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Senate approves mandatory local trust to fund health benefits for surviving spouses of fallen local public safety officers
Summary
Senators voted to advance a revised version of SB 156 that requires local governments to join a shared trust to fund health insurance benefits for surviving spouses of fallen officers and firefighters; sponsors said the move corrects an unfunded retroactive change and keeps state dollars out of the program.
Senators on the floor advanced the second substitute to Senate Bill 156 after extended debate over who should carry the cost of health benefits for surviving spouses of fallen local law‑enforcement officers and firefighters.
Senator Weiler, sponsor of the substitute, said a verbal amendment enacted in the prior session made benefits retroactive to 2005 and produced 12 identified surviving spouses whose annual insurance costs he estimated at about $20,000 each—roughly $240,000 a year. Weiler said that left local governments facing a long-term, largely unfunded obligation and that the second substitute would require local agencies that employ law enforcement or firefighters to participate in a shared fund rather than having the state shoulder those liabilities.
The senator said the revision was written with input from the Utah League of Cities and Towns, the Utah Association of Counties and other stakeholders. He described the change as a corrective policy that preserves benefits already provided to widows while creating a funding mechanism to spread costs across participating local entities.
Senator Hilliard warned the body to consider constitutional limits on vertical revenue sharing and whether the state could permissibly use state money to cover local obligations. Weiler responded that the substitute was specifically designed to eliminate state funding for the program and that the fiscal note for the second substitute was intended to show no state cost, while acknowledging there would be costs to local governments.
After final remarks, the Senate held a roll-call vote on the motion to read the second substitute for third reading; the clerk announced 24 yea, 0 nay, 5 absent. The substitute advanced and was ordered read for a third time.
What happens next: The bill will proceed through the third‑reading process and any remaining fiscal or implementation details may be revisited before final enrollment.
