All Roll Calls
Yes: 183 • No: 1
UtahH.B. 2072026 General SessionHouse
Competency Amendments
Sponsored By: Nelson T. Abbott (Republican)
Signed by Governor
Health and Human ServicesHealth CareHealth Care FacilitiesMental HealthHealth Care ProfessionalsCourtsCriminal ProcedureInsanity Defense/CompetencyJudicial OperationsLaw Enforcement and Criminal JusticeDepartment of Health and Human ServicesUtah State HospitalCorrectional Facilities
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 0 costs, 3 mixed.
Forced medication continues with transfer safeguards
Beginning May 6, 2026, orders allowing psychiatric medication without consent stay valid when people move between facilities within Utah. This includes jails, hospitals, and correctional facilities. Before continuing medication, a qualified medical professional employed by the receiving facility must review the records and order. The professional must assess the person face to face and consider a switch to voluntary treatment. A signed medical-record statement must confirm that mental illness creates a likelihood of serious harm if treatment stops. It must also confirm that medication is medically appropriate, in the person’s best interests, and the least restrictive treatment needed for safety. Both facilities must coordinate the medication plan. If the prescribed drug is not on the receiving facility’s medication list, both medical directors or their designees must agree on an equivalent or alternative. Without the receiving medical director’s agreement, involuntary medication cannot continue unless a new order is obtained. The transfer rules preserve the person’s existing rights and do not extend the order’s original expiration date.
Fewer requirements for defendants’ progress evaluations
Beginning May 6, 2026, evaluations of defendants’ progress toward competency are exempt from Section 77-15-5 requirements. This includes the timing and prior-release limits used for other competency decisions. When a progress report finds a defendant competent to proceed, a treating physician’s statement about antipsychotic medication is optional. The report can include that statement when clinically appropriate, but the listed medication information is no longer required.
New evaluation options for Utah defendants
Beginning May 6, 2026, Utah courts must order two competency evaluations in the same order. After all ordered reports arrive, courts can request another or updated evaluation from the Department of Health and Human Services. A party can ask, or the court can act on its own. The court must find good cause based on changed circumstances or previously unconsidered information that could materially affect its decision. The Department can limit the evaluation to that change or information. Defendants can also be moved temporarily to a clinical or inpatient setting when clinically appropriate and recommended and requested by the Department. The Department must notify the court and parties. Courts cannot find a defendant incompetent based only on an unrelated release order issued more than one year before the petition. Courts can issue reasonable orders to enforce this limit, but violations do not require dismissal of charges.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Nelson T. Abbott
Republican • House
Cosponsors
Todd Weiler
Republican • Senate
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 3/5/2026
Senate/ passed 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension
Yes: 23 • No: 0
House vote • 3/5/2026
House/ concurs with Senate amendment
Yes: 67 • No: 1
Senate vote • 2/27/2026
Senate Comm - Substitute Recommendation
Yes: 4 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/27/2026
Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation
Yes: 4 • No: 0
House vote • 2/17/2026
House/ passed 3rd reading
Yes: 70 • No: 0
House vote • 2/5/2026
House Comm - Favorable Recommendation
Yes: 8 • No: 0
House vote • 2/5/2026
House Comm - Substitute Recommendation
Yes: 7 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Governor Signed
3/17/2026House/ to Governor
3/12/2026HouseHouse/ received enrolled bill from Printing
3/12/2026HouseHouse/ enrolled bill to Printing
3/11/2026HouseEnrolled Bill Returned to House or Senate
3/11/2026Draft of Enrolled Bill Prepared
3/10/2026Bill Received from House for Enrolling
3/10/2026House/ signed by Speaker/ sent for enrolling
3/6/2026HouseHouse/ received from Senate
3/6/2026HouseSenate/ to House
3/6/2026SenateSenate/ signed by President/ returned to House
3/6/2026SenateSenate/ received from House
3/6/2026SenateHouse/ to Senate
3/5/2026HouseHouse/ concurs with Senate amendment
3/5/2026HouseHouse/ placed on Concurrence Calendar
3/5/2026HouseHouse/ received from Senate
3/5/2026HouseSenate/ to House with amendments
3/5/2026SenateSenate/ passed 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension
3/5/2026SenateSenate/ 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension
3/5/2026SenateSenate/ Rules to 2nd Reading Calendar
3/5/2026SenateSenate/ 2nd Reading Calendar to Rules
3/4/2026SenateSenate/ placed on 2nd Reading Calendar
3/2/2026SenateSenate/ comm rpt/ substituted
3/2/2026SenateSenate Comm - Favorable Recommendation
2/27/2026Senate Comm - Substitute Recommendation
2/27/2026
Bill Text
Enrolled
3/11/2026
Substitute #2
2/27/2026
Substitute #1
2/4/2026
Introduced
1/9/2026