HB 133 Utah House · 2026 General Session

Use of Force Reporting Requirements

HB 133 requires individuals who use deadly force to report the incident to 911 or law enforcement within 24 hours to qualify for a pretrial hearing on whether their force was justified. If reported within that timeframe, the defendant automatically meets the initial requirement to argue justification at the hearing, shifting the burden to the state to prove the force was unjustified. The bill amends Utah Code Section 76-2-309 to establish this reporting rule and applies to most cases, with exceptions for law enforcement officers acting lawfully, minor offenses, or cases where force caused death without a timely report. The law will take effect on May 6, 2026.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 20, 2026 Last action Mar 7, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Substitute #1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was revised to clarify that a pretrial justification hearing is only available if the defendant reports deadly force within 24 hours, added a specific exception for cases where someone dies, and automatically grants a prima facie claim of justification if that report is made on time.

Scope change

The scope of the pretrial justification hearing process was narrowed to strictly require a 24-hour reporting window for deadly force and added a specific exclusion for cases resulting in death if the report was not made promptly.

REQUIREMENT

Added a strict 24-hour deadline for reporting deadly force to law enforcement or 911 to qualify for a pretrial justification hearing.

Established that making a timely report automatically provides the defendant with a prima facie claim of justification at the hearing.

ELIGIBILITY

Created a new exception where the pretrial hearing process does not apply if the victim died and the defendant failed to report the use of force within 24 hours.

TECHNICAL

Removed the requirement for an individual to report use of force to receive a hearing, replacing it with the specific deadly force reporting rule.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 5, 2026

Lower · Passed

House/ comm rpt/ sent to Rules [House Rules Committee]

lower

Mar 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

House Comm - Recommends Returned to Rules [House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee]

lower

Feb 11, 2026

Lower · Passed

House Comm - Not Considered [House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee]

lower

Feb 4, 2026

Committee

House/ to standing committee [House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee]

lower

Jan 20, 2026

Introduced

House/ 1st reading (Introduced)

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors