H.B. 149 Sexual Material Modifications

What this bill does

H.B. 149 would let victims of child sexual abuse material sue, for money damages under state law, people who publish or distribute that material. It would bring Utah's civil rule into line with a federal rule that already allows such lawsuits.

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Every vote

• 7 yes, 0 no, 3 absentHouse Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee: vote to change the bill · Feb 24, 2026Who voted how
• 8 yes, 0 no, 2 absentHouse Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 24, 2026Who voted how
• 9 yes, 0 no, 1 absentHouse Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee: Consent Calendar Recommendation · Feb 24, 2026Who voted how
• 63 yes, 1 no, 11 absentFinal House vote · Feb 27, 2026Who voted how
• 4 yes, 0 no, 3 absentSenate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee: vote to approve it · Mar 4, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Feb 20, 2026 House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee
• Feb 24, 2026 House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (56 turns)

  1. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)42:24

     Our first item on the agenda is HB 1 49. Um, I believe there's a third substitute that we are looking to adopt, possibly, Yes. Okay. That's true. All right, Representative Peck, go ahead.

  2. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck42:41

     Thank you. So I, I will be speaking to that third substitute today, um, because that has language that has been agreed upon by people in the digital space, so that we have, we hit this just right. So this is actually a bill that I've been working on for a couple of years. Um, this is something that we, we began work on last session, but didn't get it quite ready in time to make it all the way through. So I'm happy to be here again with you today. I've been working with child advocates. I've worked very intensely with the ags office and with different tech companies in order to try to get this where we need to be. So you can see there's a, a paper, a set of papers that has been handed out to you. And I'll just draw your attention to the front page, which talks about child sexual abuse material. So, child sex, sexual abuse material is referred to as csam. So if I say that, that's what I'm saying. And, um, this relates to child pornography. So, in Utah, in 2024, over 8,324 reports of CSAM in Utah were reported. Also in the same year, only four out of every 10 sexual assault cases in Utah were prosecuted, which actually lets you know that we have a big gap between what we know is probably happening, what we're hearing about and what needs to be happening in this space to protect children. In 2025, Utah's internet crimes against children, um, prosecutions increased by more than 100%. So what this means is that people are very aware about what's going on. They're trying to, um, get restitution. They're trying to have justice, um, and, and there's a lot of people that need to have a voice. Now, what we have is a situation right now where there's just a little gap between our code and the federal code. And this bill proposes to put things into alignment. So in 2014, there was a woman, we'll call this woman Amy, and she was, when she was a child, she was sexually abused, she was photographed. And then years later, um, found that those photographs of her were still being passed around. And there was a man who actually had some of those photographs. His name was Doyle Paring, and he actually pled guilty to, um, possessing those images of her sexual abuse that happened. This led to a big court case, and ultimately it Uintah the Supreme Court. And sadly, the Supreme Court basically said, well, we can't do anything really about this because there's criminal law for this type of child abuse, the sexual abuse that happens, but there's not a law that would allow for a civil action for someone to sue like this. So then after that court case happened, and they, they found that there was a gap there in law and, and that this was a growing problem, then the federal laws changed so that they made it so that on in the federal courts, a person could personally sue for child sexual abuse material being perpetrated, uh, or, or being sent out there. Pervade is the word I was looking for, um, to other people. So in Utah, we currently have the same problem that federally we used to have. You can have a criminal case if someone is pervy sexual child, sexual abuse material, but once that criminal case is done or maybe never even done, the individual cannot do an individual suit so that they can, um, get, you know, all the therapy costs covered and all those kinds of things that they might be facing having had a lifetime of child sex abuse. So anyway, um, we are hoping in the state with this bill to bring our statue in alignment with the Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act that was passed in the United States. It is important to note that there are other states, three other states have already passed similar legislation to this because this is a growing issue that people are becoming more and more aware of. And, um, the bill, basically what it does is it makes it so that an individual has a right of action against a person that publishes or distributed distributes, um, obscenity or child sexual abuse material sexual on the internet. If a child sex doll depicts their i their image, we've already made it, uh, against the law for, um, child sex dolls. But if there is a child sex doll that, uh, depicts somebody's image, and whether that person, or whether that sex doll, you know, was legal or not, that's one case. But then the other case is, my picture was on that child sex doll, and I don't want that to be the case. And so then they are able to sue for that. So in order for a person to sue, they have to be a resident of the state, or the incident has to occur in the state date. Um, there are some language that we put in there. Uh, we were contacted, um, by some, some tech companies, some internet companies like Comcast, and they asked us to put some language in there that would be fitting for them so that we didn't pull in, um, the people that are just like providing, you know, the cable service or something to these, um, child abuse pornographic pieces of content that are out there. So we've tried to make sure that everybody's protected, but also so that the children, and maybe later in life, even the, those adults that have had their lives ruined could actually go back and sue, um, these people that, that ruined their lives, or that parents could also take action against people who've done things to their children. And with that, I am open to any questions.

