Governmental Immunity Amendments

24
63G-7-102
63G-7-201
63H-1-209
1
Governmental Immunity Amendments
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Matthew H. Gwynn
Senate Sponsor: Brady Brammer
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill amends the Governmental Immunity Act of Utah.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
defines terms;
provides that a governmental entity and the governmental entity's employees are immune
from suit for engaging in the following activities:
responding to a disaster or potential disaster; or
if the employee is a first responder, providing emergency medical services;
clarifies that immunity from suit for providing emergency medical services is not limited
to providing medical services resulting from emergencies of a certain type; and
makes technical and conforming changes.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
This bill provides a special effective date.
This bill provides retrospective operation.
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
63G-7-102
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2025, First Special Session, Chapter 9
63G-7-201
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2025, First Special Session, Chapter 15
63H-1-209
, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapter 12
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section
63G-7-102
is amended to read:
63G-7-102
. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
(1)
"Arises out of or in connection with, or results from," when used to describe the
relationship between conduct or a condition and an injury, means that:
(a)
there is some causal relationship between the conduct or condition and the injury;
(b)
the causal relationship is more than any causal connection but less than proximate
cause; and
(c)
the causal relationship is sufficient to conclude that the injury originates with, flows
from, or is incident to the conduct or condition.
(2)
"Claim" means any asserted demand for or cause of action for money or damages,
whether arising under the common law, under state constitutional provisions, or under
state statutes, against a governmental entity or against an employee in the employee's
personal capacity.
(3)
"Emergency medical services" means the same as that term is defined in Section
53-2d-101
.
(3)
(4)
(a)
"Employee" includes:
(i)
a governmental entity's officers, employees, servants, trustees, or commissioners;
(ii)
a member of a governing body;
(iii)
a member of a government entity board;
(iv)
a member of a government entity commission;
(v)
members of an advisory body, officers, and employees of a Children's Justice
Center created in accordance with Section
67-5b-102
;
(vi)
a student holding a license issued by the State Board of Education;
(vii)
an educational aide;
(viii)
a student engaged in an internship under Section
53H-3-1002
or
53G-7-902
;
(ix)
a volunteer, as defined in Section
67-20-2
; and
(x)
a tutor.
(b)
"Employee" includes all of the positions identified in Subsection
(3)(a)
(4)(a)
,
whether or not the individual holding that position receives compensation.
(c)
"Employee" does not include an independent contractor.
(5)
"First responder" means the same as that term is defined in Section
34A-2-102
.
(4)
(6)
"Governmental entity" means:
(a)
the state and its political subdivisions; and
(b)
a law enforcement agency, as defined in Section
53-1-102
, that employs one or more
law enforcement officers, as defined in Section
53-13-103
.
(5)
(7)
(a)
"Governmental function" means each activity, undertaking, or operation of a
governmental entity.
(b)
"Governmental function" includes each activity, undertaking, or operation performed
by a department, agency, employee, agent, or officer of a governmental entity.
(c)
"Governmental function" includes a governmental entity's failure to act.
(6)
(8)
"Injury" means death, injury to a person, damage to or loss of property, or any other
injury that a person may suffer to the person or estate, that would be actionable if
inflicted by a private person or the private person's agent.
(7)
(9)
"Personal injury" means an injury of any kind other than property damage.
(8)
(10)
"Political subdivision" means any county, city, town, school district, community
reinvestment agency, special improvement or taxing district, special district, special
service district, an entity created by an interlocal agreement adopted under
Title 11,
Chapter 13, Interlocal Cooperation Act
, or other governmental subdivision or public
corporation.
(9)
(11)
"Property damage" means injury to, or loss of, any right, title, estate, or interest in
real or personal property.
(10)
(12)
"State" means the state of Utah, and includes each office, department, division,
agency, authority, commission, board, institution, hospital, college, university,
Children's Justice Center, or other instrumentality of the state.
(11)
(13)
"Willful misconduct" means the intentional doing of a wrongful act, or the
wrongful failure to act, without just cause or excuse, where the actor is aware that the
actor's conduct will probably result in injury.
Section 2. Section
63G-7-201
is amended to read:
63G-7-201
. Immunity of governmental entities and employees from suit.
