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SALT LAKE CITY — Another 142 bills in Utah became law Wednesday evening with a stroke — or several — of the governor's pen, including one several gun safety advocates asked the governor to veto.
HB119 — which was passed during the last week of the recent legislative session — creates the Educator-Protector Program where teachers who undergo annual firearm training can securely carry guns at school to respond to an intruder or active shooter. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Tim Jimenez, R-Tooele, also provides legal liability protection to teachers who participate in the annual training in the event they accidentally harm a student or other staff member as long as they act without "gross negligence," Jimenez said.
He added the bill "piggybacks" HB84, which allows trained teachers to respond to school shootings. Cox signed HB84 as part of a tranche of bills approved earlier this week.
Advocates with the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah held a press conference at the Capitol last week to urge Cox to veto the bill, which they say incentivizes teachers to carry firearms in schools and puts children and teachers at further risk.
With the governor's signature, the bill will take effect on May 1.
Cox has yet to use his veto pen this year, but said earlier this month he "suspect(s)" he will use it at some point. The governor has until March 21 to sign or veto any bills. He can also choose not to sign a bill, which would allow it to go into effect without his signature when the deadline passes, or veto it.
Social media regulations approved
In an unsurprising move, Cox also approved a pair of bills to revamp the state's social media regulations which were originally passed last year. Together, HB464 and SB194 make it easier for parents to sue social media companies for alleged harms to teenagers, and seek to entice platforms to change the way minors' accounts can interact online.
The bills were introduced after a tech industry group sued the state over the laws passed last year. With the changes Cox just approved, lawmakers hope the laws are less prescriptive to social media companies and will better withstand legal scrutiny while still protecting young Utahns from allegedly harmful features such as infinitely scrolling feeds and algorithmically selected content.
Here are a few other bills approved by the governor. A full list of bills passed can be found on the state Legislature's website.
- HB148 amends the state's definition of a "counterfeit intimate image" to include computer-generated videos, in an effort to protect citizens from deepfake pornographic images created using artificial intelligence.
- HB395, sponsored by Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, enhances the penalties for drunken driving if a driver is going the wrong way on a one-way highway, following a series of fatal wrong-way crashes on Utah roads.
- HB432 provides legal protections for clergy members who voluntarily report ongoing child abuse or neglect to law enforcement or other authorities. Clergy are exempt from mandatory reporting laws when they learn of abuse or neglect through confidential confession.