  3. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)48:58

     Thank you, representative. Um, we'll bring it back to the committee for, Oh, actually, oh, sorry.

  4. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck49:02

     I had someone online, I forgot. Is that okay? I I think we've already brought it back to C no. Yeah, that's Fine. Okay. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. I'm like, oh, no, he's gonna be playing hardball with me. Yeah. Okay. I do have someone, it'll take just a minute or two, um, that is coming in from, uh, zoom land. So Trey Dillinger is here with me today, and he would like to, he's had a lot of experience, um, with this type of work, and so I'm happy that he's here with me.

  5. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)49:29

     Go ahead, Trey.

  6. Trey Dellinger, American Family Association Action49:32

     Yes. Uh, thank you, Representative Peck. Can everyone hear me okay?

  7. Unknown speaker49:36speaker not certain

     Yeah, I'm gonna try to turn up your microphone. Maybe try That. Okay. I'll, I'll try to approach a little closer. Okay.

  8. Trey Dellinger, American Family Association Action49:44

     And, and speak, speak loudly. Um, thank you, uh, chairman Hawkins and members of the Committee and Representative Peck. Uh, my name is Trey Dellinger. I'm a senior legal fellow and attorney with the American Family Association Government Affairs affiliate, a FA Action. Um, I served as, uh, for four years as Chief of Staff to the Mississippi Speaker of the House, and I was in private law practice for about 20 years. Prior to that. I wanna congratulate Senator Peck and thank her for leadership in bringing House Bill 1 49, or excuse me, Representative Peck. Um, I'm trying to promote her to Senator today. We, uh, we enthusiastically support this bill at a FA action. This is a great piece of legislation, which will allow victims of child pornography and criminal obscenity to sue people that create this illegal content and the websites that make it available online. Uh, as, uh, Representative Peck said, child pornography, also known as child sexual abuse material, or CS a m, uh, is a serious problem. It's a clear and present danger to Utah's kids. The United States hosts more child sexual abuse material, I'm sad to say, uh, online than any other country in the world. We are responsible for 30% of the global total. Unfortunately, Utah is no exception to that trend. As, uh, Representative Peck noted in 2024, there were over 8,000 reports of child sexual abuse material in Utah. And that's just in one year. Uh, this material is so awful that you can't even imagine it, and you don't want to imagine it. This is not your uncle's Playboy magazine that we're talking about here. This is the worst of the worst vile material. A New York Times report found that many videos on these porn websites were recordings of assaults on unconscious women and girls, for example. And these videos, the rapists would open the eyelids of the victims and touch their eyeballs to show that they were non-responsive to what they were about to do to them. So this is the kind of content that we're talking about trying to stop here. Child predators often lure victims online, and they re record them in acts of child abuse pornography, and they sell it on the internet. The Florida Attorney General recently gave a statement about an out-of-state man that kidnapped two young Florida girls after luring them online through a video pla video game platform, and then ultimately kidnapped them. This is becoming commonplace. It's a victimization of vulnerable women and children on an industrial scale. In 2023, revenue for the pornography industry was $13 billion with a B in the United States. And finally, I wanna close by assuring you that there are no legitimate free speech concerns with this bill. This is not protected speech. It's criminal content. Prosecutors are doing all they can to help, but we need to bring private lawyers into the fight by giving victims a right to sue. There are 10 times more private lawyers than prosecutors in Utah, and this will give them, uh, a force multiplier to help tackle this problem. Uh, the statistics are not just numbers, they're kids. We don't have to accept this kind of child sexual abuse online. Um, you don't have to accept that as leaders of Utah, the people of Utah deserve better. And you can do something about it with this bill, and I strongly urge you to pass House Bill 1 49. Thank you.

