Committee advances a package of criminal-justice and election-law bills

Salt Lake City — The Senate Judiciary Committee wrapped a packed hearing by moving several bills to the Senate floor with favorable recommendations.

Among the items advanced were:

- HB 113 (second substitute) — emergency-reporting abuse amendments to criminalize knowing, repeated misuse of 911 and create mandatory accountability for repeat offenders; committee recommended the substitute unanimously.

- HB 242 — initiative and referendum signature-gathering and removal amendments to apply the same rules (identification, disclosure and limits on paid removers) to paid signature removers as to paid gatherers; passed unanimously after testimony from the mayor of Clinton describing local impacts.

- HB 284 — a technical fix restoring 'depraved indifference' language to the murder statute after an unintended 2022 drafting change; recommended and placed on consent.

- HB 465 (second substitute) — allows limited short suspensions during diversion and a larger short suspension if a participant reoffends while in diversion; adopted and recommended unanimously.

- HB 303 (second substitute) — family-law changes including court-ordered mental-health therapy procedures when parents disagree, a definition of 'coercive control' and a roster for custody evaluators; adopted and recommended.

- A short bill criminalizing tampering with a GPS safety device for victims of trafficking/domestic violence was recommended unanimously.

Committee members also adopted HDR/other procedural amendments and adjourned. Most contested items in the hearing (notably HB 205) were forwarded with sponsor commitments to continue stakeholder conversations before floor debate.