Over the next 45 days, lawmakers will propose roughly a thousand pieces of legislation and likely pass more than half of them, creating or revising hundreds of laws. And they will do it with one eye looking ahead to the upcoming 2026 elections.
As the Legislature adjourned its first day Tuesday, more than 500 pieces of legislation had been numbered, while hundreds more awaited publication.
Roughly three-quarters of the 104 legislators are running for reelection, giving the bills already numbered this session a decidedly conservative flavor of populism. Republicans hold supermajorities in both the Senate and House, meaning GOP leaders do not need the support of Democratic lawmakers to push through any of their legislative priorities.
For some, that means focusing on housing affordability and tax cuts, for others it’s immigration crackdowns and localizing President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again agenda.
The day began with the expected opening prayers and Pledge of Allegiance in both chambers. In the Senate, the prayer was given by a top leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Patrick Kearon, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026.
In the House of Representatives, Speaker Mike Schultz’s opening day speech recounted the story of a Republican state representative from the early 1900s whose focus became improving Utah’s roads in the face of public opposition. He compared the late Rep. David Roberts to the lawmakers taking on controversial issues in the present.
“Let us do what is right, even when it is hard,” Schultz, R-Hooper, said. “Because someday, Utahns will … live in a state shaped by choices we made quietly, faithfully, and with conviction.”
As many Utahns have come to expect from the legislative session, lawmakers — mostly in the House — will again wade into contentious social issues, especially those related to transgender Utahns. If some of the proposed bills pass, this would be the fifth year in a row that the Legislature acts to restrict the rights of a population that accounts for an estimated 1% of adults in the state and 3% of teenagers.
Both chambers’ top lawmakers made references to tax rates, hinting at the likelihood of an income tax cut for the sixth consecutive year.
After touting what he sees as Utah’s top legislative accomplishments in recent years, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said, “And we’ve done all this while cutting taxes — again, again, again, again, again and we hope to do it again.”
The Legislature last year lowered the state income tax rate to 4.5%, down from 4.55%. This year, Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, is proposing SB60 to lower that rate further to 4.45%, and Rep. Kay Christofferson, R-Lehi, is making the same proposal in the House.
Another bill, SB116, from Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, would lower income taxes when state revenues exceed forecast revenues, with the rate change based on state revenues.
The wealthiest Utahns have repeatedly benefited the most from income tax cuts. According to an analysis of last year’s reduction by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the general income tax cut meant $1,929 in annual savings for the state’s top 1% of earners and a decrease of $35 a year for a household earning between $63,100 and $103,200.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The desk of Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Salt Lake, is pictured on Wednesday February. 26, 2025.
For that reason, the members of the Legislature’s Democratic superminority have said they are opposed to the possibility of further slashing income taxes.
“When we are struggling with trying to meet the needs of our citizens, we shouldn’t be taking money from the least of us and giving tax breaks to the people that have the most,” Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Adams also said in his speech that Utah should be the home of a new U.S. Department of Energy lab focused on the nation’s supply of critical minerals — metals used in computer processors, weapons systems and energy generation.
Cox said the state has pitched the idea of a national laboratory based in Utah and focused on critical minerals research. Schultz said the research lab could potentially be located at the University of Utah.
“Utah is the best place [for it],” the governor said. “We have more critical minerals than any other state in the nation and the opportunity to really expand there. So we think it makes sense that this would be kind of ground zero for that type of research.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026.
Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, has a series of bills targeting illegal immigration. One revokes any public benefits, like food subsidies for pregnant mothers or homeless services, to anyone who can’t prove their citizenship; another seeks to rescind the state’s driving privilege cards to undocumented migrants; while another, he has said, would make it a crime to rent to anyone who is undocumented.
Cox said he hadn’t studied the specifics of those bills, but generally is “grateful we live in the state of Utah, where we believe in the rule of law and treating people with dignity and respect.”
With regard to the driving privilege card, the governor said the law was originally passed so people who were undocumented would be able to get insurance, keeping other drivers from being “on the hook” if there is an accident.
“If it does make a difference and is saving taxpayers money — if it’s saving Americans and Utahns money — then I think we should be thoughtful about it, instead of just a knee-jerk reaction,” Cox said.
As lawmakers left the Capitol to the sun setting on the first day, a hundreds-strong crowd gathered on the front steps protesting the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, chanting, “Nobody is illegal.”
Reporter Addy Baird contributed to this story.