SB 297 makes broad changes to Utah’s regulation of congregate care programs, which include outdoor youth programs, residential treatment programs, residential support programs, and therapeutic schools. The bill creates a new Congregate Care Advisory Committee and directs the Office of Licensing, working with that committee, to define levels of congregate care and adopt minimum safety requirements for each level. It also requires programs to submit admissions criteria for approval, and gives the office authority to approve or deny those criteria based on whether they match the program’s level of care and safely exclude children the program is not designed to serve.
The bill adds several new operational requirements for congregate care programs. These include maintaining authorized contact lists for children, preparing disruption and suicide prevention plans, notifying parents or guardians when a child is in crisis, posting notice of the new ombudsman, providing a dedicated phone line to contact the ombudsman, and giving disclosures to children, parents or guardians, and authorized contacts. It also establishes a congregate care ombudsman to receive and investigate reports, creates whistleblower protections for people who communicate with or assist the ombudsman, and sets rules for payment when a child receives care at a health care facility, including responsibility for transportation costs and certain inpatient behavioral health charges.
The bill also revises background check and direct-access rules for people associated with congregate care programs and other licensed settings. It expands the circumstances under which the Office of Licensing must deny or closely review direct access qualified status, including certain criminal convictions and supported child abuse or neglect findings, while preserving some limited temporary or supervised access in specific situations. In addition, the bill creates a Licensed Provider Civil Money Penalty Fund and a Licensed Provider Assessment Fund, clarifying how licensing-related money and federal civil money penalty funds may be used for database upgrades, training, facility shutdown assistance, administrative costs, and other allowable activities.
Overall, the bill’s impact is to tighten oversight of congregate care in Utah and give the state more tools to regulate admissions, safety, reporting, and accountability. It amends multiple sections of the Utah Code governing human services licensing, background checks, inspections, complaint handling, and facility operations, and it adds new statutory sections establishing the advisory committee, ombudsman, and whistleblower protections. The bill takes effect July 1, 2025.
The general sentiment appears strongly supportive, with unanimous committee recommendations in both chambers and large floor majorities in favor. At the same time, the floor votes show some opposition in both the Senate and House, suggesting concern from a minority of lawmakers about the bill’s scope or regulatory burden. The main points of contention are likely the new state oversight structure, the approval power over admissions criteria, the expanded inspection and reporting requirements, and the stricter background-check rules for congregate care employees and related personnel.
SB 297 amends several provisions in Title 26B governing the Department of Health and Human Services’ licensing and oversight of human services programs. It creates new statutory sections for the Congregate Care Advisory Committee, the congregate care ombudsman, whistleblower protections, and a civil money penalty fund, while also revising definitions, inspection authority, complaint procedures, and background-check requirements. The bill directly affects congregate care programs, their staff, children served by those programs, parents or guardians, authorized contacts, health care facilities that treat children from those programs, and the Office of Licensing/Division of Licensing and Background Checks.
The bill appears to have been generally well received in committee and on the floor. Both chambers’ committees recommended it favorably without dissent, and the bill passed with comfortable majorities, though not unanimously, in the Senate and House. That voting pattern suggests broad support for increased oversight and child-safety protections, alongside some reservations from a smaller group of legislators.
The likely areas of contention are the bill’s expanded regulatory control over congregate care programs and the new approval process for admissions criteria, which gives the state a stronger role in deciding which children may be admitted. Additional friction points may include the quarterly inspection requirement, the ombudsman’s access to program records and facilities, the whistleblower protections, and the more restrictive direct-access/background-check standards for employees and other adults associated with congregate care. The recorded no votes on the floor indicate that some lawmakers may have viewed these provisions as too intrusive or burdensome, even though the bill advanced with strong overall support.