Senate Approves Bill Letting Jurisdictions Charge for Prisoner Transports

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Senate on Jan. 19 approved Senate Bill 21, allowing jurisdictions to charge transportation fees to recover the cost of returning people wanted on warrants to the jurisdiction where they face charges. The bill passed on a roll call with 27 ayes, no nays and two members absent and was transmitted to the House for further action.

Sponsor Senator Black said the bill "makes him pay his own transportation cost," describing a tiered fee schedule in the bill to reimburse agencies for lengthy transports. He framed SB 21 as a fix to a practical enforcement problem: jurisdictions often declined to retrieve people on statewide warrants because of transport expense, sometimes leading to repeated releases rather than prosecution.

Senator Reese asked whether the proposal would divert money from the victim restitution fund. Senator Black and supporters repeatedly said the transport fees are a separate category and "do not come out of" the victim reparation fund, adding that courts would handle collection and repayment when defendants are convicted.

Senator Beatty, expressing support, said the change would help recoup otherwise-uncollected sums and help enforcement. "One of the problems we have is we had outstanding somewhere around $50,000,000 in unpaid fines," Beatty said, arguing SB 21 would help jurisdictions collect and bring defendants back to face charges.

Supporters told the chamber the bill would allow agencies to charge or contract for transport, ensure jurisdictions are paid for the service of retrieving defendants, and reduce instances where people with outstanding warrants were released because no agency would bear the cost of transport.

The Senate recorded the vote immediately after the debate; the clerk announced the bill passes and it was sent to the House for consideration.