2025 Legislative Session Recap
- SLCounty Dems
- Mar 27
- 3 min read
Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, is pictured on the first day of the legislative session at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
With the 2025 Legislative session over, we want to highlight some significant bills from our Democratic legislators that passed:
HB 420 requires US Magnesium to reduce halogen emissions drastically, improving Utah's air quality.
It allows Medicare supplement insurance recipients to review and switch supplemental insurance plans on a yearly basis, helping people get access to insurance that best fits their needs.
HB 266 helps veterans experiencing homelessness by creating an initiative between the VA and the Homeless Service Board to develop best practices for assisting unhoused veterans.
SB 114 gives all veterans a 25% discount on state park admission.
This bill makes property owners not liable if their dog hurts someone trespassing on their property.
S.B. 78 Homeless Individuals Protection Amendments - Sen. Jen Plumb
This bill creates the homeless service provider ombudsman within the Office of Homeless Services.
S.B. 86 Workplace Protection Amendments - Sen. Jen Plumb
This bill lowers the number of employees required before a business must adhere to the Utah Antidiscrimination Act for employment, helping to protect Utah workers.
This bill helps protect our Veterans from getting taken advantage of.
This bill allows Medicare supplement insurance plan enrollees to select comparable or lower-tier plans and prohibits issuers from denying coverage based on medical underwriting while they are selecting a different plan.
This bill protects student-athletes from abusive coaching by requiring higher education institutions to develop a policy regarding athlete-coach conduct and providing an avenue for institutions to compensate student-athletes for using their name, image, and likeness.
This bill allows defendants to apply money they have spent on mandated classes and treatments towards the court-mandated fees that they owe.
And some lowlights:
We could spend a whole newsletter discussing the bad bills and power grabs the Republicans in our legislature have attempted this session. Instead, we will highlight a few of the worst bills they passed and what we can still do to help stop one of them.
HB300 Amendment to Election Laws - Rep Burton/Sen McKell
This bill requires voters to sign up to receive ballots in the mail when they apply for or renew their ID or driver license or vote in person. Once the voter requests to participate in elections by mail, a ballot should appear in their mailbox for eight years unless they fail to vote in a regular election.
It also moves up the deadline for returning a ballot, requiring voters to ensure that county clerks receive mailed ballots before 8 p.m. on Election Day. This will likely result in fewer ballots being counted. Previously, all ballots postmarked by the day before Election Day were counted.
After last year’s primary elections, The Tribune found that among the 26 counties that provided voting method data, 96.7% of Utahns who voted used the ballot sent to their mailbox.
HB 269 Privacy Protections in Sex-designated Areas - Rep Gricius/Sen Brammer
This bill bans transgender students at our public schools from living in the dorm of their choice, instead forcing them to live in the dorm of their sex assigned at birth. Another attack by the Republican legislators on transgender Utahns. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this blatant transphobia.
HB 267 Public Sector Labor Union Amendments- Rep Teuscher/Sen Cullimore
HB 267 outlaws collective bargaining for public employees. This is a direct attack on our unions and devastating to the many public employees who collectively bargain through their unions for better pay and safer workplaces.
The UEA and our unions need our help to get a referendum on the ballot to challenge this harmful legislation. We need to collect as many signatures as possible to make it happen. Your support is crucial. Sign up below to join our talent bank, and let us know if you can help collect signatures!
Onward and upward, here's to continuing the momentum and continuing to make a difference as we support candidates who will legislate for our values.