Gov. Cox, Utah lawmakers laud new public safety laws, but SLC leaders are less impressed

Republican lawmakers congratulated one another Thursday over a slew of new laws aimed at improving public safety and toughening statutes on sex crimes, gang activity and trafficking in the synthetic opioid fentanyl. With elected leaders from Salt Lake City notably absent, Utah Gov. Spencer presided over a ceremonial bill signing in front of the Rio Grande Depot a block from Pioneer Park, with a phalanx of Utah Highway Patrol officers and a police dog as his backdrop.

(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov.



Deidre Henderson attend a ceremonial bill signing for public safety laws in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 3, 2025. Cox praised eight measures passed earlier this year on Capitol Hill as “really critical steps to protecting Utahns from violent crime, drug trafficking and exploitation, particularly our most vulnerable residents, by enhancing penalties and improving support systems.” The GOP governor called public safety “one of the most important issues facing our state” at the moment and said the suite of bills “balances firm accountability with compassion and care, the things that Utah does best to ensure a safer, more supportive future for all Utahns.

” Yet for all its feel-good tone, Thursday’s event came as some at Salt Lake City Hall were voicing frustration at what they see as state lawmakers’ failure to address or fund other crucial needs, especially ongoing money for additional shelter beds. “We have a state that paid more attention to pride flags and bike lanes ,” Salt Lake City Council member Victoria Petro said late Tuesday, “than to the homelessness crisis.” Based partly on new offender tracking data, Mayor Erin Mendenhall said a core of folks with repeat misdemeanors who were evading prosecution appeared to be at the epicenter of many of the city’s latest homelessness woes.

“It is not a broken system. It was built this way,” Mendenhall said of flaws in the criminal justice process. “It was built to leave out the people who are creating the biggest impact on our communities.

And it is not OK.” (Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A person experiencing homelessness sits along the Jordan River Trail in Salt Lake City in October 2024. Senate Minority Assistant Whip Jen Plumb , D-Salt Lake City, was the lone Democrat to attend Thursday’s news conference.

Her appearance related to her Senate sponsorship of HB127 , also known as Ashley’s Law, which toughened penalties on sex crimes against incapacitated adults. No one in an elected post from City Hall — where leaders and police have mounted a new campaign since January of stepped-up public safety enforcement citywide — appeared to have been invited. Though the measures had technically already been signed by Cox, he and Lt.

Gov. Deidre Henderson affixed ceremonial signatures with black markers Thursday to HB38 , HB78 , HB87 , HB127 , HB199 , HB312 , HB329 and SB255 . In turn, the governor thanked about a dozen Republican lawmakers, top state officials and advocates — as several unsheltered Utahns watched from nearby sidewalks.

Speaking in support, Utah Commissioner of Public Safety Jess Anderson singled out HB87 , which adds enhanced penalties specific to fentanyl to Utah code. State and city officials say cartel-backed trade in the powerful narcotic has emerged as a crucial driver in the rash of drug addiction plaguing many among Utah’s unsheltered population. Cox called the opioid “this terrible toxin that is infecting us, our people and our most vulnerable.

” (Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox speaks to media after a ceremonial bill signing for public safety laws in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 3, 2025. Other bills lauded Thursday were: • HB38 , which beefed up fines and other penalties for a host of felony crimes, especially those involving street gang activity and sexual extortion, as well as for offenders with prior convictions.

• HB78 , which requires prosecutors to explain their rationale when they seek plea bargains or reduce criminal charges, while also boosting penalties for aggravated child abuse. • HB199 , which enacts a series of guidelines and standard practices for providers of substance abuse and mental health recovery services; puts social service referral information more firmly in the hands of first responders; and addresses public nuisances related to drug use. • HB312 , which tightens guidelines on jail overcrowding and probation and parole; tweaks definitions for habitual offenders; and bars state cash being used for syringe exchange programs.

• HB329 , which created a Shelter Counties Advisory Board to advise the Utah Homeless Services Board ; requires new tracking of the unsheltered; and puts new guidelines in place on programs helping those transitioning out of homelessness. • SB255 , which shores up the transfer of insurance benefits to surviving family members of police officers killed in the line of duty. (Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Used needles and trash can be found along the banks of the Jordan River near Cottonwood Park in 2022.

Not included in Thursday’s event was HB465 , which requires Salt Lake City and other large municipalities to formally collaborate with state authorities, including the Department of Public Safety, to enhance public safety enforcement. In her own plan , Mendenhall has called for an across-the-board approach to improving public safety, including increased police patrols and targeting illegal encampments and neighborhood hot spots. The strategies also point to crucial gaps in jail capacity, social services and permanent supportive housing — all of which fall outside city purview.

The mayor’s plan offered land for a 1,000-bed temporary shelter to be operated by the state. Public comments at Tuesday’s council meeting brought out frustrations that state officials crucially fell short this session on needs such as adding more jail beds and finding a permanent source of state funding to expand the shelter system. After Thursday’s news conference, responding to assertions that the Legislature missed key steps, Cox said he remained optimistic.

“We didn’t get everything we wanted, but we got a lot closer,” the governor said. “We’ll be able to start on the shelter. We do have support from the Legislature, even though we didn’t get all the money.

” (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The camping enforcement in downtown Salt Lake City has forced many of the unsheltered to leave the city for places like the Jordan River, shown in 2023. The capital city continue to reel from impacts of chronic homelessness and heightened drug activity in its downtown, a host of adjacent neighborhoods and encampments along the Jordan River. Reacting to safety fears of nearby residents, city leaders and police moved earlier this week to close a segment of the Jordan River Trail from Cottonwood Park to 500 North in dual hopes of cracking down on rampant open drug usage and trafficking while simultaneously giving the corridor an environmental overhaul.

Several residents said the closure followed years of public outcry over deteriorating conditions. Cox said after Thursday’s event that state authorities were assisting city police in the latest river cleanup, with a view of preventing vagrancy and drug activity from shifting to other areas of the city. “It’s not just clean up one place and let it go somewhere else,” the governor said.

“They’re going to be making sure that wherever the crime goes, they’ll be following.”.