Welcome to the 17th day on the Hill.
There’s only 28 days left!
Observations from the Hill
FIREARMS LIABILITY: The House passed HB 214 Firearms Liability Amendments on a 56-15 vote, a bill designed to further insulate gun manufacturers from civil liability.
Supporters, including bill sponsor Rep. Jordan Teuscher, argued it closes “loopholes” and ensures only the person who commits a crime can be sued, not the companies that design and market the weapons used. One lawmaker even declared it the kind of policy that makes America “the greatest country in the world,” which is… one framing.
Opponents raised concerns about gun marketing to children and the broader reality families face with gun violence, arguing the bill prioritizes industry protections over public safety. Those arguments didn’t gain traction, and the bill cruised through.
GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE: For the fifth year in a row, the House of Representatives targeted the historically marginalized transgender community, shutting off avenues to receive gender affirming care for both minors and adults.
HB 193 Transgender Medical Procedures Amendments, sponsored by Rep. Nicholeen Peck, restricts the use of public funds for gender-affirming medical care. Specifically, the bill prohibits public funding—including Medicaid and state employee insurance plans—from covering gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender people. HB 193 would effectively block access to coverage for these treatments for transgender adults under public insurance programs.
HB 174 Sex Characteristic Change Treatment Amendments, sponsored by Rep. Rex Shipp, converts Utah’s moratorium on gender affirming care for minors into a complete ban. The bill also interferes with the doctor-patient relationship of the minor patients who had been grandfathered into being able to receive care under the existing moratorium, and requires them to taper medication down, with the goal of ending treatment.
HB 193 passed the House by a vote of 48-21 and HB 174 passed by a vote of 54-15, sending both bills to the Senate.
JUDICIAL MEDDLING: The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee advanced HB 392 District Court Amendments, sponsored by Rep. Matt MacPherson, on a 4–1 vote, continuing the Legislature’s push to restructure how certain cases involving the state are heard. The bill would allow the Governor, Attorney General, or Legislature to move cases away from a single judge and into a three-judge panel selected by rule of the Judicial Council.
Court administrators and advocates raised serious concerns about judicial independence, added costs, case backlogs, and—most notably—language that could allow judges to be removed from cases after substantive rulings have already been made. Even some supporters acknowledged the optics are rough and the “one-way swinging door” favoring the state is a problem. Despite that, the bill moved forward, with promises to maybe fix it later.
