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Senate adopts baseline limits on government facial-recognition use, critics say privacy protections fall short
Summary
Senate Bill 34, establishing baseline standards for state use of facial-recognition technology, passed the Utah Senate 27–2 on Jan. 29, 2021; supporters described it as a consensus bill that raises training and process standards, while critics said it lacks sufficient privacy safeguards.
The Utah State Senate on Jan. 29, 2021, passed Senate Bill 34, which places new baseline standards on governmental use of facial-recognition technology. Sponsor Senator Thatcher said the measure resulted from multi-year work by the Government Operations interim committee and represents a consensus approach that raises training standards without blocking government ID issuance functions.
Senator Thatcher told colleagues the state currently lacks statutory restrictions on facial-recognition use and that SB 34 "places standards, raises the bar, increases requirements for training and capacity for those who use the process," while preserving core government functions such as identity verification for IDs.
Senator Johnson expressed concerns on privacy grounds, saying the bill did not adequately prevent improper searches and signaling a no vote. Thatcher replied that voting against the bill would leave the state with no standards at all and urged members to support establishing a baseline now while noting that additional bills could be introduced to go further.
On final roll call the Senate recorded 27 yay votes and 2 nay votes; the bill will proceed according to the legislative process for third-reading actions.
