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53G-10-402
0
Human Development Instruction
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Nicholeen P. Peck
Senate Sponsor: Brady Brammer
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill expands on a requirement to provide instruction in human development.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
expands on a requirement to provide instruction in human development to require an LEA
to:
include a certain video during instruction on human development;
make instructional materials available to a student's parent upon request; and
make a certain assurance to the State Board of Education (state board);
requires the state board to publish a list of materials; and
makes technical and conforming changes.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
This bill provides a special effective date.
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
53G-10-402
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2025, Chapter 380
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section
53G-10-402
is amended to read:
53G-10-402
. Instruction in health -- Parental consent requirements -- Conduct
and speech of school employees and volunteers -- Political and religious doctrine
prohibited.
(1)
As used in this section:
(a)
"LEA governing board" means a local school board or charter school governing
board.
(b)
"Refusal skills" means instruction:
(i)
in a student's ability to clearly and expressly refuse sexual advances by a minor or
adult;
(ii)
in a student's obligation to stop the student's sexual advances if refused by another
individual;
(iii)
informing a student of the student's right to report and seek counseling for
unwanted sexual advances; and
(iv)
informing a student that a student may not consent to criminally prohibited
activities or activities for which the student is legally prohibited from giving
consent, including the electronic transmission of sexually explicit images by an
individual, regardless of whether the image is of the individual who transmits the
image or of another individual.
(c)
"Situational awareness" means instruction in a student's ability to:
(i)
observe the student's environment, including:
(A)
increasing awareness; and
(B)
noticing details and changes in the environment; and
(ii)
respond in unsafe situations, including how to seek help.
(d)
"Success sequence" means a three-prong framework for youth and young adults that
encourages:
(i)
completing at least a high school education and pursuing further educational
opportunities;
(ii)
obtaining full-time employment; and
(iii)
having children within a healthy and stable family and marriage.
(2)
(a)
In accordance with Section
53E-3-501
, the state board shall establish health
curriculum requirements:
(i)
for the purpose of:
(A)
equipping students with practical safety skills regarding sexual abuse,
trafficking, and harassment;
(B)
promoting respect for humankind and individual responsibility;
(C)
fostering character development and decision- making through the success
sequence; and
(D)
encouraging healthy personal and family relationships; and
(ii)
that include instruction in:
(A)
the success sequence;
(B)
community and personal health, including personal hygiene and the
prevention of communicable disease;
(C)
physiology;
(D)
human development
, in accordance with Subsection
(2)(g)
;
(E)
marriage and safe dating practices;
(F)
refusal skills;
(G)
resilience;
(H)
situational awareness;
(I)
the harmful effects of pornography; and
(J)
the consequences of behaviors that pose a risk to individual health or of failure
under the success sequence.
(b)
In accordance with
Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act
, the
state board shall make rules that:
(i)
ensure that instruction stresses the importance of abstinence from all sexual
activity before marriage and fidelity after marriage as methods for:
(A)
maintaining mental, physical, and social health, including reducing stress;
(B)
eliminating risks associated with sexual activity, including preventing
pregnancy and certain communicable diseases; and
(C)
achieving the success sequence;
(ii)
ensure that instruction stresses personal skills that encourage abstinence, the
return to abstinence, and fidelity;
(iii)
prohibit instruction or discussion, regardless of parental consent or intent to
receive the prohibited instruction, in or regarding:
(A)
the intricacies of sexual stimulation or erotic behavior;
(B)
the advocacy of premarital or extramarital sexual activity;
(C)
the advocacy or encouragement of the use of contraceptive methods or
devices; and
(D)
any means or methods that facilitate or encourage the violation of any state or
federal criminal law by a minor or an adult, including as a response to a
spontaneous question from a student; and
(iv)
subject to Subsection
(2)(c)
, allow instruction to include information about
contraceptive methods or devices, not including abortion or any abortive methods,
that stresses effectiveness, failure rates for youth, limitations, risks, and
information on state law applicable to minors obtaining contraceptive methods or
devices.
(c)
(i)
As used in this Subsection
(2)
, "contraceptive methods or devices" does not
include abortion or any abortive methods.
(ii)
Notwithstanding the allowance for instruction about contraceptive methods or
devices in Subsection
(2)(b)
:
(A)
the state board may not require an LEA to teach or adopt instructional
materials that include information on contraceptive methods or devices; and
(B)
the instruction may not demonstrate or otherwise depict the use of a
contraceptive method or device.
(d)
The state board shall:
(i)
recommend instructional materials for use in the curricula required under
Subsection
(2)(a)
; and
(ii)
in accordance with
Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act
,
make rules for an LEA governing board that adopts alternative instructional
materials under Subsection
(2)(e)
to:
(A)
require the LEA governing board to report on the materials the governing
board selects and the governing board's compliance with Subsection
(2)(e)
; and
(B)
provide for an appeal and review process of the LEA governing board's
adoption of instructional materials.
(e)
(i)
An LEA governing board may choose to adopt:
(A)
the instructional materials recommended under Subsection
(2)(d)
; or
(B)
alternative instructional materials in accordance with Subsection
(2)(e)(ii)
.
(ii)
An LEA governing board that adopts instructional materials under Subsection
(2)(e)(i)
shall:
(A)
ensure that the materials comply with state law and state board rules;
(B)
base the adoption of the materials on the recommendations of the LEA
governing board's Curriculum Materials Review Committee;
(C)
adopt the instructional materials in an open and regular meeting of the LEA
governing board for which parents of students who attend the respective
schools receive prior notice; and
(D)
give parents an opportunity to express the parents' views and opinions on the
materials at the meeting described in Subsection
(2)(e)(ii)(C)
.