  9. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck53:07

     Thank you, Trey. Um, you also notice in the packet that there are examples from Utah of reports that have come in and some additional material there. As far as what we are trying to do, um, we need to open this little door for victims so that they can have representation and so that they can, um, and we can hopefully deter some of this from occurring too. So we pass a law like this and people know that there's an opportunity to be sued out there, then maybe they'll be paying attention, um, to what they wanna host or advertise on their website.

  10. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)53:49

      Thank you, uh, representative and, and Mr. Dellinger, um, we'll bring it back to the committee for, uh, questions. So, mi uh, Representative Miller.

  11. Rep. Miller (first name not clear from captions)53:59speaker not certain

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I, I wanna thank the bill sponsor. Um, I did not know that there was not a cause of action already for victims in, in cs, a material. Um, and so I, I appreciate, uh, uh, this aspect of the bill. Um, my question goes to the definition of obscenity. Uh, 'cause my understanding here is that there's a, a cause of action for, um, a Cs a material, and there's a sex dolls, and there's an entirely different definition of, um, of obscenity. Is obscenity already defined or unlawful? Un un under statute? Or is are we doing this? Uh, is this brand new?

  12. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck54:35

      No, it's already there. It's, it's been there for a really long time. In fact, this was not language that I presented to the drafters. This is just language that compares to other places in code, from what I understand. And it's been illegal all the way along. And like you, I actually didn't know that they all, they already could not sue for this.

  13. Rep. Miller (first name not clear from captions)54:59speaker not certain

      Um, so I, a follow up question about obscenity. Uh, 'cause I'm looking at the red letters and the definition here, lines 1 39 and 1 44. I'm looking to the new sub 'cause I'm just, uh, uh, assuming that we're likely to adopt it. Yes. Um, definition here, uh, talks about, uh, elements of period, uh, period interest, um, and then, uh, uh, and, and is offensive and, and related, uh, to, to the pur nature of, of, you know, the statement or, or image, and then doesn't have any serious, um, literary, artistic, or political value. Uh, so my question is this. Um, you know, if, if, if someone gets angry and says something rude or mean or ugly, you know, someone, someone use an epithet call someone an MFA, for example, would they be subject to lawsuit under this cause of action?

  14. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck55:45

      No. I mean, this is specifically targeted toward child sexual abuse materials. But this is just bringing in that definition of what we already have, have defined. This obscenity has been, this definition of obscenity has been in code for a long time. I know that while working with other things related to obscenities, say in like, um, schools or something like that, it's the same language. It's always used. It's, it's goes back to like the Millard test. That's the definition of obscenity.

  15. Rep. Miller (first name not clear from captions)56:19speaker not certain

      Okay. So, so does the definition of obscenity here have any nexus to, to CS a material?

  16. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck56:26

      Yes, it does. Well, because that's, that's the category that it falls into, right? So that, I mean, obviously it's abuse material as well, but it falls into that category of obscenity, which is then illegal material. So we wanted to make sure to capture, this is just the illegal stuff that we're going for here.

  17. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)56:46

      Representative, uh, Mr. Dellinger has his hand raised as well. He may have more information.

  18. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck56:51

      Yeah, sure, Sure. He's the, he's the smarter one, really.

  19. Trey Dellinger, American Family Association Action56:54

      No. If, if I might, uh, thank you for calling on me. Uh, that's a great question. Representative Peck addressed that very well. Um, the obscenity definition is the three part test for obscenity that was established by the US Supreme Court in Millard versus California in 73. It tracks the, uh, federal criminal code definition of obscenity and existing, uh, criminal code, uh, obscenity definitions in Utah. So this is not just people saying curse words or even what you would think of in kind of a hard R rated movie. This is, again, the, the very worst of the worst material that's so bad that even the possession of it is criminalized and is, uh, uh, punishable by, uh, criminal imprisonment and fines. So this is the, the very Vernal worst of the worst material that the Supreme Court has clearly said is not protected speech.

  20. Rep. Miller (first name not clear from captions)57:48speaker not certain

      I appreciate that. Thank you. That answers my questions.

