2015 legislative session ends with anti-discrimination bill passing, Healthy Utah on hold for special session

Friday, Mar. 20, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — The 2015 Utah legislature faced several monumental decisions impacting thousands of vulnerable Utahns. Unfortunately, the poor and marginalized did not always fare well in the process, but legislators did agree to some important changes in state law.

The top legislative issues for the Diocese of Salt Lake City included health insurance for low-income individuals, reforming the criminal justice system to better promote human dignity and public safety, and enacting legislation to ensure all individuals have equal access to housing and employment. For the most part, the results were positive. The exception was the crucial issue of health care.

For the past two years, the diocese has advocated for Medicaid expansion. When it became clear that a full expansion under the Affordable Care Act would not be politically possible, we supported the next best option: Gov. Herbert’s Healthy Utah, embodied in Senate Bill 164 carried by Sen. Brian Shiozawa. As the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, has stated, the Healthy Utah plan prioritized the needs of the poor and promoted the dignity and sanctity of life.

Despite across-the-board support for the bill – from medical professionals to business owners to the vast majority of the general population – SB 164 was defeated in the Utah House of Representatives.  For the past several months, House members have been unable to articulate a valid reason for their opposition to the program, especially in the face of so much statewide support. By midnight March 12, the end of the session, thousands of Utahns were left with no affordable alternatives for health insurance. 

The good news, however, is that the legislative and executive branches did agree to work out a solution to the impasse by July 31.  Governor Gary Herbert, Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox, Speaker of the House Greg Hughes, Senate President Wayne Neiderhauser and the sponsors of the two competing health insurance bills that were debated during the session, Sen. Shiozawa and Rep. James Dunnigan, will meet in the interim to craft a solution to present to a special session of the legislature. 

The legislature also took action to remove unnecessary barriers to the basic needs of employment and housing.  In an historic vote, legislators passed SB 296, adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes against whom landlords and employers may not discriminate. The bill represents many hours of work with leaders of the Church Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender) advocacy groups to create a state law that strikes a fair and just balance between providing for these basic needs and protecting the rights of people of faith to exercise their beliefs. In recognition of the historic nature of the bill, Gov. Herbert signed it in the Capitol rotunda on March 12, before the session had even concluded.

In terms of state impact, perhaps the most important bill to pass was HB 348 Criminal Justice Programs and Amendments. Utah has one of the highest recidivism rates in the nation. HB 348 enacts 18 different changes to the state’s criminal justice system to better address the needs of people who are involved in the system so they do not return time and again. For many, those needs include professional assistance with mental health and substance abuse issues. Treatment outcomes for low-risk offenders are usually much better when it occurs outside of a correctional setting.  HB 348 seeks to ensure earlier intervention for low-risk offenders so they don’t become repeat offenders. 

Sadly, legislators missed an important opportunity to address one other detrimental aspect of our current criminal justice system: the death penalty. HB 11 Death Penalty Procedure Amendments reinstates the firing squad as an alternative method for carrying out the death penalty. While the bill was portrayed as necessary given recent problems with lethal injection, Utah’s next execution is at least three years away. Scheduled to be executed is Ron Lafferty, a convicted murderer who was sentenced at a time when he could choose his method of execution; he selected the firing squad. After Lafferty’s execution, there should be a few years until the next state-sponsored execution; thus, Utah does not need to worry about the drug protocols for several years. At some point during that time, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a ruling on one of the drugs in the typical lethal cocktail, and other lawsuits over the death penalty will likely be filed and decided. Waiting until these decisions are issued by the highest court before enacting a state law makes sense to ensure compliance with federal law. State legislators should have tabled HB 11 and instead authorized a moratorium on the use of the penalty to decide if the practice of killing people is something the state wishes to continue. As more states are discovering, the death penalty is an expensive and ineffective punishment that serves only to inflame the desire for revenge. 

On a positive note, the death penalty was included on a legislative resolution of items to study during the interim. The Diocese of Salt Lake City will participate in legislative interim committee discussions about the penalty and we hope the Legislature will see the detriment the penalty does to our state’s moral standing.

Another item of grave concern on the study list is assisted suicide. HB 391 Utah Death with Dignity Act was defeated in a House committee hearing, but the matter will also be reviewed in interim committee hearings. Watch for action alerts through the Diocesan Prayer and Action Network for opportunities to weigh in on both the death penalty and assisted suicide at the legislature.