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Senate advances bill removing statute-of-limitations for female genital mutilation prosecutions
Summary
First substitute House Bill 139 repeals a small community-education funding line and removes the statute of limitations for prosecuting female genital mutilation, allowing survivors to seek prosecution at any time. The Senate read the bill for a third time and it passed on the floor.
The Utah Senate advanced first substitute House Bill 139, which repeals a narrow community-education funding line and removes the statute of limitations for prosecuting female genital mutilation.
Sponsor Senator Baldry said the bill "does 2 things": it returns ongoing funding of $6,800 to the general fund and — most importantly, he said — removes the statute of limitations that had previously limited prosecution to four years. "The most important part of this bill is that it removes the statute of limitations for prosecuting female genital mutilation to allow those survivors to seek justice in any time frame," Baldry said. He noted that current timelines are unrealistic because most victims are infants or young children at the time of the incident.
The Senate voted to read the bill a third time and recorded a roll-call result indicating the bill passed the chamber. Sponsors waived further summation on the floor.
The bill will be returned to the House for enrollment or other steps; the floor record does not specify an exact effective date or implementing changes beyond the statute-of-limitations removal and the small funding repeal.
