Senate approves bill clarifying assault and threat protections for child welfare workers

The Utah State Senate passed Senate Bill 68 on Jan. 29, 2025, clarifying criminal liability for assaults or threats against child welfare workers and their families while the worker is performing duties or at other times.

Senator Vickers, sponsor of the bill, told the Senate the measure clarifies prosecutors’ authority to pursue charges when child welfare workers or their family members are threatened or assaulted in connection with the workers’ official duties. “The challenge we've had is that the prosecutors have felt that they didn't have the right statute to be able to prosecute individuals when they were making a threat against the individual or their family,” Senator Vickers said on the Senate floor.

The bill updates language from earlier 2019 protections to make clear that an assault, or threats against a worker or their family, may be charged whether the attack or threat occurs while the worker is performing duties or at another time. Senator Vickers acknowledged that some senators raised questions about the penalty level; the chamber discussed whether a class A misdemeanor is the correct penalty and he said that may need follow-up policy discussion even if it did not change the bill’s language for this vote.

Under a roll call, the chamber recorded 28 yea votes, 0 nays and 1 absent; the president announced the measure “passes this body and will be sent to the House for their consideration.” No amendments were recorded on the floor. The sponsor waived further summation and moved the bill’s final passage.

The action responds to testimony and prosecutorial feedback described on the floor that, as currently written, state law left uncertainty about when threats connected to child-welfare duties could be charged. The bill does not change sentencing ranges in other respects beyond the clarifying language discussed on the floor.

The bill now goes to the Utah House of Representatives for consideration.