  21. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)57:50

      Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, representative. Um, I don't see any other lights. So we'll go ahead and open this to public comment. Is there anyone from the public that'd like to speak to this? Okay. Um, I'm gonna give you, uh, come on up. I'm gonna give you a minute and a half each, um, to, to state your name, the organization you represent, and, uh, uh, give your comment.

  22. Matt Holton, Comcast Corporation58:19

      So thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, members of the committee. Thank you. My name is Matt Holton, representing Comcast today. Uh, originally the bill brought in internet service providers and did have, uh, some sort of a penalty towards them, which was unintended. That is not the purpose of this bill. We did work with the sponsor, and you'll see in that substitute language, there is language there, making it clear that there isn't creation of content, storage of content. Internet service providers purely are making a connection, just like a phone call, internet connection. Uh, have talked to other ISPs as well, and they're grateful for the substitute language. And so we're thankful for the representative for clarifying that in the bill.

  23. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)58:59

      Thank you, Mr. Holton. Okay, next.

  24. Phyllis Kimpel, Worldwide Organization for Women59:03

      Mr. Chairman, I'm Phyllis Kimmel, representing worldwide organization for women. Um, people in databases should be held accountable for exposing children to sexual materials, objects, and behavior for the purpose of exploitation. I ask you to please vote yes for this bill. Thank You.

  25. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)59:23

      Thank you. Appreciate that.

  26. Dana Cooper, resident59:26

      I'm Dana Cooper, um, concerned citizen. Um, please support this bill to hold accountable companies and individuals who have intent to circulate sexual material, material, or slander children by spreading explicit material that has a likeness to the individual children and people that has a likeness to the material, individual children and people with advancing technology. That we need boundaries. There needs to be a course of action victims can take once the posting of material occurs. It can be out there forever and can come up on them any time in their life. Um, we need to, to put boundaries bound what is acceptable behavior where children under 18 years old are concerned society and governments are responsible to protect those individuals who are unable to protect themselves. There should be a course of action that can be taken by these individuals. Thank you.

  27. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:00:25

      Thank you. Appreciate it.

  28. Brooke Stephens, Utah Moms for America1:00:27

      My name is Brooke Stevens. I'm the Civic Engagement Director for Utah Moms for America, and we support HB 1 49. And we think they sponsor for this. Um, we know that our children need to be protected and, um, I think everything's been said, so we wanted to give our support. Thank you.

  29. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:00:45

      Thank you. How many more do we have in the room that would like to speak to this? Just a couple, and then we've got one on line. So, okay.

  30. Maryann Christensen, Utah Legislative Watch1:00:59

      Maryanne Christensen, executive Director of Utah Legislative Watch, and I'm here to speak in favor of the bill. It's so important that we protect our children because once they see something or expose to something or experience something, we cannot take that back. And it, it breaks their brains and it causes problems that, that we then have to, to, um, mitigate and treat for them. And that doesn't even mention the children that are the objects of the creation of this content. The best we can hope for them is that they, that they disa are able to disassociate, which is a really severe mental trauma. So anything that we can do to prevent that kind of abuse of children in Utah, it's just so needed. And I appreciate in the bill that it also is very specific, that this doesn't have to be one family, um, with a cause of action against, against, uh, an internet provider. It is actually, it can actually be, um, joinder of cases or class action suits as well. I appreciate that because I think it's really hard for parents to think just one of them can make a difference. So thank you for voting for the bill.

  31. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:02:17

      Thank you. Go ahead.

  32. Jason Beal, resident1:02:20

      Alright. My name is Jason Beal. I represent myself, my wife, and our very young children, uh, chair and members of the committee. I'm here to support House Bill 1 49, the third substitute. I appreciate the civic cause of action created in section, uh, 78 B 3 1 0 0 4, subsection one, along with the remedies and subsection two and clarification. Subsection five, allowing an action regardless of criminal conviction. I would like to briefly note that earlier drafts reference responsibility tied to creation or development, including language about development through the use of an algorithm. That language has been removed and replaced in subsection three with a narrower safe harbor tied to responsibility for creation of the content. I understand why, uh, this narrowing may have occurred, particularly given federal section two 30 considerations and litigation risk. Uh, I'm not asking for the bill to be delayed, I just wanted to point out that I do hope the legislature treats this as a starting point. Uh, the phrase responsible for creation of content will likely become a focal point for interpretation as courts distinguished between passive access and systems that shape or amplify distribution. I hope you vote yesterday on the current substitute. Thank you.

