goes into effect on May 7, 2025.
SB24 by Sen. Don Ipson, R-St. George, creates a new criminal offense for child torture and amends definitions of child abuse and aggravated criminal child abuse. This bill was inspired by the Gavin Peterson and Franke-Hildebrandt cases.
There will also be less money to help victims of domestic violence and sexual assault this year, as Utah lawmakers either decreased requests for funding or denied them altogether. Rep. Gay Lynn Bennion, D-Cottonwood Heights, asked for $1.4 million for Utah's 16 domestic violence service providers, in spite of a surge in demand. The Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee prioritized $1.3 million, but the final budget allocated zero dollars. There was also no money for strangulation forensic exam reimbursement, of the $260,000 requested. Rape crisis centers were hoping for $3.25 million in ongoing funding, had $1.625 million prioritized and instead received $600,000 of one-time money. Rep. Angela Romero asked for $300,000 of ongoing funds to staff the 24/7 Statewide Sexual Assault helplines available in both English and Spanish. The helpline received $100,000 of one-time money.
HB106 gives Utahns a fifth year of tax cuts, lowering the income tax rate from 4.55% to 4.5%. The average Utah family will see annual savings of about $45. The bill also gives businesses a 20% tax credit for creating new child care options for employees and expands the child tax credit to include children who are 5 years old and under the age of 1.