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2025 legislative session

Writer's picture: Tom MoyerTom Moyer

Welcome to the 2025 legislative session! Our legislative tracker is now up. As always we will focus on legislation relating to climate change and clean energy. We'll also include clean air bills if they have a link to climate change or the possibility of significant greenhouse gas reductions. We are also now tracking the key water bills and major appropriations requests because we have had so much interest in saving the Great Salt Lake.


Climate Utah is our Utah grassroots state-level advocacy group. Updates to this list will be sent out during the legislative session and when there are key opportunities to interact with your legislators. For advocacy on federal legislation, monthly chapter meetings, and other events, please join us by signing up for Citizens' Climate Lobby.


Actions You Can Take Now:


  • Contact your legislators: Now is a great time to contact your legislators about the bills we are tracking. You can look up your district and contact information for your legislators here. As always, legislators respond best when we are respectful and appreciative of the work they do, and when we are clear about what we are asking them to vote for or against.  NOTE: If you're emailing a legislator, include the bill number and title in the subject of the email, and include your address and contact information in your signature. They will typically respond only to constituents.

  • Get ready to testify at a hearing: All of the committee hearings open to the public, and you can request to testify about a bill. Hearings are also streamed online.

  • Track proposed legislation: You can sign up for notifications on a bill you're interested in on the Utah legislature's web page (easiest if you go straight to one of the bills on our bill tracker). You can also see bill trackers on a wider range of environmental topics from:

       Breathe Utah

       HEAL Utah

       Utah Clean Energy


       Other bill trackers to follow as they get posted from:

       Great Salt Lake Audubon

       Grow the Flow

       Stewardship Utah

       Utah Sierra Club


Current Climate and Energy Legislation


Nothing we've seen yet deals explicitly with climate change. There are a number of good energy and clean air bills (and also some bad ones).


HB185 - Railroad Modifications (Clancy)


This bill requires the Division of Air Quality to conduct an inventory of emissions from railyards; and requires the division to propose a railroad locomotive emissions reduction plan.


SB124 - Landscaping Procurement Amendments (Pitcher)


This bill phases out the use of gas-powered lawn equipment at state government facilities, starting with a ban on purchases of new equipment starting in July, 2025, and moving to eliminate use by everyone including subcontractors in July, 2027.


Halogen Emissions Amendments (Stoddard)


This bill follows the successful 2023 HB220, which required the Division of Air Quality to monitor chlorine and bromine emissions from US Magnesium and develop a mitigation plan. The new bill would adopt the DAQ's recommendations and add a state standard for bromine emissions.


Great Salt Lake Legislation


This will not be a big year for Great Salt Lake Water bills. There will be some worth supporting, but Speaker Schultz has called for a pause on any major new water legislation this year to evaluate the effect of previously passed bills. The legislature has, in fact, done some very good things on the lake, and you can see them in our bill trackers from previous years. But the job is not done and time is an issue. The last two water years have been excellent, and that has had the effect of bringing the lake all the way back to ... 2021 levels. In average years, the lake will continue its decline. A new report from the Gardner Institute's Great Salt Lake Strike Team makes it clear that the Great Salt Lake continues to demand urgent action to increase inflows.

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