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Drug policy director Bob Martinez urges Utah to pass HB 58 and HB 59
Summary
White House drug policy director Bob Martinez told a joint session of the Utah Legislature that national youth drug use has fallen and urged lawmakers to pass the Drug Precursor Act (HB 58) and the Clandestine Drug Lab Act (HB 59), strengthen asset‑forfeiture and money‑laundering laws, and fund enforcement and treatment.
Governor Bob Martinez, the White House director of drug policy, addressed a joint convention of the Utah House and Senate and urged lawmakers to pass two bills aimed at curbing methamphetamine production and precursor chemicals.
“I am here today to tell you that there is good news,” Martinez said, citing national survey declines in some measures of drug use while warning that serious problems remain. He told legislators the Administration would seek larger federal support for state efforts and asked the Utah Legislature to act on state statutes to reduce local risks.
Martinez recommended passage of HB 58, the Drug Precursor Act, which he said would “make it possible to keep a track of sales of all those chemicals that are essential to the production and processing of illegal drugs,” and HB 59, the Clandestine Drug Lab Act, aimed at criminalizing steps involved in meth lab production and reducing associated safety and environmental hazards. He warned that producers were moving into states without precursor controls and said failure to act “risks becoming a major methamphetamine supply center.”
Martinez described increased federal support: he said the president would request $12,700,000,000 for drug‑related programs in the next fiscal year and that federal block grants to Utah for education, law enforcement and treatment had increased about 94 percent since the start of the current administration, amounting to roughly $5.4 million more annually for the state.
He also urged changes to Utah’s asset‑forfeiture law so prosecutors could reach out‑of‑state and substitute assets and recommended amending the money‑laundering statute to permit prosecution of individuals who have “reason to know” they are transporting proceeds of crime, citing a courier stop used as an example.
Martinez highlighted local civic engagement, praising a Highland High School class led by teacher Greg Hayes for helping draft a precursor‑control proposal and noting testimony earlier in the process by Christie Cooper, a fifth grader whose firsthand account of a neighborhood meth seizure Martinez described as “compelling.”
No formal votes on the bills were recorded during the joint convention. The convention convened and dissolved by voice votes; Martinez’s remarks served as an appeal to state policymakers to tighten precursor controls, strengthen enforcement tools, and sustain treatment and prevention funding.
The joint convention was opened by a motion in the House and later dissolved by voice vote; there was no on‑the‑floor action on HB 58 or HB 59 during the session.