(f)
At the request of the state board, the Department of Health and Human Services shall
provide recommendations to the state board as the state board develops the
curriculum, rules, or programs described in this Subsection
(2)
.
(g)
(i)
Beginning with the 2027-2028 school year, each LEA shall ensure that the
instruction on human development includes, at a minimum, a high-definition
video of at least three minutes in duration that:
(A)
shows the process of fertilization and each stage of human development inside
the uterus, noting conceptual age and significant markers in cell growth and
organ development for every stage of pregnancy until birth;
(B)
may include a high-definition ultrasound showing the development of the
brain, heart, sex organs, and other vital organs in early fetal development; and
(C)
the state board approves from an organization that offers the video free of
charge.
(ii)
The state board shall publish a list of materials the state board approves for use in
providing instruction under this Subsection
(2)(g)
on the state board's publicly
accessible website.
(iii)
Upon request, an LEA or school shall make available to the parent of a student
enrolled in the LEA or school any instructional materials the LEA or school uses
in accordance with this Subsection
(2)(g)
.
(iv)
Each LEA shall provide an annual assurance to the state board that the LEA is in
compliance with this Subsection
(2)(g)
.
(3)
A student shall receive the instruction described in Subsection
(2)
on at least two
occasions between the beginning of grade 7 and the end of grade 12.
(4)
(a)
The state board shall, in accordance with
Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah
Administrative Rulemaking Act
, make rules that:
(i)
provide for the compliance with the parental consent requirements of
Sections
Section
76-7-322
; and
(ii)
require advance notice to a student's parent that provides an opportunity to review
the information for which parental consent is required under Sections
76-7-322
and
76-7-323
.
(b)
The state board shall provide procedures for disciplinary action for violation of
Section
76-7-322
or
76-7-323
.
(5)
(a)
In accordance with Section
53G-10-204
and Subsection
(2)
(b)(iii)
, and because
school employees and volunteers serve as examples to students, school employees or
volunteers acting in an official capacity may not support or encourage criminal
conduct by students, teachers, or volunteers.
(b)
To ensure the effective performance of school personnel, the limitations described in
Subsection
(5)(a)
also apply to a school employee or volunteer acting outside of the
school employee's or volunteer's official capacity if:
(i)
the employee or volunteer knew or should have known that the employee's or
volunteer's action could result in a material and substantial interference or
disruption in the normal activities of the school; and
(ii)
the employee's or volunteer's action results in a material and substantial
interference or disruption in the normal activities of the school.
(c)
The state board or an LEA governing board may not allow training of school
employees or volunteers that supports or encourages criminal conduct.
(d)
The state board shall, in accordance with
Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative
Rulemaking Act
, make rules implementing this Subsection
(5)
.
(e)
Nothing in this section limits the ability or authority of the state board or an LEA
governing board to enact and enforce rules or take actions that are otherwise lawful
regarding an educator's, employee's, or volunteer's qualifications or behavior
evidencing unfitness for duty.
(6)
Except as provided in Section
53G-10-202
, an individual may not teach or provide
instruction on political, atheistic, sectarian, religious, or denominational doctrine in the
public schools.
(7)
(a)
An LEA governing board and an LEA governing board's employees shall
cooperate and share responsibility in carrying out the purposes of this chapter.
(b)
An LEA governing board shall:
(i)
(A)
provide appropriate professional development for the LEA governing
board's teachers, counselors, and school administrators to enable the teachers,
counselors, and school administrators to understand, protect, and properly
instruct students in the values and character traits referred to in this section and
Sections
53E-9-202
,
53E-9-203
,
53G-10-202
,
53G-10-203
,
53G-10-204
, and
53G-10-205
; and
(B)
distribute appropriate written materials on the values, character traits, and
conduct described in Subsection
(7)(b)(i)
to each individual receiving the
professional development; and
(ii)
make the written materials described in Subsection
(7)(b)
available to education
support professionals, students, and students' parents.
(c)
To assist an LEA governing board in providing the professional development
required under Subsection
(7)(b)
, the state board shall, as appropriate, contract with a
qualified individual or entity possessing expertise in the areas described in
Subsection
(7)(b)
to develop and disseminate model teacher professional
development programs that an LEA governing board may use to train the individuals
described in Subsection
(7)(b)
to effectively teach the values and qualities of
character described in Subsection
(7)(b)
.
(d)
In accordance with Subsection
(5)(c)
, professional development may not support or
encourage criminal conduct.
(8)
An LEA governing board shall review every two years:
(a)
LEA governing board policies on instruction described in this section;
(b)
for a local school board, data for each county in which the school district is located,
or, for a charter school governing board, data for the county in which the charter
school is located, on the following:
(i)
teen pregnancy;
(ii)
child sexual abuse; and
(iii)
sexually transmitted diseases and sexually transmitted infections; and
(c)
the number of pornography complaints or other instances reported within the
jurisdiction of the LEA governing board.
(9)
If any one or more provision, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this
section, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is found to be
unconstitutional, the balance of this section shall be given effect without the invalid
provision, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word.
Section 2.
Effective Date.
This bill takes effect on
July 1, 2026
.
2-27-26 12:38 PM