12 measures passed by the Utah Legislature in 2026
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These are some of the most-watched bills that passed the Utah Legislature during the 2026 session.
- Here's what's waiting on Gov. Cox's desk, with a few already signed into law.
Environment
🗺️ Federally-owned public lands would be mapped and flagged for opportunities where management changes would serve the state's "jurisdictional interest" under HB 546, which singles out forests as a "public nuisance" due to wildfire risk.
- Conservation groups decried the bill as part of Utah's strategy to exert more control over federal lands.
💧 A measure that narrows the grounds to for the state engineer to reject water rights requests would "streamline" water applications, GOP proponents say.
- Yes, but: Critics say HB 60 makes it harder to prevent water decisions that could harm the public interest.
🤖 Data centers would have to tell local water systems, before construction, how much water they expect to use, and then how much they actually use each year under HB 76.
- Conservationists applauded the reporting requirements but opposed a provision that shields the reports from public review.
☀️ Solar panel companies would face new taxes and fees, and disposal of used panels would be restricted under HB 323.
🌊 State officials would sell 22,311 acres along the Great Salt Lake to the federal government under HJR 30.
Health
🍃 Concentrated kratom products would be banned under SB 45.
🐄 Raw milk restrictions would be rolled back under HB 179.
- Food-related infections like salmonella, E. coli and listeria are 150 times likelier for those who drink raw milk, state health officials warn.
More measures
🤑 Proposition betting — that is, sports bets placed on specific players, stats or actions, rather than the outcome of a game — would be banned under HB 243.
- The measure puts Utah at odds with the Trump administration, which is claiming federal control over prediction markets.
- Meanwhile, Cox has vowed to defeat Kalshi, a prediction market exchange that filed a federal lawsuit last month to void Utah's pending ban.
🏳️⚧️ Landlords statewide would be allowed to reject transgender renters from single-sex housing if their gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth under HB 404.
🥸 Social media and AI platforms would be barred from generating or distributing deepfakes without the depicted individual's consent under HB 276.
✂️ A process to explore splitting up Salt Lake County and create a new county would be launched under HB 212.
✉️ Voters would be prohibited from using prepaid postage to mail a request to remove their name from a petition under HB 242.