Housing and growth

The bill changes the timing for ending Medicaid expansion if Utah's expansion trigger law is activated by federal changes, giving the Legislature at least one session to respond instead of an immediate July 1 sunset.

H.B. 40 rewrites Utah's construction trades licensing laws into a reorganized, easier-to-read form without changing the requirements themselves.

The bill adopts the 2024 International Wildland Urban Interface Code, updated and renamed for Utah, and removes the sprinkler requirement for residential structures in wildland-urban interface areas.

This bill adopts the 2024 version of the International Fire Code as the state fire code, as modified for Utah by the Fire Prevention Board.

H.B. 68 would move about 40 housing policies and programs now spread across several state agencies into one housing office under the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, led by a Senate-confirmed deputy director who reports to legislative committees.

H.B. 76 would require operators of large data centers, defined as facilities of about 10,000 square feet or more, to submit a water use report to the state water engineer between 180 and 360 days before construction begins.

The bill changes the personal information required for a judgment lien on an individual's real property, so only the last four digits of the Social Security number would be needed.

The bill caps the late fee for failing to report big game hunt harvests at $25.

H.B. 211 would allow land patents issued by the state that bear the Great Seal of Utah to be recorded without a notary's signature, even though a 1988 law generally requires notarized land transfers before recording.

The bill would stop cities and counties from enforcing local ordinances that prevent property owners from clearing defensible space around homes as required by the wildland urban interface code.

H.B. 268 would require towing companies to send a certified notice to the vehicle owner or lienholder within two business days after towing a vehicle.

The bill, as amended in its latest version, lets a service provider temporarily expand congregate shelter bed capacity under certain conditions and changes how participating local governments distribute tax revenues for homeless shelters.

H.B. 313 would require landscape contractors to take two of their six required continuing education hours every two years on water conservation and fire safety landscaping.

This bill asks the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a guide for street medicine providers, which offer medical care to unsheltered people, and gives the department rulemaking authority.

The bill requires the Department of Public Safety to run a location monitoring program, using ankle monitors paid for by the state, for registered sex offenders who do not give a residential address.

H.B. 377 would bring back the dual broker license, which lets a residential brokerage also run a property-management-only company, and would limit the property manager license to residential property.

The bill would extend an existing rule that assigns shared bedrooms and bathrooms by birth sex to privately owned off-campus housing advertised as single-sex, including shared rentals and group living.

The bill adds a new home-building measure to the moderate income housing plan that gives cities a second bonus point for transportation funding if their housing supply grows 2.5% or more, usable on regional transportation projects.

The bill limits when a road crossing private land can be closed, keeping roads open if they have long been used to reach public land or other private property.

The bill would require a county that wants to buy land located in another county to notify that county and get formal approval from its legislative body before the purchase.

This bill renames the state economic development agency from GO Utah back to GOED.

H.B. 481 would give the Utah Department of Transportation the same authority over commuter rail and transit rail projects that it already has over roads, and would repeal the state code for the Clean Vehicle Program decal.

The bill requires state agencies, including higher education, to define a building's scope through programming before requesting construction funds.

H.B. 520 would direct a housing expert in the governor's office, working with higher education leaders, to study how college student populations affect housing markets in surrounding towns and cities, including the cost of those effects.

The bill would require a public entity such as a city, county, school district, or special district to post a sign and give public meeting notice before selling, leasing, or joint-venturing a parcel of public property valued at $500,000 or more.

This bill adds about $454.7 million in supplemental spending to the state's 2026 fiscal year budget for various state agencies, and reduces general fund and income tax fund spending by $25.8 million.

S.B. 12 extends the expiration date of Utah's Alternative Dispute Resolution Act from July 1, 2026 to July 1, 2036, so the law keeps existing rather than ending.

S.B. 39 moves existing investment zone and housing incentive laws from several parts of Utah's code into one consolidated section with its own definitions, and shifts housing incentive programs from Workforce Services to the governor's Office of Economic Opportunity.

S.B. 44 updates the state's Resource Management Plan, which covers how state and public lands and resources are managed, by making about 32 recommended changes.

Senate Bill 47 renews the state's administrative rules for executive agencies for another year.

The bill changes Utah's HOA and condominium laws.

This bill would raise the maximum direct relocation assistance a displaced small business, family farm, or nonprofit can receive from $50,000 to $75,000 when government action forces it to move.

