HB 226: Criminal Amendments - Utah

Substitute #4 → Enrolled · 2 edits · Mar 26, 2025

MINOR

The bill was updated to include additional cosponsors and a new, specific time for its effective date. The substantive policy text regarding immigration notifications, sentencing changes, and pretrial release rules remains identical to the previous version, indicating no changes to the bill's actual legal requirements or scope.

Scope change

The scope of the bill's legal requirements and applicability remains unchanged; only the administrative metadata regarding sponsorship and effective date was modified.

TIMELINE

The effective date of the bill was changed from February 27, 2025, to March 14, 2025, delaying the implementation of the new laws by about two weeks.

TECHNICAL

A list of additional cosponsors (Stewart E. Barlow, Michael J. Petersen, Nelson T. Abbott, Scott H. Chew, Calvin Roberts, Cheryl K. Acton, Tyler Clancy, Tiara Auxier, and Matt MacPherson) was added to the document header.

Introduced → Substitute #1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill expands the scope of immigration-related notifications for law enforcement and corrections officials by lowering the criminal threshold from 'violent felonies' to include all felonies and class A misdemeanors. It also broadens the definition of offenses triggering nonprofit dissolution to include any felony conviction related to immigration crimes, rather than just specific violent ones. Additionally, the bill increases the maximum prison sentence for a class A misdemeanor from 364 days to one year.

Scope change

The bill significantly broadens the applicability of immigration coordination requirements to include a wider range of criminal charges (felonies and class A misdemeanors) and expands the grounds for dissolving nonprofits convicted of immigration-related crimes.

REQUIREMENT

County sheriffs and the Department of Corrections must now notify federal immigration authorities when releasing individuals charged with any felony or class A misdemeanor who may be unlawfully present in the US, expanding the previous requirement which only applied to violent felonies.

The Department of Corrections is now required to notify federal immigration authorities when releasing any inmate convicted of a felony who may be unlawfully present in the United States.

ENFORCEMENT

The grounds for judicially dissolving a nonprofit corporation were expanded to include conviction of any felony related to immigration offenses, removing the previous limitation to only 'violent felonies'.

TIMELINE

The maximum term of imprisonment for a class A misdemeanor was increased from 364 days to one year.

Substitute #3 → Substitute #4 · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill amends Utah criminal law to strengthen coordination between local correctional facilities and federal immigration authorities when releasing individuals who may be unlawfully present in the United States. It adds requirements for sheriffs and the Department of Corrections to notify federal agencies before releasing certain inmates, modifies sentencing for specific class A misdemeanors to allow up to one year in jail, and establishes a rebuttable presumption that undocumented individuals are flight risks when determining bail eligibility.

Scope change

The bill expands federal immigration coordination requirements to include county sheriffs releasing individuals after serving jail sentences for certain class A misdemeanors (previously only applicable to felony releases), and adds new notification requirements for the Department of Corrections regarding felony inmates.

REQUIREMENT

Requires county sheriffs to notify federal immigration authorities when releasing individuals who served jail sentences for certain class A misdemeanors and are unlawfully present in the United States

Requires the Department of Corrections to notify federal immigration authorities when releasing inmates serving felony sentences who are unlawfully present in the United States

ENFORCEMENT

Amends class A misdemeanor sentencing to allow up to one year imprisonment for certain offenses, increasing from the previous maximum of 364 days

Establishes a rebuttable presumption that individuals not lawfully present in the United States are flight risks when determining bail eligibility

TECHNICAL

Updates statutory references and terminology throughout the bill to reflect current legal standards and formatting conventions

Substitute #2 → Substitute #3 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill replaces the previous version by adding a new requirement for nonprofit corporations convicted of certain crimes to disclose the conviction and pay a $10,000 civil fine, while removing the provision allowing the attorney general to seek judicial dissolution of nonprofits convicted of immigration-related crimes. The immigration notification requirements for sheriffs and the Department of Corrections remain largely the same, though the bill text is reformatted with clearer bullet points and corrected section references.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed regarding nonprofit corporations; the ability to seek judicial dissolution based on criminal convictions was removed and replaced with a civil fine requirement. The immigration notification requirements for incarcerated individuals remain substantively unchanged.

REQUIREMENT

Added a new Section 1 requiring domestic and foreign nonprofit corporations convicted of immigration or human smuggling offenses to disclose the conviction within 90 days and pay a $10,000 civil fine to the Division of Corporations.

ENFORCEMENT

Removed the provision allowing the attorney general or division director to bring a judicial action to dissolve a nonprofit corporation if it is convicted of certain criminal offenses.

TECHNICAL

Reformatted the highlighted provisions section to use bullet points for better readability and corrected the Utah Code sections affected list to remove references to the repealed dissolution provisions.

Corrected the enacted code section in the long title from 64-13-10.7 to 16-6a-120, which is the new section number for the nonprofit fine requirement.

Substitute #1 → Substitute #2 · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill expands criminal consequences for nonprofits convicted of immigration-related crimes and strengthens immigration coordination for individuals being released from jail or prison. It also increases the maximum jail sentence for certain misdemeanors and adds immigration status as a factor in bail decisions.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded to include new criminal grounds for dissolving nonprofits and added specific immigration-related presumptions for bail and release procedures.

REQUIREMENT

Added authority for the attorney general to dissolve nonprofit corporations convicted of federal immigration crimes or human smuggling.

Added requirement for sheriffs to notify federal immigration authorities before releasing individuals charged with misdemeanors or felonies who may be unlawfully present in the U.S.

Added requirement for the Department of Corrections to notify federal immigration authorities before releasing felony inmates who may be unlawfully present in the U.S.

Added immigration status as a factor sheriffs must consider when releasing individuals on their own recognizance.

TIMELINE

Increased maximum imprisonment for class A misdemeanors from 364 days to one year.

DEFINITION

Added rebuttable presumption that individuals not lawfully present in the U.S. are flight risks for bail purposes.

Criminal Amendments

What changed between versions

How they voted

Actions timeline

Sponsors