What Went Down at the Capitol: Our 2026 Legislative Recap

Well, we made it. 

Another Utah legislative session is officially in the books. Four bills we worked on passed into law this year, the most we’ve ever helped pass in a single legislative session! 

But for us, the Legislative session isn’t about a tally of bills passed or defeated: it’s about our progress on protecting Utah’s land, air, and water, along with the ability of Utahns to participate in those outcomes. Behind every vote is months—sometimes years—of work. This community plays a key part in enacting this plan by contacting legislators, attending hearings, and showing up. 

L to R: Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson speaks to rural and Navajo community members for our Rural Day on the Hill event. Photo by Jon Vickers. Energy Policy Associate Samantha Pensari with Climate and Air Quality Policy Associate Piper Christian in the Capitol Rotunda. Great Salt Lake Policy Associate Chandler Rosenberg in the House Chamber eagerly awaiting a vote.

The Progress

Utah Purchases US Magnesium! The biggest win for air quality and a major step forward on water this session was the Legislature’s purchase of US Magnesium. Their pollution has been a key driver of winter inversion spikes–something we have passed two different bills to reduce. The state purchased the plant and its water rights from bankruptcy which means that we have zero pollution, for now, and a major donation of water for the Great Salt Lake. 

SB 208, sponsored by Senator Stephanie Pitcher, helps clean our air by strengthening Utah’s vehicle emissions program. Thousands of vehicles each year skirt the rules around emissions testing, putting too many dirty vehicles on the road. SB 208 helps close that loophole with new enforcement tools.

HB 76 begins addressing the rapid growth of data centers in Utah and their impact on water by requiring new data centers to track their water usage. This kind of bill will help us understand potential impacts on the Great Salt Lake and could become model legislation for states across the country grappling with the same emerging challenge.

HB 401 tees up major climate and air progress by directing Utah State University to study geothermal energy potential at existing and shuttered coal power plants. The idea is simple: these locations already have transmission lines and infrastructure. Switching from coal to renewable geothermal energy could allow those communities to remain energy producers.

HB 52 allows members of federally recognized tribes to request a Native American notation on their Utah driver’s license or state ID. We did this work with our partners at the Navajo Nation with the hope that a small change could have real significance in helping boost voter participation in San Juan County and protection for tribal members from unwarranted immigration enforcement.

The Defense

There are no shortage of problems during the session; this year we helped stop two that threatened climate progress and the ability of Utahns to vote.

A late-night sneaky substitute in an otherwise good bill threatened to severely wound the Community Renewable Energy Program, which allows cities across the state to transition to 100% renewable power and the biggest thing happening on climate. We worked quietly with many partners to derail that substitute.

Last year, we helped prevent the end of vote-by-mail in Utah. The architect of that effort tried again this year with HB 479. Thanks to an outpouring of your messages to legislators, his efforts died when they crashed against an unwilling Senate committee.  

Important Work Behind the Scenes

Beyond those bills, we had several other major priorities, efforts, and starter bills this session:

• We ramped up a major operation to fight the repeal of prop 4 and have helped roughly ~6,000 people remove their name. Prop 4 is the citizen-passed ballot initiative that gave us fair districts and limited gerrymandering in Utah. We are helping our partners reach out to members of the public—who were often duped or defrauded into signing an initiative that will restore gerrymandering—to help them correct these problems and remove their names from that initiative.

• We introduced bills and funding requests to address industrial pollution, electrify Frontrunner, fill legislative vacancies, help finance Utahns’ ability to switch to cleaner and more efficient appliances, replace gas-powered landscaping equipment with pollution-free models, and address wood smoke. While these didn't make it to enactment we'll keep at it; bills typically take a few sessions to pass.  

• Despite a snowstorm, we held our Rural Day on the Hill, bringing community members from across Utah to the Capitol to meet directly with lawmakers and ensure rural voices were part of the conversation.

  
  

Disappointing Outcomes 

We don't win every battle. We had two particularly painful losses:

HB 263 was a bipartisan effort–sponsored by two Republicans and cosponsored by another 15 to reduce pollution from heavy-duty trucks—one of the largest sources of harmful emissions along the Wasatch Front. It was emblematic of our model of years spent developing relationships, participating in elections, and involving the public, all in service of major impact. We saved this bill from a fatal vote in the House and tenuous committee hearings in both bodies. Unfortunately, it ran out of time and didn’t make it for a vote in the full Senate. 

HB 328 would have reduced the use of water-hungry grass in all kinds of new development in the Great Salt Lake Basin. It enjoyed strong bipartisan support but also ran out of time awaiting its final vote in the full Senate.

Progress Is a Team Effort

Our team spends the entire year preparing for the legislative session: meeting with lawmakers, working with community partners, refining policy ideas, and building the public support needed to make progress possible. We also know that success in the session is founded on strong, active participation in elections.

Our Policy Team from L to R: Samantha Pensari, Alma Baste, Piper Christian, Nat Williams, Chandler Rosenberg, and SU Codirector, David Garbett.

That work only happens because of the people who support it. Every email sent, every public comment made, every conversation with a legislator, and every donation that helps sustain this work contributes to these outcomes. If this work is important to you, please consider donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today.

Support Stewardship Utah

This year’s session showed us something important: when people organize, build relationships, and stay engaged, progress is possible, even in difficult political environments.

We’re proud of what this team and this community accomplished together. And we’re already getting back to work preparing for what comes next.

Onward!