H.B. 113 Emergency Reporting Abuse Amendments

What this bill does

The bill makes knowingly making false emergency 911 reports a crime, with stronger penalties for repeat offenders, including jail or community service and restitution for resulting losses. It also makes calling 911 without an emergency a Class B misdemeanor after someone has been told such calls are inappropriate.

Plain-English summary written by AI from the sponsor’s presentation in committee and on the floor. Check the official text below.

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Every vote

• 11 yes, 0 noHouse Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee: vote to change the bill · Jan 23, 2026Who voted how
• 11 yes, 0 noHouse Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee: vote to approve it · Jan 23, 2026Who voted how
• 70 yes, 0 no, 5 absentFinal House vote · Feb 3, 2026Who voted how
• 3 yes, 0 no, 6 absentSenate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 26, 2026Who voted how
• 23 yes, 1 no, 5 absentFinal Senate vote · Mar 6, 2026Who voted how
• 64 yes, 0 no, 11 absentHouse vote to accept the other chamber's changes · Mar 6, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Jan 23, 2026 House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (25 turns)

  1. Committee chair1:56:40

     HB one 13. This is, uh, emergency reporting Representative. Monson. Go ahead, representative. The time is yours. Awesome.

  2. Rep. Logan Monson1:56:56

     Thank you. Um, thank you, chair and committee. Um, I think most of you know the, the district that I represent, district House District 69, which covers, um, 27,000 square miles of Utah. So we're San Juan, grand Emery, Wayne Garfield, and Cain Counties. Um, you could argue that that's probably one of the most rural, um, districts in the state. We have a lot of issues specifically in rural Utah, but the more we've had discussions on this, um, and I guess I should back up and say there, there is a sub to this bill. I saw that. Okay. Um, the, the more we've talked, this issue isn't just in rural Utah. It's, it's a little different in every community, but the issue kind of remains the same, that there's a lot of abuse on the system of emergency and reporting those that abuse. So what, what this bill does is it strengthens penalties for false emergency reports. It focuses on repeat false calls. When those actions put lives at risk, they tie up law enforcement EMS and fire resources, and they cause real injury leading to potential death or death. Um, why I, I, I feel like this bill matters and why it's important is because false emergency reports are not pranks. They divert the first responders, um, away from real emergencies. Rural and small communities like the ones that that I represent in Utah cannot afford to have these limited resources misused. We often have one, um, ambulance that's able to put a crew together and, and when that ambulance is out, um, we have, that's all we have. We had a, a situation this last summer where that had happened. The ambulance was dispatched to, um, a, a call a, a a home. Um, during that call, there was another emergency on the highway where the, the person on the highway was having a heart attack, an actual heart attack, and bystanders passed by and put him on the back of a flatbed truck and took him into the hospital doing CPR on the back of the truck because there was not an ambulance to respond. Later on, they found out that the ambulance that was out was dispatched to a call. That was not an actual emergency. It was a, it was a false report of a, of an emergency. Um, so, so, so really we're not looking at targeting people that are making honest mistakes, accidental calls or calls that, um, maybe just need some education there. That's not what we're looking to do. We're looking to find, or, or to, um, for those that are knowingly abusing the system, that they full well know that they're doing it and they still do it. Um, we, we have, um, problems where this is happening for, for individual locations, 40 times in one year, calendar year, 40 false reports of an emergency in one calendar year. Um, so things that we're looking to do in this bill. So we, and, and we've talked with stakeholders, and that's why we have a sub, is I, I, I think we've come to a good place from where we originally started to where we are now. Um, what, what we'll do here is in, in the bill, if there is, um, uh, it, it'll be a class A misdemeanor if this violation is the actor's third, um, or subsequent conviction, um, or the actor was reckless as to whether the actor's violations could jeopardize the safety of an an, an individual. And then this will be a felony if the actor was reckless as to whether the violation could jeopardize the safety and LA later down, and it results in death of an individual. And then there's some, some minimum, um, I guess, sentencing guidelines there, as well as, uh, coordinating clause with a, an additional bill that's being worked on as well. So that's my presentation. Thank you. Thank you.

  3. Committee chair2:01:06

     Any clarifying questions from the committee? Okay. Pretty straightforward. Seeing none, uh, anybody from the public. Okay.