(1)
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, each governmental entity and each
employee of a governmental entity are immune from suit for any injury that results from
the exercise of a governmental function.
(2)
Notwithstanding the waiver of immunity provisions of Section
63G-7-301
, a
governmental entity, its officers, and its employees are immune from suit:
(a)
as provided in Section
78B-4-517
; and
(b)
for any injury or damage resulting from the implementation of or the failure to
implement measures to:
(i)
control the causes of epidemic and communicable diseases and other conditions
significantly affecting the public health or necessary to protect the public health as
set out in
Title 26A, Chapter 1, Local Health Departments
;
(ii)
investigate and control suspected bioterrorism and disease as set out in Sections
26B-7-316
through
26B-7-324
;
(iii)
respond to a national, state, or local emergency, a public health emergency as
defined in Section
26B-7-301
, or a declaration by the President of the United
States or other federal official requesting public health related activities, including
the use, provision, operation, and management of:
(A)
an emergency shelter;
(B)
housing;
(C)
a staging place; or
(D)
a medical facility; and
(iv)
adopt methods or measures, in accordance with Section
26B-1-202
, for health
care providers, public health entities, and health care insurers to coordinate among
themselves to verify the identity of the individuals they serve.
(3)
(a)
A governmental entity, its officers, and its employees are immune from suit, and
immunity is not waived, for any injury if the injury arises out of or in connection
with, or results from:
(i)
a latent dangerous or latent defective condition of:
(A)
any highway, road, street, alley, crosswalk, sidewalk, culvert, tunnel, bridge,
or viaduct; or
(B)
another structure located on any of the items listed in this Subsection
(3)(a)(i)
;
or
(ii)
a latent dangerous or latent defective condition of any public building, structure,
dam, reservoir, or other public improvement.
(b)
(i)
As used in this Subsection
(3)(b)
:
(A)
"Contaminated land" means the same as that term is defined in Section
11-58-102
.
(B)
"Contamination" means the condition of land that results from the placement,
disposal, or release of hazardous matter on, in, or under the land, including any
seeping or escaping of the hazardous matter from the land.
(C)
"Damage" means any property damage, personal injury, or other injury or any
loss of any kind, however denominated.
(D)
"Environmentally compliant" means, as applicable, obtaining a certificate of
completion from the Department of Environmental Quality under Section
19-8-111
following participation in a voluntary cleanup under
Title 19, Chapter
8, Voluntary Cleanup Program
, obtaining an administrative letter from the
Department of Environmental Quality for a discrete phase of a voluntary
cleanup that is conducted under a remedial action plan as defined in Section
11-58-605
, or complying with the terms of an environmental covenant, as
defined in Section
57-25-102
, signed by an agency, as defined in Section
57-25-102
, and duly recorded in the office of the recorder of the county in
which the contaminated land is located.
(E)
"Government owner" means a governmental entity, including an independent
entity, as defined in Section
63E-1-102
, that acquires an ownership interest in
land that was contaminated land before the governmental entity or independent
entity acquired an ownership interest in the land.
(F)
"Hazardous matter" means hazardous materials, as defined in Section
19-6-302
,
hazardous substances, as defined in Section
19-6-302
, or landfill material, as
defined in Section
11-58-102
.
(G)
"Remediation" means the same as that term is defined in Section
11-58-102
.
(ii)
(A)
A government owner and the government owner's officers and employees
are immune from suit, and immunity is not waived, for any claim for damage
that arises out of or in connection with, or results from, contamination of
contaminated land.
(B)
A government owner's ownership of contaminated land may not be the basis
of a claim against the government owner for damage that arises out of or in
connection with, or results from, contamination of contaminated land.
(iii)
Subsection
(3)(b)(ii)
does not limit or affect:
(A)
the liability of a person that placed, disposed of, or released hazardous matter
on, in, or under the land; or
(B)
a worker compensation claim of an employee of an entity that conducts work
on or related to contaminated land.
(iv)
Immunity under Subsection
(3)(b)(ii)(A)
is not affected by a government owner's
remediation of contaminated land if the government owner is environmentally
compliant.