S.B. 146 would allow municipalities, not just the Utah Department of Transportation, to use approved industrial byproducts such as steel slag, including the remaining slag pile at the former Geneva Steel site, in city projects like sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and parking lots as aggregate base.

S.B. 242 is a broad transportation bill that lets local governments temporarily bar mobile food businesses during certain celebrations and sets a road usage charge of up to $500 a year on electric commercial vehicles over 6,000 pounds.

The bill would let the Judicial Council set up a statewide division within district court that handles most eviction and debt collection cases in a central location, often through commissioners rather than judges.

S.B. 278 modifies the law governing the Point of the Mountain land use authority, which is redeveloping the former state prison site in Draper.

This bill changes Utah city and county rules on incorporation, model homes, planning commissions, land use fees and conditional use permits, cash bond interest, and land use checklists.

The bill would update Utah's commercial interior designer certification law to reference the International Building Code and remove two statutory limits, including occupancy restrictions, on that work.

This nonbinding Senate resolution states that the Legislature supports including agriculture in residential developments and urban neighborhood planning.

This bill would let voters challenge local school board decisions through a referendum, unless the board passes the decision by a supermajority vote.

HB 184 would let cities approve or deny a small-lot or starter home through a basic application, without rezoning the whole zone where it would be built.

The bill would require cities in the Great Salt Lake drainage that lack a water-efficient landscaping ordinance for new construction to adopt one.

This bill would let homeowners doing remodels on their own homes use qualified, licensed third parties, instead of only city officials, for building plan review before a permit and for inspections afterward.

The bill would require landlords to give tenants 60 days' notice before raising rent under a lease, such as a semester or four-month contract.

H.B. 486 would amend the state's fraudulent deeds law to define an "interest holder" as the person who holds the present lawful property interest in the real property.

The bill changes a pilot program that lets landowners pursue a new town without a resident vote.

The bill would let landlords end a rental agreement if a dangerous condition threatens death or serious physical harm, or if a defect cannot be fixed while the tenant lives there.

The bill would set up a system to study how groundwater is recharged in aquifers.

The bill would add certification guidelines for radon professionals, requiring them to show they meet any state or federal regulations that apply to their work.

The bill would create a mechanism to fund the shelter city mitigation fund, which pays cities that host homeless resource centers, after its overflow money runs out April 30.

This bill would extend the expiration date of the state's land use and eminent domain advisory board to 2036, so the board would continue to exist until then.

The bill lets landlords choose to offer their tenants reporting of on-time rent payments to credit reporting agencies, instead of requiring it.

This bill would waive driver license fees for youth experiencing homelessness.

This bill would add two new members to the Utah Homeless Services Board.

The bill, as substituted, would create a pilot program in which the Salt Lake City Housing Authority reports tenants' timely rent payments to credit bureaus, if the tenant requests it.

This bill would add the Utah Masonry Council to the list of approved providers of continuing education for contractor licenses.

This bill would let a person ask to expunge, or erase, a dismissed eviction filing one year after the case was dismissed, instead of the three years current law requires.

S.B. 221 clarifies rules for housing and transit reinvestment zones, including limiting how many times tax increment can be triggered to five and defining the base year.

The bill would require a comprehensive plan, with set oversight and reporting steps, to be in place before a large homeless campus opens.

The bill would require that impact fees be spent only on improvements listed in the impact fee facilities plan in effect when the fees were collected.

The bill would require that when the Office of Homeless Services or the Homeless Services Board announces or recommends a homeless services campus, a community member from that area be appointed to the board.

The bill creates a 17-member task force on homelessness in vulnerable populations that brings together state housing and homelessness officials, local housing authorities, service providers, developers, and the 2034 Olympic organizing committee.

S.B. 277 removes the cap on the interest rate lenders can charge under the Utah Homes Investment Program, which uses $300 million in state funds to make loans for housing construction, and extends the program's funding availability from 2028 to 2029.

The bill would create a non-refundable tax credit for neighbors living within one mile of a homeless services campus with more than 500 beds, as amended.

S.B. 309 would require owners of single-family rental homes to register with the state and would charge an excise tax on owners who hold large portfolios of such homes.

This bill would repeal state licensing requirements for commercial interior designers, court reporters, deception detection practitioners, and music therapists, so people in those jobs would no longer need a state license.

This nonbinding resolution would state that the Legislature recognizes the Utah Housing Strategic Plan, a plan the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget developed under HB 37.

This concurrent resolution asks the federal government to consider transferring small federal parcels that are inside or directly next to Utah cities back to the state for moderate income housing.