  4. Dan Strong, CCJJ2:01:23

     Dan Strong, again, for CCJJ and the sentencing commission. I just wanted to thank Representative Monson for the changes in the sub. They, um, we had a great talk with a group of stakeholders and Rep Monson was so responsive to the issues that were raised, and I think we reached some really good, um, compromises that I hope dials this bill in, uh, pretty well to the problem that's being targeted. And I also really wanted to just express my appreciation for hearing Representative Monson about the issues in his district. I think that those of us who, um, are up here on the Wasatch front sometimes have a blind spot to some of the things that are, are dealt with in more limited resource areas. And this is one that I think when we talked about it in the commission, we didn't quite grasp the, the same type of problem that, uh, that you described to us. And when we understood that better, I think we were able to come up with some good language together. So, thank you.

  5. Mark Moffitt, Utah Criminal Defense Lawyers Association2:02:15

     Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. My name is Mark Moffitt, and I am here on the, for the, uh, Utah Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Um, we worked with, uh, Representative Monson on this bill. Um, and to Dan Strong's point, um, he described a situation to us, um, that occurred in his rural district that when we looked at this bill, we had never even contemplated it. Um, when we looked at this bill, we were concerned about the way that people on the Wasatch Front would be impacted by it. Um, but when he explained the problem that he had, it made sense. And so we support this bill and we very much appreciate him working with the Defense Bar on this. Thank you.

  6. Ryan Robinson, SWAP2:03:14

     Hello Committee, uh, Ryan Robinson again. Uh, this is a bill that, uh, even before the, the session, our friends down in the South prosecution, uh, colleagues asked that swap support, and so we're appreciative of the representative for running the bill. We supported the original bill, but we were also happy to collaborate on finding some common ground and have a, I think a good product now. Thank you.

  7. Committee chair2:03:37

     Alright. Thanks. Anyone else getting online? We have someone you said Ben Armstrong. Ben Armstrong. You there?

  8. Ben Armstrong, Rural EMS Directors Association of Utah2:03:47

     Yes, I am. I'm, uh, trying to get my video. There we go. Okay. Uh, Ben Armstrong, I'm the President of the rural EMS Directors Association of Utah. Um, I'm also one of, uh, representative munson's, uh, constituents as well in Cain County. Um, uh, thanks to the, uh, sponsor for his work on this bill. Um, we, uh, we as a rural EMS Register Association of Utah, we'd like to express our support for, uh, HP one 13. Um, uh, we believe in, um, holding people accountable for deliberate, uh, abuse of our precious nine one resources. And, uh, I think this bill does a, um, uh, really, uh, good job of, of kind of weeding out that deliberate misuse from, uh, those like, uh, Representative Monson said, uh, honest mistakes, um, lack of, lack of resources, things like that. So, uh, we would urge you to, uh, favorably recommend this, uh, bill. Thank you.

  9. Committee chair2:04:47

     Thanks, Ben. Okay. Uh, concludes public comment. Return to the committee for discussion or action. Representative Gwynn.

  10. Rep. Gwynn2:04:58

      Mr. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll move that we adopt for substitute HB one 13.

  11. Committee chair2:05:02

      It's in order. Would you like to speak to it? No, I'll waive. Okay. Any discussion of the motion is just adopting the substitute. Okay. Seeing none. You like to comment? No, I appreciate it.

  12. Rep. Gwynn2:05:23

      If I could, Mr. Chair, I'll move that we pass that with favorable board recommendations.

  13. Committee chair2:05:26

      Hang on. We gotta, we still have to vote and all that. I'm sorry. Adopt this up. Sorry. I need adoption. My Bad. I was just coming back to you if You want. Yeah. Feel free to come back to me.

  14. Rep. Gwynn2:05:31

      No, I'll waive some I on your motion To substitute. Yeah, I'll, I'll waive. Okay.

  15. Committee chair2:05:35

      All right. I'm place the motion to substitute all those in favor of adopting, first substitute, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. It's unanimous. Thank you. Now go ahead, Representative Gwynn.

  16. Rep. Gwynn2:05:47

      Thank you. Uh, I move the way passed that with a favorable recommendation, HB one 13 for substitute.

  17. Committee chair2:05:53

      That's in order. Would you like to speak to it?

  18. Rep. Gwynn2:05:55

      So, I think Tom's probably the only one of the person, the one person in this room that's been in law enforcement longer than me, and he may remember a time where this actually was, uh, a code, I believe abuse of 9 1 1. And then it disappeared, and then I think it came back, and then it came back with this Sunset, and then it disappeared. And here we are again. So I think that kind of speaks to the need, but I will tell you, not understanding rural Utah's severely impacted, but even as the Wasatch front grows, uh, personnel in er, in, in, in public safety dispatch first re uh, you know, EMS, they're not growing like the rate of the population is. And so when you're tying up dispatchers, ambulances, police officers, that can wreak havoc on the system. And so I appreciate we're getting this addressed again. Hopefully we can keep it around for some time.