  33. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:03:40

      Thank you. Okay. We'll go online, um, to Anna Derbyshire. Anna, if you'll unmute your microphone and, and turn your camera on, if that's possible. Great.

  34. Anna Derbyshire, CitizenGO USA1:04:15

      My name is Anna Derbyshire, and I'm from Citizen Go, USA. I work nationally and internationally on family policy, including having addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and Defense of parental rights and child protection. I'm also a mother of 10 across every serious policy forum. One principle is clear is that parents have the primary right and responsibility to protect their children. HB 1 49 is not abstract for my family. Our children required counseling because of harm connected to online exploitation. And when we looked for accountability, there was no meaningful civil path available. Criminal law punishes offenders, but it does not give families a path to remedy the harm. HB 1 49 fills that gap by allowing victims to pursue civil action. It protects innocent providers, as has been stated and holds exploiters accountable. Utah has led before in protecting children, and this bill continues at leadership. So I respectfully urge you to send HB 49 out of committee for a vote. Thank you.

  35. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:05:25

      Thank you. All right, soon. No other hands online. Anyone else in the room? Okay. We'll bring it back to, uh, committee for Action and close, uh, public comment. Representative Jack. Thank you.

  36. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:05:46

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. I make a motion that we pass out HB 1 49. It looks like the sub is already adopted, correct? Or do we need, if we Need to adopt the third, We need to adopt the third sub. Okay. Mr. Chair, I make a motion that we adopt the third sub of HB 1 49 sexual material modifications.

  37. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:06:09

      Okay, that motion is in order. Would you like to speak to that motion?

  38. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:06:12

      I'll waive. Okay.

  39. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:06:14

      Uh, the motion is to adopt third substitute HB 1 49. Any discussion to the motion? Saying none will go to the sponsor.

  40. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck1:06:24speaker not certain

      Thank you. Just really quickly, um, maybe in closing, well, actually, this is the sub wave.

  41. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:06:29

      Okay. Wave the motion before us is to, uh, fairly recommend, or, sorry, sorry, sorry. Adopt third substitute. Um, I got ahead of myself too. So, adopt third, substitute HB 1 49. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That motion passes unanimously. We're, uh, we have adopted the third sub.

  42. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:06:53

      I would make a follow up motion. Okay.

  43. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:06:55

      Representative Jack? Yep.

  44. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:06:57

      I make a motion that we adopt HB 1 49 third sub sexual material modifications with a favorable recommendation. So that motion is an order. It is to favorably recommend, uh, third substitute HB 1 49.

  45. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:07:12

      Would you like to speak to that motion? I'll

  46. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:07:13

      Waive. Okay.

  47. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:07:14

      Well, uh, summation has been waived to the sponsor. Thank you. Actually, wait, um, is there a discussion to

  48. Unknown speaker1:07:21speaker not certain

      that motion saying none to the sponsor? Okay. Yeah, I promise I'll be fast because clearly we're clipping along here. Um, I just wanted to maybe bring this a little bit to me personally. I was not aware, just like was already stated in one of the questions that people could not sue for these terrible egregious circumstances that they find themselves in or their children in. And for years, I took in therapeutic children treatment children who had been severely abused. Sometimes they were the victims of things like this. And I saw firsthand what they face. I saw the therapy, I saw the trauma, I saw the broken bonds, the inability to attach to other people. I saw it's real, their pains are real. They need to be able to have a voice and get some restitution for what has happened to them. So I hope that you'll vote for this bill today. Thank you.

  49. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:08:25

      Thank you, representative. So the motion before us is to favorably recommend, uh, third substitute HB 1 49. Um, we'll go ahead and place that motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you, representative.

  50. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:08:42

      Thank you. Okay, we'll go to the next item. Oh, sorry. Uh, Representative Shelley,

  51. Rep. Troy Shelley1:08:50

      Could we make a motion to put that on consent? Uh, Representative Peck before you leave? That Sounds like a really good motion. I just missed. Yeah. Uh, let me, let me, yeah.

  52. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:09:05

      The motion is to place this on consent. Would you like to speak to that motion Representative Shelley?

  53. Rep. Troy Shelley1:09:10

      I think it's a great consent. It's, uh, it's pretty well unanimous opinion. I think it should be a perfect consent item.

