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House approves electronic monitoring for domestic-violence offenders, 65–4
Summary
The Utah House passed substitute House Bill 222 to allow courts to order electronic monitoring for persons who violate protective orders. Sponsors said ankle bracelets tied to base units in victims’ homes will automatically notify police and can provide audio recordings; respondents generally pay rental fees with indigent waivers funded by surcharge mechanisms.
The Utah House on Thursday approved substitute House Bill 222, a measure that lets judges order electronic monitoring for people who violate protective orders, in a 65–4 vote.
Floor sponsor (unnamed on the record) described the system as “an attempt to give protective orders a little teeth,” explaining that a victim places a base unit in the home and a respondent wears an ankle bracelet that triggers an alarm and police notification if the offender enters the protected area. The sponsor said the device also records audio within the home to reduce he‑said, she‑said disputes: “This is an automatic technological proof of that,” the floor sponsor said on the House floor.
Members asked technical and fiscal questions. Sponsors said the technology currently operates principally inside the home with an effective radius that can vary by structure and placement — “anywhere up to 500 or so feet,” the sponsor said — and acknowledged a handheld trigger exists for brief excursions near the home. The substitute imposes a fee for the monitoring service; sponsors said respondents will generally pay a rental fee (the sponsor described the cost as “anywhere from 7 to $8 a day”) and that private providers will contract with the Department of Corrections or probation and parole to provide the service. To cover indigent respondents, proponents said higher fees on some users will cross‑subsidize those who cannot pay.
Supporters framed the bill as an option short of imprisonment that gives victims warning and automatic police notification. “It offers some sense of real life and security for the victims of domestic violence in their homes,” the sponsor said during floor remarks. Questions from members focused on range, reliability, the fiscal note, and whether the program would impose costs on taxpayers; proponents said corrections/probation could provide the program directly or via contract and that the substitute addressed fiscal concerns raised in the original note.
After floor debate, the House voted 65 in favor and 4 opposed to send the substitute to the Senate for consideration.
Next step: the measure will go to the Utah Senate for its consideration.
