Week 5 Capitol Report: Trump Calls to Make the Great Salt Lake “Great” Again
The Utah legislative session continues as we move into week three.
Week five of Utah’s 2026 legislative session has come to a close. While the pace of new bill introductions has slowed, the volume remains historic. By week five, lawmakers have introduced more than 985 bills, a record for this point in the session. HEAL Utah is actively tracking nearly 90 bills tied directly to our core priorities of clean air, clean energy, and protection from radioactive and toxic exposure.
At the same time, the threats emerging at the Capitol extend well beyond environmental policy. Bills that undermine voting access, restrict student protections, and weaken democratic participation continue to advance. Partner organizations including Better Utah, the ACLU of Utah, Elevate Utah, and many others are closely monitoring these proposals and sounding the alarm. We encourage you to follow their work for deeper insights into what is unfolding this session.
As Utah lawmakers move backwards on environmental justice, the federal landscape is also shifting in troubling ways. The Trump administration has officially repealed the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding, the legal foundation that allowed the federal government to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act by recognizing that pollutants like carbon dioxide endanger public health and welfare. This rollback represents a major setback for climate action nationwide.
Without meaningful federal limits on climate pollution, we can expect higher greenhouse gas emissions, worsening extreme heat and wildfire impacts, and further strain on already poor air quality. Utah communities are already burdened by dust, ozone, wildfire smoke, and winter inversions. Removing federal authority to control pollution will make it harder to protect public health and will deepen respiratory and chronic illness impacts across the state. Lawsuits have already been filed challenging this decision, and the outcome will likely be decided in the courts.
Week five also closed with the Great Salt Lake firmly in the national spotlight. President Trump publicly called for the lake to be saved and made “Great” again, drawing national attention to a crisis Utah communities have been living with for years. That spotlight raises a critical question for state leaders. Will they move beyond rhetoric and take the sustained, science based action needed to protect the lake and the health of the communities along its shores?
The New
Several new bills were introduced this week, setting the tone for key debates ahead.
TAKE ACTION!
Reach out to your lawmakers and urge them to support this legislation. You can also sign up to provide public comment when these bills are heard in committee. Action details below.
This bill increases funding for the Transit Transportation Investment Fund (TTIF), the main state fund for transit infrastructure projects, beginning in fiscal year 2028. The increased funding would end once the total amount in the fund doubles from its current level. HEAL supports this bill as it creates new funding for transit projects, which is especially important leading up to the 2034 Olympics. This bill is in the House Rules Committee waiting to be assigned to a standing committee.
This bill requires new large data centers to submit a report that estimates the data center’s energy consumption before beginning construction. It also requires annual reporting on what the data center’s actual energy consumption was. HEAL supports this bill because it allows state regulators and legislators to assess trends in data center energy use, and better understand how data centers impact the energy grid. This bill is in the House Rules Committee waiting to be assigned to a standing committee.
Updates to Good Bills
Here are the latest updates to good legislation we are following.
TAKE ACTION!
Reach out to your lawmakers and urge them to support this legislation. You can also sign up to provide public comment when these bills are heard in committee. Action details below.
HB 76 S1 requires new large data centers (larger than 10,000 sq ft.) to submit a water use report prior to beginning construction. It also requires annual water use reporting from large data centers, which will be made publicly available–a critical provision in our water-scarce state. HEAL supports this bill because it promotes greater transparency around water use.
It passed the full House with a vote of 72-0-3, and is now in the Senate Rules Committee waiting to be assigned to a standing committee.
TAKE ACTION: CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND URGE THEM TO VOTE YES!
Another positive development is SB 176, which would require electric powered landscaping equipment for certain state maintained properties along the Wasatch Front. Gas powered landscaping equipment is a significant source of air pollution, and this bill moves Utah toward cleaner air and healthier communities. This bill passed the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee.
TAKE ACTION: Contact your Senators and urge them to vote YES!
This resolution urged the U.S. government not to resume explosive nuclear weapons testing. HEAL was in favor of the resolution because it recognizes the lasting harm caused by nuclear weapons testing to Utah’s communities and that resumption of testing is unnecessary. We are deeply disheartened to report that the resolution failed this past week despite the real threat of restarting nuclear weapons testing.