(4)
A governmental entity, its officers, and its employees are immune from suit, and
immunity is not waived, for any injury proximately caused by a negligent act or
omission of an employee committed within the scope of employment, if the injury arises
out of or in connection with, or results from:
(a)
the exercise or performance, or the failure to exercise or perform, a discretionary
function, whether or not the discretion is abused;
(b)
except as provided in Subsections
63G-7-301(2)(j)
,
(3)
, and
(4)
, assault, battery,
false imprisonment, false arrest, malicious prosecution, intentional trespass, abuse of
process, libel, slander, deceit, interference with contract rights, infliction of mental
anguish, or violation of civil rights;
(c)
the issuance, denial, suspension, or revocation of, or the failure or refusal to issue,
deny, suspend, or revoke, any permit, license, certificate, approval, order, or similar
authorization;
(d)
a failure to make an inspection or making an inadequate or negligent inspection;
(e)
the institution or prosecution of any judicial or administrative proceeding, even if
malicious or without probable cause;
(f)
a misrepresentation by an employee whether or not the misrepresentation is negligent
or intentional;
(g)
a riot, unlawful assembly, public demonstration, mob violence, or civil disturbance;
(h)
the collection or assessment of taxes;
(i)
an activity of the Utah National Guard;
(j)
the incarceration of a person in a state prison, county or city jail, or other place of
legal confinement;
(k)
a natural condition on publicly owned or controlled land;
(l)
a condition existing in connection with an abandoned mine or mining operation;
(m)
an activity authorized by the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration or
the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands;
(n)
the operation or existence of a trail that is along a water facility, as defined in Section
73-1-8
, stream, or river, regardless of ownership or operation of the water facility,
stream, or river, if:
(i)
the trail is designated under a general plan adopted by a municipality under
Section
10-20-401
or by a county under Section
17-79-401
;
(ii)
the trail right-of-way or the right-of-way where the trail is located is open to
public use as evidenced by a written agreement between:
(A)
the owner or operator of the trail right-of-way or of the right-of-way where the
trail is located; and
(B)
the municipality or county where the trail is located; and
(iii)
the written agreement:
(A)
contains a plan for operation and maintenance of the trail; and
(B)
provides that an owner or operator of the trail right-of-way or of the
right-of-way where the trail is located has, at a minimum, the same level of
immunity from suit as the governmental entity in connection with or resulting
from the use of the trail;
(o)
research or implementation of cloud management or seeding for the clearing of fog;
(p)
the management of flood waters, earthquakes, or natural disasters;
(q)
the construction, repair, or operation of flood or storm systems;
(r)
the operation of an emergency vehicle, while being driven in accordance with the
requirements of Section
41-6a-212
;
(s)
the activity of:
(i)
providing emergency medical assistance;
(ii)
(i)
fighting fire;
(iii)
(ii)
regulating, mitigating, or handling hazardous materials or hazardous wastes;
(iv)
(iii)
an emergency evacuation;
(v)
(iv)
transporting or removing an injured person to a place where emergency
medical assistance can be rendered or where the person can be transported by a
licensed ambulance service; or
(vi)
(v)
intervening during a dam emergency;
(t)
responding to a disaster or potential disaster;
(u)
a first responder providing emergency medical services;
(t)
(v)
the exercise or performance, or the failure to exercise or perform, any function in
accordance with
Title 73, Chapter 10, Board of Water Resources - Division of Water
Resources
;
(u)
(w)
an unauthorized access to government records, data, or electronic information
systems by any person or entity;
(v)
(x)
an activity of wildlife, as defined in Section
23A-1-101
, that arises during the
use of a public or private road;
(w)
(y)
a communication between employees of one or more law enforcement agencies
related to the employment, disciplinary history, character, professional competence,
or physical or mental health of a peace officer, or a former, current, or prospective
employee of a law enforcement agency, including any communication made in
accordance with Section
53-14-103
; or
(x)
(z)
providing or failing to provide information under Section
53-27-102
or
Subsection
41-1a-213(6)
,
(7)
, or
(8)
,
53-3-207(4)
, or
53-3-805(5)
.
