Legislative Update

The Diocese of Salt Lake City has been busy on Capitol Hill. We are working daily to promote anti-poverty measures, criminal justice reform items, and a healthy environment. While legislation moves quickly, here are a few items we are still working to pass:

HB 254 Human Trafficking Victim Amendments: Rep. Jen Seelig is sponsoring this pro-life bill. Human trafficking is a growing scourge across all states, including Utah. Though often unseen and unrecognized, trafficking victims exist in our fair state and most victims are woman and children. HB 254 recognizes that child trafficking victims are reduced to mere commodities by traffickers. Through heinous acts of physical and mental abuse, traffickers strip their victims of their humanity, making it nearly impossible for the victims to see their own value or escape their enslavement. HB 254 is an important first step in returning basic human dignity to the victims by removing criminal labels and ensuring these young people receive the services they need in order to begin to recover from the multiple traumas inflicted upon them.

HB 218 Working Individuals and Families Credit: Rep. Eric Hutchings is once again seeking to pass a proven anti-poverty measure, a state version of the Earned Income Tax Credit. The bill made it through the House last year, but the session ended before it could be heard in the Senate. The Working Individuals and Families Credit encourages low-income workers to continue to advance in their work by providing a refundable tax credit. The state credit would be 5 percent of whatever federal credit the worker receives. Once the worker reaches a wage level out of poverty, he or she is no longer eligible for the credit, but should be well on the way to financial security.

HB 108 Mobile Home Park Task Force: Rep Tim Cosgrove’s bill creates a task force to bring mobile home park owners and their tenants together to resolve longstanding issues around park closures, financial evictions, and other issues that have left some older home owners with few assets and limited ability to find new housing. The task force seeks to address the concerns on both sides of the issue in a productive manner that recognizes the basic needs for housing of home owners and the property rights of park owners.

SB 64 Air Quality Rules and Penalties: Sen. Luz Robles has combined a few bills into one, addressing several components that might improve Utah’s air quality. The bill would enable the Division of Air Quality to adopt more stringent emissions standards than the Environmental Protection Agency, giving Utah needed flexibility to address its unique geography. In addition, the bill increases the penalties for violating the Air Conservation Act, and prohibits medical waste incineration within five miles of a residential area.