  54. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:09:19

      Okay. Um, discussion to that motion by committee. Go to the sponsor.

  55. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck1:09:26

      Wow. Thank you. I would, I approve.

  56. Committee chair (Rep. Jon Hawkins)1:09:29

      Okay. Um, I, I figured you'd approve that one. So, um, okay. The motion is to place third substitute HB 1 49. Um, on consent, uh, on the consent calendar. Place that motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That motion passes. You are on the consent calendar. Thank You everyone. Thank you. Okay, we'll go to the next item on the agenda.

• Feb 27, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (3 turns)

  1. Speaker Pro Tem (presiding)1:37:40

     Third substitute house Bill 1 49. Sexual material modifications by Representative Peck. This bill was heard in Economic Development and Workforce Services with a vote of 8 0 3. Representative Peck.

  2. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck1:37:54

     Thank you Mr. Speaker Pro Tem. This bill is about child sexual abuse material. It's not a very happy topic to talk about. It's like the worst of the worst pornography that's out there. And sadly, it is becoming a bigger problem in our society because this problem is a newer growing problem. We actually don't have the mechanisms in the courts to be able to handle it. In fact, even at the federal level until just a few years ago, there wasn't a way for people at the federal level to actually sue have a civil action federally, um, for damages related to child sexual abuse material. So, um, and that came about because of a court case that happened there anyway. So that now is the federal level. You can do that. But now someone at a state level, if they were portrayed in child sexual abuse material or, um, they, their child was portrayed in that type of horrible material, if a criminal case had already been done, that would be it for them. And maybe somebody else did the criminal case and maybe their child is in therapy for a long period of time. Those types of things, they would need to be able to have a way to have recourse. So what this law does is just puts it in alignment with the federal standard that allows people that are those victims to be able to sue for damages of those crimes.

  3. Speaker Pro Tem (presiding)1:39:10

     Thank you, Representative Peck. Discussion to the bill. See none. Representative Peck for summation, I waive. Summation is waived. Voting is open on third subject to house Bill 1 49. Sexual material modifications, seeing all present having voted voting will be closed. Third, substitute house bill 1 49 having received 63 yay votes and one na vote passes the house and will be transmitted to the Senate for its consideration. Thank you representative. As that concludes our work for this morning, Representative Hawkins announcements from the third house.

• Mar 4, 2026 Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (24 turns)

  1. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)42:26

     Alright, we got the third substitute house bill, 1 49 sexual material modifications. Representative Beck, I, if it's on this one or the other deal, may as well pass 'em out. We'll have them saw that other one. Okay. It's on the next one? I think so. Oh, okay. This one Good. This one In a second. Okay.

  2. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck43:04

     Go ahead. Thank You Mr. Chair, members of the committee. Um, I am happy to be here to present this bill today. It's a very important bill that stands up for a marginalized, um, group in our population that is, we're becoming more and more aware of, but have been mostly hidden in many year for many, many years. So in Utah, in 2024, over 8,324 reports of child sexual abuse material. So we're talking about the worst of the worst. We're not talking about porn, not like just, you know, seeing like penthouse magazines or stuff like that. We're talking about when there's people who are perving and creating material where they are sexually abusing children, making it available on videos and things like that and, and pushing it out to people. Um, 8,324 reports in Utah in 2024. Also, we know that when it comes to sexual assault cases in Utah, only four out of every 100 sexual assault cases are actually, uh, criminally prosecuted. So we have a serious issue when it comes to internet crimes against children and those being prosecuted. And the reason why is actually because we have a gap in our law. And I'd like to speak just briefly about that. So, um, in 2014, there was a Supreme Court case, Caroline versus the United States. And in this case, there was a person who pled guilty to purveying or, or sending out, distributing, um, child sexual abuse material of a person. Um, and after that case, they wanted to have a, a civil case for damages. So that was a criminal case, but they couldn't do the semi, the civil case, even federally at that time. And they realized, oh, these, this is a new area of law now that we have to have civil cases and criminal cases, both because it's becoming so prevalent. So on the federal level, they created a civil action for these types of child abuse cases. And since then, three states have also gone on board and created a civil action for these child sexual abuse material cases. Anyway, what this bill does is it just makes it so that we fill in that gap here in Utah. So the people who as children or who have had children that have had this child sexual abuse material made of them, that they can actually, um, do a civil action and sue for damages, like all the therapy and things that they might be facing in their lives. I would like to turn a teeny bit of time over to Chris Cohen, and then I also have online, um, whoops, where's the name? I've also got, um, Trey Dillinger online and, and if we could promote him up, he has maybe like a little teeny bit to say as well. So go ahead. We're we're gonna try to be fast. Yeah.