(5)
The following are immune from suit, and immunity is not waived for an action or
failure to act within the scope of duties or employment, if the injury arises out of, in
connection with, or results from the implementation of Section
17E-7-401
to the extent
it addresses evaluating and classifying high risk wildland urban interface property,
Section
31A-22-1310
, or Title 65A, Chapter 8, Part 4, Wildland Urban Interface
Property:
(a)
the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands;
(b)
an officer, employee, or consultant of the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands;
(c)
a county;
(d)
a wildland urban interface coordinator, as defined in Section
65A-8-401
;
(e)
the Insurance Department; or
(f)
an officer, employee, or consultant of the Insurance Department.
Section 3. Section
63H-1-209
is amended to read:
63H-1-209
. Immunity from contaminated property claims.
(1)
As used in this section:
(a)
"Agency" means the same as that term is defined in Section
57-25-102
.
(b)
"Claim" means an action, suit, claim, demand, allegation, or cause of action, whether
grounded in law or equity, made in a court of competent jurisdiction, mediation,
arbitration, before a regulatory body, or in another dispute resolution forum.
(c)
"Contaminated property" means real property in a project area that is:
(i)
affected by historical contamination; and
(ii)
owned by a governmental entity.
(d)
"Environmental covenant" means the same as that term is defined in Section
57-25-102
.
(e)
"Governmental entity" means the same as that term is defined in Section
63G-7-102
.
(f)
"Hazardous materials" means the same as that term is defined in Section
19-6-302
.
(g)
"Hazardous substances" means the same as that term is defined in Section
19-6-302
.
(h)
"Historical contamination" means the placement, disposal, or release of hazardous
materials or hazardous substances onto, into, under, or in a way that affects real
property, and which placement, disposal, or release of hazardous materials or
hazardous substances occurred prior to ownership of the real property by a
governmental entity.
(i)
"Ownership," "own," "owned," "owns," or "acquires" means to have an ownership or
other established interest in real property, including holding title to, leasing,
operating on, or maintaining real property.
(2)
In addition to the liability protection provided by Subsections
63G-7-201(4)(l)
and
63G-7-201(4)(s)(iii)
63G-7-201(4)(s)(ii)
and the other provisions of
Title 63G, Chapter
7, Governmental Immunity Act of Utah
, the protections of Subsection
(3)
apply to a
governmental entity that owns or approves the use of contaminated property.
(3)
(a)
Ownership of contaminated property by a governmental entity, or a governmental
entity's approval of the use of contaminated property does not subject a governmental
entity, its agents, or its officers or employees to any liability for or related to a claim
arising from, proximately caused by, or related to historical contamination.
(b)
No governmental entity waives immunity from suit or liability by this section.
(c)
A claim made against a governmental entity, its agents, or its officers or employees
in violation of this section shall subject the claimant to the payment of double the
attorney fees and costs incurred by the governmental entity related to the claim.
(d)
This Subsection
(3)
does not limit or alter:
(i)
claims against or the liability of the party that placed, disposed of, or released the
hazardous materials or hazardous substances onto, into, under, or in a way that
affects contaminated property; or
(ii)
a workers' compensation claim made by an employee of an entity that works on
contaminated property or conducts work related to contaminated property.
(4)
If a governmental entity that owns contaminated property develops the contaminated
property for public or governmental purposes, including recreation, government offices,
parking, or related uses, then Subsection
(3)
extends to that governmental entity,
regardless of whether the governmental entity had a role in approving use of the
contaminated property, if the governmental entity:
(a)
obtains a certificate of completion from the Utah Department of Environmental
Quality following participation in the voluntary cleanup program, as set forth in
Section
19-8-111
; or
(b)
complies with the terms of an environmental covenant signed by an agency and
properly recorded in the county records against the property.
Section 4.
Effective Date.
This bill takes effect:
(1)
except as provided in Subsection (2),
May 6, 2026
; or
(2)
if approved by two-thirds of all members elected to each house:
(a)
upon approval by the governor;
(b)
without the governor's signature, the day following the constitutional time limit of
Utah Constitution, Article VII, Section 8; or
(c)
in the case of a veto, the date of veto override.
Section 5.
Retrospective operation.
This bill has retrospective operation to March 18, 1985.
1-23-26 3:53 PM