Student Leadership

With a stronger penalty on multiple DUI offenses, that will hopefully be more of a deterrent, and lead to less DUI occurrences, and less DUI accidents and deaths.

Tobacco companies bring new products into the marketplace, and often will have no regulations in place for the first few years. Like we have seen with e-cigarettes, that gives them time to establish a market with the youth.

This bill would allow 16 & 17 year-olds to vote in local school board elections, but only if the local school board votes to allow it.

If they register to vote through this process, they will be automatically registered to vote for all elections at age 18, unless they opt out.

There is created a student voter pilot project. The student voter pilot project begins on January 1, 2022, and ends on January 1, 2027.
A local school board may participate in the student voter pilot project, in accordance with the requirements of this section and all other applicable provisions of law, by voting to allow student voters to vote in the local school board's elections.

If a local school board votes to participate in the student voter pilot project, the local school board shall, as soon as is reasonably possible after the vote, transmit notice of the vote to all election officers within the local school board's boundaries.

Higher penalties to stores who sell e-cigarettes to minors under the age of 21

Stores set up within 1,000 feet of schools will need to relocate by July 1, 2022

Evidence is clear - the closer shops are to schools, especially high schools, the more likely students are to use and experiment with e-cigarettes.

It may also be a racial issue to some degree, with more tobacco retail stores in Black and other minority neighborhoods.

This bill continues to work on the same issues as HB 23 & SB 6008 from last year, including trying to "fix" problems that were caused by those two bills.

Good things about the bill - it does strengthen penalties for tobacco retailers who violate rules, especially regarding sales to those under 21. It also adds nicotine products to the list of items that retailers can't give away. (One example of something retailers have done in the past to not be characterized as a tobacco retailer is to sell a shirt or something, and then give away the e-cigarettes for free. Thus, on the receipt is the sale of shirt, but no mention of the sale of the vaping product.) HB 23 provided a 3 strikes and you're out, SB 189 cuts it down to 2 strikes. $2K/$5K fines are upped to $5K/$10K. The Dept of Health did help with a lot of the positive changes in this bill.

The BIG DOWN side to the original bill was the removal of grandfather clauses that were put into HB 23 Sub 7, and were amplified by SB 6008. The side effect of putting in those grandfather clauses was the creation of 45 new vape shops, 37 within 1,000 feet of schools. Sub 4 now keeps the grandfather clause in place, with stores having to move by July 1, 2022. Sen Vickers said, "You can never guarantee that lobbyists won't be able convince a legislator to do something next session-it won't be this legislator though. There is no guarantee that retailers won't sue the state as we don't have anything in writing from them. However, the state is in a much better position with this bill than previously."

There is impact on two specific groups of students.

First, transgender girls (MTF - male transitioning to female) would not be allowed to play in girls sports that are sponsored by schools. They would be allowed to play in boys or coed sports. This would be harmful to an at-risk population with a high rate of mental health issues and suicide rates. Even just having this conversation could be harmful to these students.

Second, girls would be able to compete in girls' sports without having to compete against individuals with scientifically proven advantages based on their biological sex from birth. There are compelling examples of transgender females dominating in girls' and women's sports when they are allowed to compete, as well as examples of bodily harm occurring to the girls/women competing against them. There's also the potential of suicide & mental health issues for girls who lose hope in success in sports due to an unfair playing field.

Flavors and nicotine are the 1-2 punch that gets our children hooked on e-cigarettes. Allowing tobacco companies to triple the amount of nicotine which will be very harmful to anyone who tries e-cigarettes and becomes addicted.

It also increases the Preemption Expansion that was started in HB 23 last year - Removes local power to regulate products - at all - makes it so tobacco companies just need to lobby the state legislature, which may be unfairly influenced by conflicts of interest or special interest money. 

HB212 actually makes some very minor changes to the much more impactful legislation passed a couple years ago, HB371 “Consent to Services for Homeless Youth.”

That legislation was in response to and involved much input from youth as well as service stakeholders about basic needs for youth in homelessness. It accomplished three purposes:

The bill resulted in youth, ages 15, 16, 17 being able to escape the streets and check themselves into a licensed facility without having to provide a parent’s signature. When we discussed the concern about admission to an adult shelter, we learned that youth are referred to a youth facility, not admitted at an adult facility, where all were concerned about the population they would meet.
The bill also removed the restriction for those who harbor minors, ages 15, 16, and 17. We haven’t emphasized this in the news media because we all recognize the possible “invitation” to predators to take advantage of homeless youth. The reality is that there are many, many young people staying with friends, relatives, and neighbors who have been subject to litigation for providing shelter. Under the new law, the person providing harbor is required to notify authorities – police, Child Protective Services, DCFS, etc. – within 48 hours of the youth’s coming to their home. We realize this doesn’t guarantee everything we want, but we know it has allowed much more safety than before for kids as well as those providing a place in their homes. As a teacher, I have heard regularly about “couch-surfing” that was illegal before HB371.
A third provision in HB371 was that it allowed these minors to receive services and resources that normally would have required parent signatures. Again, the intent is not to provide or encourage run-aways, etc., but for the 2000+ kids in homelessness every day in Utah, we know more are safer and getting services than before.

This year’s bill HB212 makes a couple adjustments after discussions about improving elements of safety. 
(Info from Rep Weight)

We are very concerned with putting a child in a car without a seat belt, what about without a driver? This is an issue that needs to be studied dealing with the safety of our children.

This bill would directly impact high school students learning to drive. We want them to get involved with bills that they can use to help them learn to advocate for themselves.