  19. Committee chair2:06:47

      Thank you. Um, any discussion to the motion?

  20. Rep. Gwynn2:06:52

      Um, I don't know. Chief Tanner, did he take off? I, I'm aware of several cases in that world where for silly reasons, people call in fake crimes to, to pull police other directions. And then, then there's the really serious ones when they do that. And, and this is kind of a no-brainer from that standpoint. So that's all I'll say about that. Um, okay.

  21. Committee chair2:07:16

      Seeing, uh, no further comment, we have a motion, any further discussion of the motion? Okay. Would you like to sum?

  22. Rep. Gwynn2:07:25

      Yeah, I, uh, I'll take just a quick second. Um, really this bill is about responsibility. It's about public safety, having respect for, um, the emergency services that we have, making sure that people, um, who knowingly abuse 9 1 1 and emergency services are being held accountable, especially when it leads to, um, injury death or, or major costs are fully held accountable for that while protecting the emergency callers. I, I really appreciate the, the support that we've had and the conversations we've had putting this together and would appreciate your support. Thank you. Thank you.

  23. Committee chair2:08:04

      Would you like to sign Representative Gwynn?

  24. Rep. Gwynn2:08:06

      Yeah. I forgot to thank the public defenders for working with them on this bill. That's all. Okay.

  25. Committee chair2:08:12

      Alright. All right. Um, go ahead and place the motion then. All those in favor of passing out hospital first substitute hospital one 13 to the floor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. It's unanimous. Thank you, representative. Okay.

• Feb 3, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (5 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)24:57

     First substitute House Bill one 13 emergency reporting abuse amendments by Representative Monson. This bill was heard in law enforcement and criminal justice with the vote of 11 0 0. Representative Monson,

  2. Rep. Logan Monson25:10

     Thank you Mr. Speaker House Bill one 13 strengthens penalties for false emergency reports. This focuses on repeat false calls when those actions do a few different things when they put lives at risk. Tie up law enforcement, um, cause real injury, death, or significant financial loss, it ensures accountability for abuse of the 9 1 1 emergency service while protecting legitimate calls. The core principle around the bill here is that emergency resources need to be available for people who truly need them. Um, a key few policy points here is, is, so there's four. So it targets knowing and intentional abuse. This is not about honest mistakes, this is intentional abuse on the system. Another thing that it does is it strengthens, um, it, we have stronger penalties when harm actually does occur. It addresses repeat offenders. And then there's mandatory accountability that include jail service, um, and restitution. Um, y'all have may have have heard. So in my district we have very limited resources. We have ambulance crews that run, um, sometimes just one crew per community. We've had times where the ambulance is needed, but it's been called out on, on a call that was not needed and it was a false report of, of, um, an emergency and that prevented others from getting care. So with that, I would end my presentation and be open to questions.

  3. Speaker (presiding)26:48

     Thank you Representative Monson discussion to the bill. Seeing none back to your Representative Monson for summation.

  4. Rep. Logan Monson26:56

     Yeah, I would just sum with the, this bill is about responsibility. It's about public safety and having respect for the emergency services that, that we, um, when we need them, that, that we have them making sure that people who knowingly are abusing 9 1 1 and emergency services are accountable. And I, I think it just provides a, a good framework for, for protecting those services. And I thank you.

  5. Speaker (presiding)27:18

     Thank you. Representative Monson Bonney will now be open on first substitute HB one 13. See now present hand voter voting is now closed. First substitute HB one 13 passed this body with 70 yes votes zero no votes will be sent to the Senate for its consideration. Madam Reading Clerk

• Feb 26, 2026 Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (17 turns)

  1. Committee chair (presiding)1:07:01

     Oh, excuse me, I apologize. I skipped one. Um, Representative Monson HB one 13 second, substitute emergency reporting abuse amendments.

