Utah Senate advances child-welfare cleanup, DNA-notification changes and other bills amid debates on school seclusion, phones and municipal broadband

First substitute Senate Bill 177, a child-welfare cleanup measure, and a number of other bills advanced Wednesday as the Utah Senate cleared a busy second-reading calendar.

Senator Harper, sponsor of the child-welfare measure, described the bill as "a cleanup bill by working with, all the stakeholders, DCFS, Guardian ad Litem, attorney general's office, parental defense advocates, and other attorneys." He said the measure updates definitions in the juvenile code, adjusts review time frames for certain child‑abuse findings and clarifies evidence and reunification considerations the juvenile court may consider. The Senate voted to read the bill a third time; the clerk later reported the bill had received 22 "yay" votes, 0 "nay" and 7 absent.

Why it matters: Sponsors and supporters said the changes are technical and intended to align statute language with practice and stakeholder expectations in juvenile proceedings.

Senate consideration of law‑enforcement DNA rules drew extended floor discussion following committee action. Senator Plum and Senator Wyler explained revisions to a bill intended both to clear a backlog of previously collected specimens that prosecutors and the state crime lab said they could not legally process because of warrant wording, and to add a notice requirement for people whose DNA was collected upon arrest but whose charges were later dropped or who were found not guilty.

Senator Wyler said the second substitute would make prosecutors notify people if their DNA was collected at arrest and later their case ended without conviction: "...when they're found not guilty, etcetera, the prosecutor's office would have to notify them that they can ask and how to how to remove their DNA from the database." Senator Plum said the bill as substituted clarifies the warrant language so the crime lab can run older specimens it currently cannot process; she noted the lab reported roughly 500 unprocessed samples dating back to about 2011 or 2012. The Senate advanced the second substitute; the clerk recorded the measure as having received 22 yeas, 4 nays and 3 absent.

School safety and discipline measures prompted substantial debate. Senator Escamilla described a second substitute to Senate Bill 170 that would codify emergency safety interventions (ESIs) in statute, define terms such as seclusion and physical restraint, require parental notification within 24 hours when such interventions are used, and require school districts to adopt written policies aligned with state board rulemaking. Escamilla said the bill is intended to make existing expectations explicit and to ensure seclusion is used only as an emergency last resort. The Senate advanced the second substitute unanimously on the floor vote that was reported as 23 yeas, 0 nays, 6 absent.

Senate Bill 178, which proposes a state default that personal electronic devices be prohibited during class unless a local education agency adopts a permissive policy allowing them, drew a mix of support and concern. Sponsor Senator Fillmore said the bill flips the default to ask school districts how they will "allow and integrate this technology in order to help our students thrive in school" rather than leaving districts to decide how to restrict devices. Opponents on the floor raised enforcement concerns and the administrative burden on teachers, noting carve‑outs for emergency health needs and for assistive technology under individualized education plans. The chamber read the bill for a third time after debate; the roll-call tally recorded 22 yeas, 2 nays, 5 absent.

Municipal broadband also drew floor discussion. Sponsor Senator Fillmore said Senate Bill 165 would add broadband to the Utah Municipal Cable Television and Public Telecommunications Services Act, require a feasibility study and public hearings before a municipality builds a taxpayer-funded broadband network, require annual reporting benchmarked to the feasibility study, and require voter approval before a city pursues government-owned fiber projects that would be backed by municipal bonds. He said the bill would not affect existing projects. The bill was advanced to third reading; the clerk reported 24 yeas, 1 nay, 4 absent.

On taxation, Senator Fillmore explained his measure to update the definition of "restaurant" for sales-tax purposes so made-to-order food prepared inside grocery stores would be taxed the same as comparable restaurant food. He said the change targets food prepared to customer order inside a grocery‑store setting (for example, made-to-order burgers sold from a counter inside a grocery store) and does not change tax treatment of prepackaged items such as rotisserie chickens. The Senate approved the second substitute; the clerk announced a 25‑yea unanimous vote in that roll call and read it for a third time.

Homeless‑services oversight: Senator Plum described Senate Bill 78, which would create a homeless‑services provider ombudsman within the Office of Homeless Services to collect complaints, coordinate referrals and escalate concerns about service providers. Plum said the measure responds to reported predatory behavior and to the lack of an organized state mechanism to collect and act on complaints; she said the proposal included a fiscal note of about $213,000 and a five‑year sunset. The measure passed third reading with 21 yeas, 1 nay and 7 absent.

Votes at a glance: the Senate clerk read multiple third‑reading outcomes during the session. Several bills were read for a third time and recorded with the following roll‑call results (as read on the floor): first substitute Senate Bill 177 (child welfare) — 22 yeas, 0 nays, 7 absent; Senate Bill 174 as amended (transit governance) — 22 yeas, 0 nays, 7 absent; first substitute Senate Bill 150 (nonpublic personal information) — 22 yeas, 0 nays, 7 absent; first substitute Senate Bill 157 (nonjudicial adjustment amendments) — 21 yeas, 0 nays, 8 absent; first substitute Senate Bill 161 (cultural and community engagement) — 25 yeas, 0 nays, 4 absent; second substitute Senate Bill 140 (law‑enforcement DNA amendments) — 22 yeas, 4 nays, 3 absent; second substitute Senate Bill 91 (restaurant tax revisions) — 25 yeas, 0 nays, 4 absent; second substitute Senate Bill 165 (municipal broadband service amendments) — 24 yeas, 1 nay, 4 absent; first substitute Senate Bill 162 (Talent Connect pilot) — 25 yeas, 0 nays, 4 absent; second substitute Senate Bill 170 (school discipline/ESI codification) — 23 yeas, 0 nays, 6 absent; first substitute Senate Bill 178 (devices in public schools) — 22 yeas, 2 nays, 5 absent; first substitute Senate Bill 78 (homeless services ombudsman) — 21 yeas, 1 nay, 7 absent. (The clerk read additional third‑reading tallies for other bills that appear in the full floor record.)

What’s next: Several bills were substituted on the floor and referred to third reading; several other measures were assigned to standing committees or the rules committee. Lawmakers logged rules‑committee assignments and introductions to be scheduled for future committee work.

Sources: Floor proceedings of the Utah State Senate on Feb. 11, 2025 (verbatim remarks and roll‑call tallies as read aloud on the chamber floor).