Natural Disaster Amendments

10
53-2a-1401
53-2a-1403
63G-7-201
0
Natural Disaster Amendments
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Jen Plumb
House Sponsor:
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill amends provisions related to a natural disaster.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
requires a county, city, or town emergency operations plan to designate at least one
emergency shelter in the county, city, or town, or a nearby county, city, or town, to
accommodate an individual and an individual's household pet during an emergency
subject to rules and guidelines established in the emergency operations plan;
clarifies that a county, city, or town has immunity regarding an emergency operations
plan; and
makes technical and conforming changes.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
None
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
53-2a-1403
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2024, Chapter 438
63G-7-201
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2025, First Special Session, Chapter 15
REPEALS:
53-2a-1401
, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2021, Chapter 106
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section
53-2a-1403
is amended to read:
53-2a-1403
. Emergency operations plan.
(1)
As used in this section:
(a)
(i)
"Household pet" means a domesticated animal, such as a dog, cat, bird, rabbit,
rodent, or turtle, that:
(A)
is traditionally kept in the home as a pet rather than for commercial purposes;
and
(B)
can be housed in temporary facilities.
(ii)
"Household pet" does not include:
(A)
livestock or other farm animals;
(B)
a reptile that is not a turtle;
(C)
an amphibian;
(D)
a fish;
(E)
an insect;
(F)
an arachnid; or
(G)
an animal kept for racing purposes.
(b)
"Livestock" means the same as that term is defined in Section
11-46b-101
.
(2)
Each county shall create and maintain an emergency operations plan.
(2)
(3)
Each city and town shall:
(a)
create and maintain an emergency operations plan; or
(b)
adopt the emergency operations plan created by the county in which the city or town
is located.
(4)
(a)
Subject to Subsections
(4)(c)
and (5), an emergency operations plan created and
maintained in accordance with this section shall designate at least one shelter to be
available to individuals who are within the area covered by the emergency operations
plan that allows for the accommodation of an individual and the individual's
household pet.
(b)
A county, city, or town creating an emergency operations plan may, in collaboration
with another nearby county, city, or town, designate the shelter described in
Subsection
(4)(a)
to be located outside of the county, city, or town creating the
emergency operations plan.
(c)
An emergency operations plan may establish rules and guidelines regarding the
appropriate housing, care, and other related issues of household pets within or at the
shelter designated under Subsection
(4)(a)
.
(5)
A county, city, or town is not required to build a facility to comply with the
requirements under Subsection
(4)(a)
to designate a shelter.
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)
fighting fire;
(iii)
regulating, mitigating, or handling hazardous materials or hazardous wastes;
(iv)
an emergency evacuation;
(v)
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)
intervening during a dam emergency;
(t)
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)
an unauthorized access to government records, data, or electronic information
systems by any person or entity;
(v)
an activity of wildlife, as defined in Section
23A-1-101
, that arises during the use of
a public or private road;
(w)
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)
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)
.
; or
(y)
an emergency operations plan described in Section
53-2a-1403
;
(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.
Repealer.
Title.
Section 4.
Effective Date.
This bill takes effect on
May 6, 2026
.
1-23-26 1:39 PM