  2. Rep. Logan Monson1:07:11

     Awesome. Thank you Mr. Chair and Committee. I will be briefed to try and help catch things back up. So, HB one 13 has a couple different sections. In the first section, what we're looking at is addressing some issues. Well, the whole bill, honestly is, is addressing issues with abuse of the 9 1 1, um, emergency system. But the target policy points in here is that we're targeting or, or we're looking at knowingly and intentionally abusing the system. So not honest mistakes, not accidentally calling, um, but calling 9 1 1, abusing the system in the sense of, we've had people that have called 9 1 1, um, gotten on an ambulance, gone to the hospital, reported chest pain, get to the hospital, refuse service, walk out of the hospital, and they now have made it into the next community and they got a ride on the ambulance. So that's the, what we're looking at at here. Um, stronger penalties when this occurs. Um, addressing repeat offenders and then just mandatory accountability when it comes to these repeat offenders. And then on the second portion of the bill, um, it creates a Class B misdemeanor for calling 9 1 1 when there is no emergency crime or danger to public safety. If the defendant has been previously told that their report is not appropriate to 9 1 1, it does not create a crime for someone who doesn't know that their call is not appropriate to report it. It's again, just the, the repeat abuse of, of calling and using the system, um, in ways that it's not meant to be used. I will leave it at that unless y'all have questions.

  3. Committee chair (presiding)1:08:44

     Well, we probably will have questions. Um, does that conclude your presentation? Does? Yep.

  4. Unknown speaker1:08:48speaker not certain

     I have one question. Just talk, talk to me about the mandatory, is there a mandatory jail sentence for repeat offenders?

  5. Rep. Logan Monson1:08:53

     So we have some mandatory mandatory accountability there. It's, it's, uh, in the bill it says at least four days in jail or 40 hours of community service Or, okay.

  6. Committee chair (presiding)1:09:05

     Okay. Alright. Is there any other questions from the committee? Seeing none, is there anybody from the public who would like to speak to this? Seeing one hand come on up, state your name, who you represent, sign in after you present. Thank you. We're on a lot of the bills today.

  7. Dan Strong, Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ)1:09:29

     Dan Strong, um, director of sentencing commission staff with CCJJ. I wanna thank Representative Monson for his work in this area. The, uh, initial draft of the bill, there was some concerns, you know, that maybe we were being overbroad and, and risk criminalizing, you know, innocent conduct or people who genuinely make mistakes. Representative Monson met with a group of stakeholders, CCJ and, um, we worked together on some language that we think targets the problem that, um, he's really focused on, which, which, and, and I wanna thank him also for kind of explaining to us, uh, Wasatch front dwellers, uh, the ways that this impacts rural communities that we frankly were not aware of, um, with people really abusing these services to move longer distances or, you know, get a ride into town. Um, we were a little concerned that, especially with the provisions related to, um, somebody else suffering an injury or death because the first person called, and maybe the first person, although they, uh, you know, reported a non-emergency or a false emergency, had no way of knowing what, what was happening on the other side. But the language in the sub, we think, uh, resolves that issue by, uh, basically making it, uh, including a menza rea that the individual would have to have, uh, acted in, in reckless disregard for the safety of others in making the false report. And so really, I think is targeted and focused on malicious or at least extremely, um, reckless actors. So, thank you.

  8. Committee chair (presiding)1:10:43

     Thank you. Anybody else from the public would like to speak to this? Seeing none. Is there any online? There's What's that? What's that? Okay, we're gonna move back to, um, the Committee for Committee Action.

  9. Unknown speaker1:11:05speaker not certain

     Uh, and or for the questions, um, I'm just representative. Um, I'm still a little bit concerned about the four days, but, um, I'm gonna chew on a little bit.

  10. Rep. Logan Monson1:11:13

      Would you be open just to talking about that? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I, I think community service makes sense. I'm not sure I recognize that judge would have judicial discretion there, but, um, we'll talk about it, uh, as it goes forward.

  11. Committee chair (presiding)1:11:26

      Um, any other questions? Representative Banner or excuse? Excuse me. Senator Brammer rather. Um, I need to lean on you here a little bit.

  12. Sen. Brady Brammer1:11:33

      You have motion? Yeah. Okay. I'll recommend favorably. HB one 13. Uh, second substitute Motion is to favorably recommend for a substitute one or second substitute one 13 emergency reporting abuse amendments.

  13. Committee chair (presiding)1:11:47

      Would you like to speak to that rep? Senator Brammer?

  14. Sen. Brady Brammer1:11:50

      I'm good. I I I, I've spent six years in the house with Senator Brammer. So saying rep, it's, I keep slipping. It was, it's a habit. That's honor. That's good. Badge honor.

  15. Committee chair (presiding)1:12:01

      Um, nonetheless, uh, would you like

  16. Rep. Logan Monson1:12:03

      to sum on that Representative Monson? No, I, I Appreciate the support. Happy to have some conversations to see if we can adjust this in any way to make it, make it work better, so thank you.

