Senate approves bill letting mental-health professionals share subpoenaed information with Board of Pardons after contentious floor debate

Senate Bill 2 — a measure to allow licensed health professionals to share information with the Board of Pardons and Parole — was the session’s most contested item. Senators first resolved into a committee of the whole to hear testimony from Jan Harding, chair of the forensic committee of the Utah Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and from a Board/Corrections representative identified on the floor as Mike Sibud/Sibbet.

Jan Harding warned of a chilling effect: if incarcerated persons believe what they tell therapists will be passed to the Board, some will withhold information and the bill could make it harder to obtain candid clinical disclosures. "The biggest problem is the real criminals... will realize that if they say anything to a counselor or therapist, it's gonna go to the board of pardons," Harding said, and she argued that low staffing and limited therapeutic environments could make shared information unreliable.

Board/Corrections testimony countered that the Board already has subpoena power and that professionals sometimes withhold information for fear of licensing disciplinary action; the representative argued the bill would enable sharing of information without risking professional licenses and would help the Board make better-informed parole decisions. "What this bill simply does is allow the board to receive information without the professionals having a risk of a disciplinary action on their professional licenses," the Board representative said.

Senators debated the balance between public safety and therapist–patient confidentiality. Senator Bartle proposed tightening the disciplinary immunity language; the Senate adopted an amendment to permit disclosure while preserving disciplinary risk if the licensee "knew or should have known" information was false. Supporters argued the bill would remove administrative burdens caused by frequent subpoenas and help the Board obtain crucial information; opponents warned it could undermine therapeutic trust and lead to misuse.

The Senate called the question on final passage; SB 2 passed with a roll-call tally reported as 26 ayes, no nays, 3 absent and was placed on the third-reading calendar (final passage recorded during the session). The bill as amended allows licensed professionals to share information with the Board when appropriate and protects licensing action unless the disclosure was false and made with malicious intent or the licensee knew or should have known it was false.