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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah legislative panel backed a proposal Thursday that would allow residents to pass down their social media and email accounts to relatives as easily as they do their belongings after they die.
After a brief discussion, members of the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to support the plan.
"Thirty years ago, all of our property was tangible," Rep. Lowry Snow, R-St. George, who sponsored the bill, told The Associated Press. "Now a lot of our property is in a digital mode, but still very valuable and needs to be protected."
"It just surprises me that we've gone this long without really addressing this," Rep. Dixon Pitcher, R-Ogden, said during the committee's meeting Thursday.
The proposal would allow a person to give their fiduciary, such as an heir or a trustee, power to oversee their digital accounts if they die or are incapacitated. Each person would be able to specify how much access they want their fiduciary to have.
Danny Harris, director of advocacy at AARP Utah, said during the meeting that he supports the plan, since it helps caregivers look after their aging relatives.
Snow said Google and Facebook have told him that they support the proposal.
Utah considered a similar move last year. Despite unanimous support in the House, lawmakers ran out of time before a vote could be held in the Senate.
Snow said he feels positive about the plan's chances this year, as lawmakers are starting the process at the beginning of the session. He also said he doesn't know anyone who has concerns about the plan.
The bill next moves to the full House for consideration. If approved by the full Legislature, it would put Utah in the company of more than a dozen other states that have enacted similar proposals.
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