HB 363, Maternal and Infant Amendments, makes a series of changes affecting correctional facilities and newborn screening in Utah. On the corrections side, it requires county jails and the Department of Corrections to offer pregnancy testing to female inmates under age 50 after a short period of incarceration, and it continues and updates rules for pregnant and postpartum inmates, including limits on restraints, access to postpartum care, social-worker support, and related reporting and recordkeeping. The bill also extends the sunset date of the Correctional Postnatal and Early Childhood Advisory Board and revises its membership and duties.
On the public health side, the bill updates Utah’s newborn testing law. It requires newborns to be screened for hearing loss regardless of the number of annual births at the hospital or birth setting, and it requires the Department of Health and Human Services to publish a privacy consent form before heelstick screening. That form must explain the department’s retention of biological samples and genetic data and allow a parent or guardian to consent to or decline retention. If consent is not given, the biological sample and genetic data must be destroyed after testing is completed. The bill also makes technical changes and takes effect May 7, 2025.
Impact
The bill amends Utah Code provisions governing jail intake, pregnant inmates, newborn infant screening, and the Correctional Postnatal and Early Childhood Advisory Board. It expands mandatory pregnancy-testing offers in correctional settings, clarifies postpartum and restraint protections, extends the advisory board’s repeal date to 2027, and changes the board’s composition and reporting duties. It also broadens newborn screening requirements by making hearing-loss testing universal and adds new consent, privacy, retention, and destruction requirements for biological samples and genetic data collected through newborn testing.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the legislative process. It received unanimous favorable recommendations in both chambers’ committees and passed the House and Senate with no recorded opposition, including final concurrence by the House in the Senate amendments. The vote pattern suggests general agreement with both the maternal-health protections and the newborn-screening and privacy provisions.
Contention
No major opposition is reflected in the available transcripts or vote history. The most likely areas of policy sensitivity are the new pregnancy-testing requirement for incarcerated women, the handling and retention of newborn biological samples and genetic data, and the scope of the state’s newborn hearing-loss screening mandate. However, the recorded votes show no visible split on these issues, and the bill advanced unanimously through committee and floor votes.