  3. Kimberly Cohen46:09

     My name is Kimberly Cohen, and I recognize a few faces from yesterday. Um, I would like to speak to my, my experience with child pornography as a child. It was the seventies, totally different technology back then, but still very traumatic, very awful. I don't know if, if you've done any research, but some of the numbers, one of the highest paying things you can find on the black market is to buy the opportunity to sexually abuse a newborn infant. And the sooner they're out of the womb, the better. And that is one of the highest items for sale on the black market. The next highest is to visually be able to watch that material. And, and, and that's a newborn. And of course that goes down to any, any child. But I was sexually abused, trafficked, ritualistically, abused, tortured as a newborn until I was nearly 21. And it was mu, much of it was videotaped, much of it was played in front of me and made me to believe that it was my fault that I was the vulgar thing that was happening there. And, and it was distributed, held over my head as blackmail. Um, I don't know where that material is now. None of my perpetrators ever did time for me or for any of their sexual abuse crimes, maybe for drunk driving or something like that. But I was videotaped being sexually assaulted, raped by multiple men, um, tortured to near death. Um, any, any kind of horror you could expect or think of and not even imagine because your brains can't go there happened to me. And was, was videoed as kind of gathering of evidence. There were medical experience experiments, um, done to me and video, they videoed those to just gather evidence on what could happen when you were breaking down a brain. And, um, and this is honestly one of the hardest things for me to speak about, and I'm holding myself together. It's so many things have happened, but I I know that these things happened. And not only it was it captured in the moment, which was already horrific, but that it lives on that those moments are being, they're raging out there, or they were, maybe I'm too old now. I don't know. I don't know how long things live, but now it's even easier. It's even easier to access something. It's even make false videos of things and people, and there needs to be a recourse. There has to be something that can be done. So something private is private, like my body is my body, but I never knew that until I was way older. And, um, oh, she wanted me to mention that I am covered in scars. I've literally cut from my face down, and every bit of me is covered in scars as a result of this trauma. I've tried to die by suicide multiple times. I have had so many mental health issues. I've spent so much time in institutions and been treated very poorly because of behaviors that didn't make sense. And how, how can you have a reasonable behavior to something that is outrageous, that there no soul and no body and no mind is prepared to handle, let alone know that it lives and that other people are buying and selling these things that were so horrific to me that I don't sleep at night still. I am 56 in a month. And, you know, it's, I don't know if there's a day that goes by that I don't think of suicide, that I don't think of some way of escaping this because I've not been able to heal from it. I've been able to heal in increments, but, you know, the freedom of a life that I wished I had isn't there. And, and we need to, we need to do better for these victims. First of all, protect them, find them, but also give them a recourse for some kind of justice.

  4. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)50:44

     Thank you, Kim. And then Trey Dire has a little bit to say online if you can promote him. Okay. Go ahead, Trey.

  5. Trey Dellinger, AFA Action50:56

     Yes. Um, I th I wanna thank you, uh, chair Winterton and committee members for allowing me to testify today. Um, as Representative Peck said, my name is Trey Dellinger. I'm an attorney and senior legal fellow with a FA action, which is the government affairs affiliate of the American Family Association. A FA action has been actively involved in the passage of legislation like HP 1 49 and, uh, other states, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Mississippi. Uh, we enthusiastically support this legislation, um, victims like the witness you just heard testify, who are victims of child pornography and criminal obscenity should be allowed to sue people that create this illegal content. And the websites that make it available online. No civilized society should allow this to go on, period. There is no, uh, way that a civilized society should allow the kind of trauma that we just heard about from the last witness. Um, you have an opportunity today to set that right and, uh, stop this from going on in Utah. I wanna reassure the committee that if passed into law, uh, HB 1 49 would clearly be constitutional because the US Supreme Court has unequivocally held that obscenity and child pornography are not protected speech victims of this kind of, uh, online sexual abuse, like the witness we just heard from, deserve their day in court. We will stand before the bar of history, uh, for what we do, that we let this go on and we need to stop it. I urge you to support this bill, and I'm happy to take any questions from the committee, uh, as appropriate. Thank you.

