The bills affecting Moab from the 2021 legislative session

Allowing kids to ride small dirt bikes off-road

• Bill name: HB 111
• Official name: Off-highway Vehicle Amendments
• Effect: Allows children under eight to ride small dirt bikes after completion of an online safety course
• Status: Signed into law
• County position: No official position

Establishing Utahraptor State Park

• Bill number: HB 257
• Official name: Utah State Park Amendments
• Effect: Designates Dalton Wells as a state park named Utahraptor State Park and allocates funds for its establishment
• Status: Signed into law
• County position: Supported

Designated routes and curfews for OHVs

• Bill number: HB 168
• Official name: Designated Vehicle Routes Amendments
• Effect: Would have allowed gateway communities like Moab to set curfews and permitted routes for OHVs, but only on city roads and only from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
• Status: Failed
• County position: Supported

TRT reform

• Bill number: HB 247
• Official name: Transient Room Tax Amendments
• Effect: Allows counties like Grand to spend taxes collected from lodging on economic diversification
• Status: Signed into law
• County position: Supported

Bill to expand short-term rentals

• Bill number: SB 221
• Official name: Short-term Rental Amendments
• Effect: Would have allowed any homeowner who occupies the home they own to operate it as a short-term rental for part of the year
• Status: Failed
• County position: No official position

Mandating allowances for accessory dwelling units

• Bill number: HB 82
• Official name: Single-family Housing Modifications
• Effect: Loosens local government restrictions on accessory dwelling unit regarding things like the size of the unit, the size of the lot, parking, and street frontage
• Status: Signed into law
• County position: Initially opposed, neutral after amendments

A way around local building inspection requirements

• Bill number: HB 98
• Official name: Local Government Building Regulation Amendments
• Effect: Would allow builders to bypass local government processes for certifying occupancy of buildings and inspections under certain circumstances and prohibit local governments from regulating certain building design elements
• Status: Vetoed
• County position: Opposed before amendments

Allowing automatic renewal for vehicle registration

• Bill number: HB 195
• Official name: Vehicle, Boat, and Trailer Registration Amendments
• Effect: Allows vehicle owners to sign up for automatic renewal of vehicle registration
• Status: Signed into law
• County position: Opposed before amendments

A less extreme version of the new ADU law

• Bill number: HB 273
• Official name: Single-family Housing Amendments
• Effect: Would have deregulated internal accessory dwelling units, effectively preempting local control over the number of unrelated individuals occupying a single-family residence
• Status: Failed
• County position: Opposed

Withholding some PILT from counties

• Bill number: SB 44
• Official name: Payment in Lieu of Taxes Funds for Counties
• Effect: Would have reduced the amount of Payments in Lieu of Taxes from the federal government that go to counties directly and redirect them into a state fund
• Status: Failed
• County position: Opposed

Allowing analog billboards to go digital

• Bill number: SB 61
• Official name: Outdoor Advertising Amendments
• Effect: Would have preempted local control over billboards by, in certain circumstances, allowing upgrades to existing signs into electronic or mechanical, changeable message signs
• Status: Failed
• County position: Opposed

A more extreme version of the other billboards bill

• Bill number: SB 144
• Official name: Billboard Restrictions Amendments
• Effect: Would have lifted many existing restrictions on billboards that counties and municipalities wanted to keep in place
• Status: Failed
• County position: Opposed

Requiring counties to administer ranked-choice voting at cities’ request

• Bill number: HB 75
• Official name: Municipal Alternative Voting Methods Pilot Project Amendments
• Effect: If a municipality wishes to participate in Utah’s ranked-choice voting pilot program, this law requires the county where it is located to run such an election
• Status: Signed into law
• County position: Opposed before amendments

Creating funding and grant opportunities for affordable housing

• Bill number: SB 164
• Official name: Utah Housing Affordability Amendments
• Effect: Allows counties and municipalities to grant real estate for the purpose of affordable housing development and adds to the list of activities that may receive state loan funding for affordable housing
• Status: Signed into law
• County position: Opposed before amendments

Retroactively adding to the purpose of Community Impact Funds

• Bill name: SB 176
• Official name: Mineral Lease Funds Amendments
• Effect: Adds language about the legislative intent and purpose of the Community Impact Fund Act that will apply retroactively, amid a lawsuit against the state for CIB funding being awarded for the Uintas Basin Railway
• Status: Signed
• County position: Opposed

Restricts counties from infringing on other counties’ land use codes

• Bill number: HB 281
• Official name: County Development Activity Amendments
• Effect: Would have required that, if a county initiates a development that affects another county that violates the affected county’s land use code, the development can only move forward with both counties’ consent
• Status: Failed
• County position: Supported

Requesting President Joe Biden cooperate with Utah on national monument issues

• Bill number: HCR 12
• Official name: Concurrent Resolution Encouraging Cooperative Action Regarding National Monuments
• Effect: “Encourages President Biden to work with Utah’s congressional delegation, the state’s legislative and executive branches, local communities, and the tribes to develop a long-term, sustainable solution” to ongoing tensions over Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments
• Status: Signed
• County position: No official position