Feb. 26, lawmakers placed HB 205 — Substance Abuse Intervention Amendments — on the Senate’s Second Reading Calendar. This bill focuses on substance abuse intervention in Utah communities and individuals involved in criminal justice. Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, and Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Utah County sponsor the bill.
Reasoning behind the amendments
In a House General Session on Feb. 18, Clancy discussed his motivations behind sponsoring the bill. “I think everyone in this body has either had a loved one or someone close to us that’s been afflicted by the plague of drug addiction in our communities,” Clancy said. “And that’s what this bill is about — finding common sense solutions to a problem that all of us are all too familiar with.”
Some of HB 205’s provisions include: allowing jails to establish recovery housing pods; authorizing the creation of a Structured Treatment and Enforcement Pathway (STEP) Supervision Program; and permitting judges to issue an off-limits order against someone charged with or convicted of a drug crime, preventing them from entering the specific area where they sold or used drugs.
During the session, Clancy explained the purpose of the bill’s Jail Recovery Pods. “When people are in jail, even if the offense is not about narcotics, but they’re addicted to drugs, they can begin that programming and begin that healing process.”
Another part of the bill focuses on keeping public spaces around Utah clean and restricting syringe exchange programs. “This bill makes it explicitly clear that harm reduction is not giving out crack pipes, tin foils, tourniquets or cookers to smoke meth and do different things like that that are driving the disorder in our downtown communities,” Clancy said.
Public spaces
HB 205 would also establish drug-free zones, intending to ban drug dealers from parks and other public areas. “This allows cities and municipalities to stop the repeat drug offenders from destroying our parks and our public spaces that are built for families,” Clancy said.
In a Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee hearing on Feb. 26, Director of Communications and Government Relations for the Utah Department of Corrections Glen Mills outlined his goals for public spaces in Utah. “Our parks should be a safe space for families, for children, not for criminal activity,” he said. “We are determined in Utah’s capitol city to change that and to hold those who are using our parks for illegal drug distribution, drug use and other criminal activity accountable.”
In the same hearing, Bill Manzaneres, the Deputy Chief of the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Investigative Bureau, discussed homelessness in the city. “We’re hopeful that this bill, if passed, would give us additional tools to help keep and maintain those parks and keep them safe … and to assist the homeless people because homeless people are being victimized again in these parks due to these open air drug markets that are occurring in and around them.”
The bill passed the House vote with 71 yes votes and is now sitting in the Senate for consideration. If passed, the amendments would activate on May 6, 2026. “House Bill 205 gives us more tools on the city, county, and state level to stop the chaos, stop the disorder and make sure our public spaces are for families again,” Clancy said.
