SALT LAKE CITY – Dixie State University is going through a process to get a new name – which may or may not include the term “Dixie” – under a bill signed by Governor Spencer Cox late Tuesday night, along with 171 other bills .
Cox’s signature on HB278 ended a grueling and emotional debate over the name change to Dixie State University on Capitol Hill, Utah during the 2021 General Assembly of Legislature. The battle ended with a bill that was watered down in the Senate to change the language used by the legislature The term “Dixie” forbids to be deleted from the future name of the university.
Some Senate leaders, notably Senator Don Ipson, R-St. George, who grappled with the bill and raised concerns that Southern Utah residents had not made enough public contributions to advance the version of HB278, which the House approved after heated debates.
Some Utah lawmakers shouted “Breaking Culture” while others said that a name negatively perceived by people outside Utah would affect student career prospects and graduate school prospects.
Discussions over the name have lasted for decades, but have intensified after protests across the country over George Floyd’s death last summer while in police custody in Minnesota. Earlier this year, Intermountain Healthcare changed the name of its local hospital from Dixie Regional Medical Center to Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital.
This brings the total number of signed acts from the 2021 General Legislative Session to 259.
See them all here: https: //t.co/MaSaxwSDi5
– Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox (@GovCox) March 17, 2021
Police, protesters
Cox also signed several police reform bills including:
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HB59 to make it a crime for a police officer to give confidential pictures to anyone not part of an investigation. It was inspired by a former University of Utah police officer who showed explicit photos of Lauren McCluskey to other officers, according to an independent investigation.
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HB62 to add additional reasons for the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council to suspend, revoke, or issue a warning letter against a police officer for “conduct with dishonesty or deception”, or if the officer is found by a court or law enforcement agency “knowingly to have engaged in certain prejudiced or prejudicial behavior ”.
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HB84 to require local law enforcement agencies to collect data on use of violence incidents and submit it to the Bureau of Criminal Identification, a state and federal database.
- HB237 attempting to prevent “police suicide” by making it clear in training requirements that if someone threatens suicide, an officer should try to use “strategic withdrawal” instead of engagement.
- HB264 requires a law enforcement officer to file a report after pointing a gun or taser at a person.
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SB38 requires annual certification of K-9 officers and their handlers. The bill came after Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall suspended and then censored the Salt Lake Police Department’s K-9 program after a review found 18 questionable dog bites from 2018. Mendenhall called the results a “pattern of abuse”.
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SB68 is using $ 2 million government funding to fund the purchase of technology and equipment for the Utah Highway Patrol that can count and record shots fired with a soldier’s weapon, including the date and time the shots. The bill is intended to support investigation and data collection in order to increase transparency in the case of executions by officials.
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SB102 allows legal immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least five years and who have legal permission to work in the United States to qualify as law enforcement officers.
Cox also signed several bills against protesters, including:
- HB58, a bill requiring a person arrested for rioting to appear before a judge before being released and a refund if convicted. Their bail may also be waived if there is substantial evidence of a criminal charge and the court determines, through clear and convincing evidence, that the person is unlikely to appear in court.
- HB291 to “Targeted Residential Picket” – a protest “specifically directed against a resident or resident or resident” – a Class B offense punishable by up to six months in prison or sentence under Utah law Fines of up to $ 1,000 can be made.
Other bills
Cox signed dozens of other bills, some related to water and air, some gun laws, a bill to potentially lay the foundation for a new state flag, a bill to create the new Utahraptor State Park, and more. They include:
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HB297 to establish the Colorado River Authority, comprised of representatives from the state’s major waterfront communities and the Colorado River Commissioner representing Utah. Legislators backed the bill, saying drought and the dwindling Colorado River make it more important than ever for the state to act now to safeguard its interest in the river.
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SB15 to conduct a teleworking program for eligible government employees on days with bad air or other circumstances, such as: B. extreme weather.
- HB200 to establish a process whereby a gun owner or someone who lives with them can voluntarily turn their gun over to law enforcement until the owner comes and requests its return.
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HB216 to allow individuals to obtain a preliminary gun permit within 90 days of their 21st birthday to demonstrate that they received the covert carrying education required for full permit.
- HB267 so that a person can apply to be included on the list of restricted persons who would prevent them from buying a firearm. The invoice allows the same person to request removal of their name from this list 30 days after adding. Your name will be automatically removed after 180 days. However, you can request an extension for an additional 180 days.
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SB48 to set up the State Flag Task Force and investigate whether to replace the flag with something new.
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HB257 to create Utahraptor State Park in the Dalton Wells area of Grand County. In addition, Morgan County’s Lost Creek Reservoir will be renamed Lost Creek State Park. The cost of creating both parks is $ 36.5 million.
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HB188 for the designation of honeycomb calcite as a state stone.
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HB308 is designed to deter government agencies from requiring employees in Utah to receive COVID-19 vaccinations (excluding health workers who need the vaccine to work).
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HB102 to charge prisons to give female inmates the contraceptives they were given prior to imprisonment.
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HB228, which prohibits prisons from sharing photos of prison bookings unless the person is convicted of a crime based on the behavior for which they were incarcerated at the time the photo was taken or a law enforcement agency determines that the person is a refugee or a Refugee is an imminent threat to public safety.
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HB143 to prohibit the Driver’s Licensing Department from suspending a person’s driver’s license solely for failing to pay certain fines.
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HB243 to create a new panel of experts and a senior official charged with reviewing government technology systems with the aim of blocking all tools that lead to privacy violations.
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HB82 aims to break down barriers to basement apartments owned by mother-in-law, which the legislature described as a market-based approach to increasing affordable housing.
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HB142 so that cyclists can treat a stop sign as a yield sign when there is no traffic or pedestrians at the intersection.
@SpencerJCox today signed my HB 142, Cycling Traffic Amendments. This makes it legal for cyclists to treat a stop sign as a yield sign when there is no traffic or pedestrians at the intersection. pic.twitter.com/PcNYh6ewGC
– Carol Moss (@RepCarolMoss) March 17, 2021
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