Senate advances bill to strengthen internal-investigation reporting and limit post-employment gaps

Senate Bill 13, a measure to tighten internal-investigation and reporting requirements for Utah law-enforcement agencies, was advanced to the third-reading calendar after the Senate adopted a floor amendment and approved the bill by roll call.

Senator Luz Escamilla (presenting as Senator Iwamoto on the floor) explained that the bill requires employing agencies or training academies to provide information to prospective employers and mandates reporting of certain investigations to POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training). The bill builds on last year’s HB43 and was described as closing a procedural loophole that allowed officers to evade discipline by separating from an agency while an investigation was pending.

On the floor, Senator Iwamoto moved Amendment 1 to the second substitute to add a two-year time limit for investigations that continue after an employee has left and to replace the phrase "found to be true" with "substantiated" to clarify outcomes. The amendment passed without objection. The Senate then voted to advance the amended second substitute to the third-reading calendar; the clerk recorded 26 Aye, 0 Nay, 3 absent.

Senator Iwamoto said the bill was vetted by stakeholders including the Fraternal Order of Police, NAACP state conference, the Utah League of Cities and Towns, Black Lives Matter Salt Lake and others and that the changes aim to ensure transparency and accountability while preserving due-process protections. The amendment and floor action do not themselves change implementation details; agencies will follow statutory reporting and POST rules once the bill is enacted.