Take Action: Email your legislator and tell them that you want to see this resolution pass in the future.
This bill makes it easier to investigate whether an individual evades a required vehicle emissions test.
This bill passed the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee and is being heard on the Senate Floor.
TAKE ACTION: Contact your Senators and urge them to vote YES!
This bill requires fugitive dust facilities (e.g. gravel pits) larger than a quarter acre to post signage outside of the facility that includes permit and contact information, and it also allows the Division of Air Quality to impose annual compliance fees on aggregate operations based on total emissions. HEAL supports the bill because it promotes greater transparency around aggregate operations.
This bill passed is now in the Senate Business and Labor Committee
TAKE ACTION! Contact your Senators and urge them to vote YES!
SB 250 updates how state water infrastructure funds can be used, including funding water development projects and acquiring or leasing water to help support the Great Salt Lake.
HEAL supports this bill as a continued effort to save the Great Salt Lake and protect our communities from dust storms.
This bill had a committee hearing where it was held and the following week it was heard in the Legislative Water Development Commission where it was voted to move on to the next item without a vote.
This bill redirects brine shrimp tax revenue to support the Great Salt Lake. HEAL supports this bill for water conservation and infrastructure projects that stabilize lake levels and reduce dust-generating exposed lakebed, lowering harmful dust that worsens human health. HB 247 passed the House floor and is now in Senate Rules awaiting Senate standing committee assignment.
Take Action: Contact your Senators in support of this bill!
This bill requires the Utah Department of Transportation to transition its commuter rail systems (e.g. FrontRunner) to hybrid-electric by 2031. HEAL supports this bill because it would electrify FrontRunner, reducing emissions and improving our air quality. The bill has been assigned to the House Transportation Committee, and we expect it will get a committee hearing sometime next week.
Update to bad bills
Here is an update to the bad legislation we are tracking.
TAKE ACTION!
Reach out to your lawmakers and urge them to vote against this legislation. You can also sign up to provide public comment when these bills are heard in committee. Action details below.
This bill expands protections against civil and criminal lawsuits alleging damage from greenhouse gas emissions, effectively creating a shield against lawsuits aimed at holding companies responsible for emissions. This bill passed both House & Senate
Take Action: Contact Gov. Cox and urge him to VETO.
This resolution declares Utah’s support for the advanced nuclear manufacturing industry. HEAL Utah testified against this resolution because nuclear manufacturing poses significant economic risks to communities, are unproven at commercial scale, and rely on long-term public subsidies.
This resolution has passed the House and Senate and has been signed by the Lieutenant Governor’s office.
S.C.R. 1 This resolution expresses support for Utah to pursue expanded Agreement State status with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for additional elements of permitting and oversight within the nuclear fuel cycle. HEAL Utah opposes this resolution because it poses significant economic, health, and environmental risks given the unresolved waste disposal challenges that accompany nuclear development. This bill passed the Senate floor and is now in House Rules Committee.
TAKE ACTION: CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND URGE THEM TO VOTE NO!
This bill authorizes the Office of Energy Development to facilitate the development of nuclear fuel reprocessing in the state. HEAL Utah opposes SB 135 because nuclear fuel reprocessing is extremely costly, requires decades of government support, and creates high risks of radioactive exposure and nuclear weapons proliferation.
This bill has returned to House Rules due to fiscal impact.
The bill removes Utah’s authority to adopt stronger or more protective environmental and health standards than federal law, even when local conditions or public health concerns warrant stricter protections. HEAL opposes this bill because it limits Utah’s ability to protect communities from environmental public health threats at a time when federal regulations are being cut left and right. This bill is still on the Senate floor.
TAKE ACTION!: Contact your Senators and urge them to vote NO!
This bill is the legislature’s annual transportation omnibus bill, meaning it makes a number of changes to Utah’s transportation code. Most notably, it gives the Utah Department of Transportation final authority over certain Salt Lake City street design projects, in some cases preventing the city from adopting traffic calming measures. This could greatly impact the city’s ability to improve active transit infrastructure, including bike lanes and bus lanes.
This bill passed out of the Senate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee.
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