  6. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)52:43

     Okay, thank you. Thank you Mr. Dillinger.

  7. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck52:45

     And just finally, the only thing I would say is that, um, we've worked really closely with the ag on this and all of the language here to make sure it's good. We've also had conversations with the tech companies and made sure that we put their language in so that companies like Comcast and such wouldn't be caught into providing any of this because they were just providing an internet connection.

  8. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)53:07

     Okay. Does that end your

  9. Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck53:09

     Presentation? That is it. With that, I'm open to questions.

  10. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)53:11

      Okay. Questions from the committee saying none. Let's go to the public here. Are there people that want to speak to this? Bill? If you'd raise your hands and we'd get an idea of how many we've got. Alright, we've got four in the room. We'll take you four. So come up and fill the seats again. I'd ask you to, to sign in and then state your name and who you're with, who you represent. Okay. We've got one on the line also, so we'll have five on this bill. Okay, go ahead.

  11. Dana Cooper, Worldwide Organization for Women53:51

      Okay. Um, I'm Dana Cooper. I represent the worldwide organization for women, um, and we advocate to protect families and children. Um, children. I re I would like you to vote yes on this. Children need the protection and path of recourse from the damages done when they're abused. Companies and individual individuals need to be held accountable for what they have done. Please vote yes for the protection of people who cannot defend themselves. Thank you.

  12. Phyllis Kimmel54:26

      I'm Phyllis Kimmel. I'm representing myself. Um, people and databases should be held accountable for exposing children to sexual materials, objects, videos for the purpose of exploitation of children. I please ask you to vote yes for this bill. Thank you.

  13. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)54:43

      Thank you. Oh,

  14. Phyllis Kimmel54:44

      and sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I?

  15. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)54:48

      Phyllis? You did. Thank

  16. Brooke Stevens, Utah Moms for America54:50

      You. My name is Brooke Stevens. I'm the Civic Engagement Director for Utah Moms for America. Um, I have a close relative who was trafficked as an infant, and I'm so grateful that the sponsor for doing this. I know it's a lifetime of healing and struggle. And we're, um, we ask you to vote yes on HB 1 49. Thank you.

  17. Delaine England, Utah Eagle Forum55:13

      Delaine England. I'm speaking for Utah Eagle Forum and United Women's Forum. We ask you to support this bill. Um, I think everything that could be said has been said. No, civilized society could stand for such behavior and go unnoticed, so please support the bill. Thank you.

  18. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)55:34

      Anna Derbyshire, if you'll, uh, turn on your camera on mute. We'll give you time. There you go. Go ahead.

  19. Anna Derbyshire, Citizen Go USA55:43

      My name is Anna Derbyshire and I work for Citizen Go, USA on National and International Family Policy, and have addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and Defense of parental rights and child protection. I'm also the mother of 10. And across every serious policy forum, one principle is clear that parents have the primary right and responsibility to protect their children. HB 1 49 is not abstract from my family either. Our children have required counseling because of harm connected to online exploitation, and when we looked for accountability, there was no meaningful civil path forward or available. Uh, criminal law punishes offenders, but it does not give families a path to remedy the harm. HB 1 49 fills that gap by allowing victims to pursue civil action, and it protects innocent providers as already stated and holds exploiters accountable. Utah is known for leading before in the protection of children, and this bill continues that leadership. So I respectfully urge you to send HB 1 49 out of committee. Thank you.

  20. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)56:54

      Thank you. All right, we'll close the public comment and come back for further considerations. Senator Vickers.

  21. Sen. Evan J. Vickers57:07

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would make a motion that we favorably recommend House Bill 1 49. Third substitute.

  22. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)57:13

      Okay. Discussion to that motion. Go back to the sponsor For summation, I'm gonna waive Senator Vickers.

  23. Sen. Evan J. Vickers57:21

      No, I think the testimony has been compelling. Thanks.

  24. Committee chair (Sen. Ronald M. Winterton)57:23

      All right. Uh, the motion is, is a third substitute house bill 1 49 out favorably. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that is unanimous then. Alright, thank you. Let's see,