SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — This year’s Utah Legislative Session is kicking off on Tuesday, and bringing with it a few controversial proposals.

There are nearly 400 bills and resolutions on the table for lawmakers to discuss over 45 days. While some involve funding proposals and changes to procedures, others tackle more controversial issues.

Here are some bills that will likely be subject to debate:

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

H.B. 261, while vague in its language, slides into the political dialogue surrounding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs in education. The bill would prohibit public agencies and schools, including higher education, from requiring employees to “provide certain submissions” or attend trainings that promote “differential treatment.”

In other words, the law would forbid schools from requiring workers to sign or participate in a statement or initiative related to anti-racism, bias, critical race theory, racial privilege, or prohibited discriminatory practice.

The bill also says a government employer may not maintain an office or division to “promote prohibited discriminatory practices.” These are defined as anything that “promotes the differential treatment of an individual” or asserts that someone is privileged or oppressed based on their identity characteristics.

While the bill does not directly use the term DEI, it comes after Gov. Spencer Cox attacked DEI programs at state colleges and universities. Last month, he said the requirement to sign diversity statements was “bordering on evil,” continuing to say DEI initiatives often backfire, increasing division rather than inclusivity.

Transgender bills

Three bills on transgender rights will be placed before lawmakers this session, addressing bathrooms, sports, and insurance coverage of transition surgeries.

H.B. 253

H.B. 253 would make it trespassing for an individual to use a bathroom or changing space at a public school or university labeled for the opposite sex. Sex is defined in the bill as “the classification of an individual as either female or male” based on their reproductive role as determined at birth.

Using a bathroom of the opposite sex would be considered trespassing unless the individual is accompanying someone younger than 12, older than 60, or with a disability. It also provides exceptions for maintenance and cleaning, emergency care, and if the other designated restroom is out of order.

H.B. 257

The second bill, H.B. 257, expands significantly on the topic of bathrooms and also addresses transgender students in sports.

This bill would require the same sex-based policy with bathrooms in public facilities as H.B. 253, however, it would specifically allow for individuals to request their own privacy space. This way students would have access to a unisex bathroom and not have to use facilities that don’t align with their gender identity.

This bill would also allow an individual who has amended their birth certificate and/or undergone a gender reassignment surgery to use the bathroom that coordinates with their identity. The bill would also require a certain percentage of all the new toilets added to a facility to be for single-occupant use.

As for sports, in publicly-funded facilities and programs, the bill states only females would be able to participate in female-designated programs and males in male-designated programs “to preserve the individual privacy and competitive opportunity of [the participants].”

H.J.R. 2

Addressing a different topic, H.J.R 2 is a resolution urging the Public Employee’s Benefit and Insurance Program (PEHP) to include gender reassignment surgery in its benefits to state employees.

This resolution says the PEHP should cover gender reassignment surgeries when a medical professional has found it necessary for adults with “persistent and extended dysphoria,” claiming many other insurance plans and local Utah employers already include those benefits.

Other bills to watch

As part of the ongoing “book ban” discussions, H.B. 29 seeks to make amendments to the evaluation procedures for how instructional material, such as books and online assignments, are classified as “sensitive material.” The bill places priority on “protecting children from illicit pornography” over other considerations when evaluating class material.

It specifies that this involves all instructional material, rather than just library books, and does not include material specifically picked for instruction in medical or science courses.

One Utah lawmaker is seeking to make a big change to voting procedures. H.B. 92 proposes that voters must opt-in to receive a mail-in ballot, rather than the ballots be sent to all registered voters. The voters would select the option, on a voter registration form or other document, to receive mail-in ballots for all future elections. Voters could also request to stop receiving the ballots by mail at any point.

Finally, H.B. 270 would not only ban the use of cell phones in the classroom but would prohibit students from having phones and smart watches in class at all. The bill continues to say a student would not be allowed to retrieve a phone until the end of the class and students in elementary school could not use them during lunch or recess.

There are some exceptions written in the bill, such as if having a phone is necessary due to “an imminent threat to the health or safety of an individual.” This law would be enforced by a local education agency, however, it is unclear what form the enforcement would take.

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