  17. Committee chair (presiding)1:12:11

      Okay. All those in favor of favorably recommending second substitute HB one 13 Emergency Reporting Abuse Amendment. Say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. I rule that. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, representative

• Mar 6, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (6 turns)

  1. Sen. Lincoln Fillmore1:52:42

     President, uh, several weeks ago, uh, think First or second week of the session, the senate passed Senate Bill 99, which addressed the issue of people repeatedly calling 9 1 1 to report non-emergencies. Like a car is parked out in, in front of my yard or someone has knocked on my door trying to sell me magazine subscriptions and I want the, I need the police to come here and solve this problem. So we passed that bill. Uh, at the same time, Representative Monson over in the house was, uh, tackling essentially the same problem of intentional abuse of 9 1 1. And actually, Mr. President, he reported to me that the, uh, you know, a specific incident that triggered this bill was someone, uh, in his district calling 9 1 1 to get an ambulance to give him a ride to the hospital. But it wasn't really an emergency. And once that guy got to the hospital, he just walked away. Really? He just needed a ride. Uh, and this was a way to make that happen. So, uh, we combined our two bills since they really are the same thing again in our continual effort to reduce the number of bills, uh, that passed the legislature, we can solve both of these problems at the same time. Again, we're just, uh, targeting the issue of purposeful and repeated 9 1 1 abuse. Thank you. Looking for discussion of the bill. I'm not seeing any, I'm gonna go to you for summation and a motion.

  2. Sen. Lincoln Fillmore1:54:08

     Thank you. I move that second substitute house Bill one 13 pass. Thank

  3. Senate President (presiding)1:54:12

     You. And the question is, shall second substitute house bill one 13 pass.

  4. Unknown speaker1:54:15

     Roll call vote. Senator Vickers Baldy Lewin Brammer Bus Palmore Escamia Fillmore Rover Harper Kinins Ipson Aye. Johnson Quan McKay. Aye. Mikel Aye. Milner Milner Aye. Musselman Owens pitcher Plum Bie Sandal Stevenson Stratton Bickers Aye. Weiler Aye. Wilson Winterton, president Adams Aye.

  5. Senate President (presiding)1:55:09

     Second substitute house Bill one 13. Having received 23 yay votes, one nay vote two, five being absent passes this body and will be returned to the house for further consideration.

  6. Sen. Daniel McCay1:55:38

     Thank you very much. President House Bill 54 is a, uh,

• Mar 6, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (8 turns)

  1. Unknown speaker22:11speaker not certain

     Second substitute House bill one 13 Emergency Reporting Abuse amendments by Representative Monson. Representative Monson.

  2. Rep. Logan Monson22:20

     I would move that we concur with the Senate amendments.

  3. Speaker (presiding)22:22

     Thank you representative. That motions order. Would you like to speak to it?

  4. Rep. Logan Monson22:25

     Yes. Just, just quickly, in an effort to decrease the number of bills, we found that the Senator sponsor and I were working on the same issue. Instead of having two bills that had, um, clauses to make them work together, we combined. So what what the changes in this are is that it creates a Class B misdemeanor for calling 9 1 1 when there is no emergency. And it's also repetitive. And they've been told that this is a repetitive nature and they're abusing the system. It does not create a crime for someone who accidentally calls or who someone that just doesn't know that their call is not appropriate. So it it doesn't, it does the same thing as that I was working on, but a different section of the code.

  5. Speaker (presiding)23:05

     Thank you representative discussion to the motion to concur with the Senate amendments on second substitute HB one 13. See none. Oh. Representative Clancy.

  6. Representative Clancy23:17

     Thank, thank you Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to lend my support. I appreciate the vigilance that the good representative from, uh, Southeastern Utah has done on this bill and it'll be a good thing for our first responders. Thank you.

  7. Speaker (presiding)23:29

     Thank you. Representative Clancy. Uh, back to you. Representative Monson First Nation Iation has waive. We'll go ahead and place the motion, the motion before the house concur with the Senate amendments on second substitute HB one 13. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Roll That motion passes.

  8. Speaker (presiding)23:43

     Voting will now be open for final passage on second substitute HB one 13. Seeing all present, having voted voting is now closed. Second substitute HB one 13 passes this body with 64 yes votes, zero no votes, and be sent to the Senate for its consideration or sent to the Senate for the signature of the President matter meeting clerk