6 bills from the 2026 general session of the Utah legislature you should know about

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — As the 2026 general session of the Utah legislature comes to a close, here are the six biggest changes coming that you should know about.

This session, the legislature introduced 606 bills to the house and 330 bills to the senate, with 85 resolutions in both houses. As of the last day of the session, they’ve passed more than 500 of those bills.

After the session ends, the governor has 20 days to sign or veto all the bills that have been passed. Gov. Spencer Cox has indicated that he is not planning on vetoing many, if any, bills.

1. Bell-to-bell phone ban

One cause that Gov. Cox championed throughout this session was a so-called “bell-to-bell” cell phone ban in schools. This bill bans the use of cellphones, smart watches, or other “emerging technology” at a school during school hours.

S.B. 69 makes changes to a bill that was passed in 2025, which originally banned cell phone and other electronic device use during instructional time. This bill expands the ban, making it so that phones cannot be used during school hours.

Educators speak on Utah ‘bell-to-bell’ cell phone ban bill

School hours are defined in the bill as from the beginning of the school day until the end of the school day, including all instructional time, lunch periods, recess, and transition time between classes.

There are some exceptions, namely: if there is a threat to the health or safety of an individual, or if there is a school-wide emergency, for their IEP accommodation plan, for a medical need, or to use the SafeUT Crisis Line.

The bill passed the Senate and then the House, and Cox is expected to sign it into law. When he does, the bill will go into effect on July 1, 2026, so in time for the 2026-2027 school year.

2. Gas tax cut

Another big priority for House majority leaders was to lower the price Utahns pay at the pump by lowering the state gas on tax. Originally, lawmakers said that they would pay for the cut by taxing refineries instead, but when it was introduced, there was no refinery tax in it.

Instead, it pays for that tax cut with nearly $12 million from the state’s general fund.

H.B. 575 lowers the state gas tax from July 1, 2026 to December 1, 2026, and during that time, the tax will be a flat rate of 31.9 cents per gallon. Currently, gas is taxed at a rate of 14.2% of the statewide average price of a gallon of gas, and this bill would lower the price you pay by about 6 cents per gallon.

Proposal to lower gas tax will use state funding rather than taxing refineries, exports

The bill also makes some changes to the permitting process for pipeline infrastructure and requires refineries to report to the Office of Energy Development on production, putting pressure on refineries to bring more supply to the state.

3. Including prop betting as gambling

Another issue that Cox made a priority was sports betting and prediction markets like Kalshi. Cox has previously said that these sorts of platforms have “no place in Utah,” and that they are gambling, “pure and simple.”

H.B. 243 includes proposition betting under Utah’s definition of gambling, and gambling is illegal in the state, written in the Constitution. It defines a proposition bet as “a gambling bet on an individual action, statistic, occurrence, or non-occurrence.”

It passed the House and the Senate, and if Cox signs it, it will go into effect on May 6, 2026. If it is signed, it may be challenged by prediction market platforms like Kalshi, which has already filed a lawsuit against Gov. Cox over anticipated regulations.

Kalshi sues Utah officials over comments made, anticipated regulation of prediction markets

4. Ongoing funding for homelessness services

The state budget recommendations from the Executive Appropriations Committee includes about $12 million in ongoing funding to address homelessness. In addition to the state funding, cities are required to match dollar-for-dollar what the state spends.

That ongoing funding will go to emergency shelter and housing for homeless people, a program for “high utilizers in the criminal justice system,” and mental and behavioral health. Additional ongoing funding will go to phase II investments in the state’s plan to address homelessness. The budget also includes one-time funding for a variety of homelessness services.

Cox cited securing this ongoing funding as one of the highlights of the legislative session for him. While the state did not fund a centralized homeless campus this year, Cox said he is hopeful that it will pass next year, if there is still a need for it.

This budget will pass, because it is unconstitutional for the state not to pass a budget each year.

5. Ban on transgender healthcare for minors

After preventing minors from beginning cross-sex hormones (hormone replacement therapy) or puberty blockers last year, (allowing minors who were already receiving that care to continue to receive it), the legislature has passed a full ban on cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for minors.

However, there are some exceptions. H.B. 174 prevents health care providers from providing “hormonal transgender treatment” to a patient who is a minor and was not diagnosed with gender dysphoria before January 28, 2023. This goes into effect on May 6, 2026.

Bills affecting transgender healthcare pass Utah House

Additionally, beginning on January 28, 2027, a health care provider cannot provide transgender hormone treatments to minors if the patient was younger than 16 on the effective date of the bill and has not received cross-sex hormones prior to the effective date of the bill.

Health care providers can also provide hormonal transgender treatment to a minor for the purpose of stopping that treatment before January 28, 2027 can provide that treatment.

Other transgender related bills, including one that would prevent state money from covering transgender procedures and one that would change the word “gender” to “sex” in Utah state code, did not pass this session.

6. Court reform

Court reform has been another major priority for Republican legislators this session. They quickly passed a bill to expand the Utah Supreme Court from five justices to seven in the second week of the session, and Cox signed it into law almost immediately. S.B. 134 also expanded the court of appeals from seven to nine judges, and it also added judges on the district court level.

Another bill that was passed and has already been signed into law is one that created a three-judge panel for cases where the defendant is a state agency or a state official, H.B. 392 and its companion rule change H.J.R. 5. This would move some of the state’s highest profile cases, like the redistricting case or the abortion ban case, out of the district where they were filed.

New ‘Constitutional Court’ trigger law proposed in response to three-judge panel challenges at Utah Supreme Court

This law has already seen pushback, with plaintiffs in the redistricting and abortion case filing another lawsuit to stop the law from going into effect. Because the law only allows the state to make the motion to move the case to the panel, the plaintiffs are arguing that it makes the state into a “super litigant.” They’re also arguing that the law is unconstitutional, claiming that the Utah Constitution requires the district court to have only a single judge.

In response, changes to the law that would revert the panel to a “constitutional court” if it is found unconstitutional were introduced to substitute version of H.B. 366, and that substitute version was passed by the House and Senate, and it’s waiting to be signed by the governor.

The Constitutional Court differs from a three-judge panel in that it creates an entirely new court consisting of judges who would apply to sit on it and be assigned by a nominating commission, as opposed to the panel, which is a group of district-level judges randomly assigned by the Judicial Council. It’s similar in that the Constitutional Court would still hear civil cases challenged on their constitutionality that are moved from their district court judges.

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