HB 105 makes a broad set of changes to Utah’s criminal code. The bill increases and reorganizes penalties for attempted murder, updates the murder statute to align with those changes, and preserves rules allowing certain murder convictions to be reduced to manslaughter or attempted manslaughter when special mitigation or an affirmative defense is proven. It also makes technical and conforming changes tied to a separate criminal code recodification bill.
The bill adds a new offense for sexual relations with an adult high school student when the actor is 21 or older and occupies a position of special trust in the school, such as a teacher, administrator, coach, counselor, or other authority figure. It also creates a new offense for indecent exposure of another individual, covering nonconsensual exposure of a person’s undergarments or intimate body parts in public, with higher penalties when the conduct occurs in front of a child under 14. In addition, it revises the offense of denial of a public servant’s use of public property and repeals several older sabotage-prevention statutes related to wartime or defense facilities.
Impact
HB 105 amends multiple sections of Title 76 of the Utah Code and creates new criminal offenses and penalty classifications. It raises the seriousness of attempted murder in specified circumstances, adds a felony offense targeting sexual conduct by school personnel or other trusted adults with adult high school students, and establishes misdemeanor penalties for nonconsensual exposure of another person’s intimate areas. It also repeals obsolete sabotage-prevention provisions and includes a coordination clause to align numbering and cross-references with H.B. 21, the criminal code recodification bill.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported in both chambers, with unanimous committee votes and unanimous floor votes in the House and Senate. The lack of recorded opposition suggests general agreement with the bill’s criminal-law updates, especially the provisions addressing violent crime, school-related sexual misconduct, and public indecency. The Senate briefly held the bill in committee before advancing it, indicating some review but not visible controversy in the recorded votes.
Contention
No committee transcripts were provided, so specific arguments for or against the bill are not available. Based on the text, the most likely areas of concern are the new offense involving adult high school students and the special-trust relationship, the scope of the indecent exposure offense, and the increased penalties for attempted murder. The repeal of the sabotage-prevention chapter appears more technical than controversial, and the coordination with H.B. 21 suggests the bill was also part of a broader code-reorganization effort.