Committee approves uniform victim-privacy rules allowing initials on public filings

Salt Lake City — House Bill 102, a second substitute giving crime victims the option to have initials appear on publicly available documents such as police reports and charging documents, received a unanimous favorable recommendation from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Representative Hayes, sponsor of the bill, said the measure standardizes practices already used in child-victim and sensitive-crime cases and builds guardrails—such as retaining full names in agency records so courts can order disclosure when necessary. "We don't want to cut off that access," Hayes said.

Marlene Jones of the Victim Services Commission and Carl Hall of the Statewide Association of Prosecutors supported the bill and praised the sponsor for addressing implementation questions. Dan Strong of CCJJ said the commission had voted unanimously to support the substitute.

The committee adopted the substitute and recommended HB 102 to the Senate floor without opposition.