Rep. Matt MacPherson

| House District 26

2024 Overall Score
F 6 out of 41
View Grades for:

2024 Score Overview

Overall
F 6 out of 41
Good Government
F -2 out of 12
Equal Rights
F -1 out of 5
Sustainable Future
C 7 out of 12
Strong Communities
F 2 out of 12

2024 Voting Record

Better Utah Position Key: Support = Oppose =
Voting Key:
In favor = Yes, Against = No, Not present = Absent, No vote taken = N/A

Vote Better Utah Position Bill
Yes

H.J.R. 8 - Joint Resolution Amending Rules of Civil Procedure on Change of Judge as a Matter of Right

Allows each side in a civil action pending in a court in a county with seven or more district court judges to file a motion to change a judge as a matter of right, as long as the party can attest in good faith that the notice is not being filed to delay any action or proceeding and is not being made on the grounds of race, gender, or religious affiliation.

Passed in House and Senate

Joint Resolutions do not require the signature of the governor

Topic(s): Access to Justice
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 2/21/2024

Bill Status: Passed

Yes

H.B. 11 - Water Efficient Landscaping Requirements

Prohibits local government entities, school districts, and highway authorities within the Great Salt Lake basin from using overhead spray irrigation, except for in “active recreation areas,” such as sports fields, parks, amphitheaters, or other social gathering areas.

Passed in House and Senate

Signed by Governor Cox on 3/12/24

Vote Date: 2/21/2024

Bill Status: Passed

Yes

H.J.R 14 - Proposal to Amend Utah Constitution - Statewide Initiatives

Proposes an amendment to the Utah Constitution to require that statewide ballot initiatives that propose new taxes or tax increases receive at least 60% approval to pass.

Passed in House; Passed in Senate Committee but died on Senate floor

Vote Date: 2/8/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.J.R. 26 - Joint Resolution Rejecting Exchange of School and Institutional Trust Lands

Rejects the proposed exchange of state school and institutional trust lands and mineral interests in and around the Bears Ears National Monument for federal lands located elsewhere in the state because “the federal government has signaled that it will adopt an exceptionally restrictive and unreasonable land management plan that would negatively impact the communities surrounding the Monument”.

Passed in House and Senate

Joint Resolutions do not require the signature of the governor

Topic(s): Public Lands
Category: Sustainable Future

Vote Date: 2/16/2024

Bill Status: Passed

No

H.B. 28 - Emergency Responder Voting Amendments

Allows registered voters assisting with emergencies on election day to cast an electronic ballot if the area affected by the emergency is located outside the voter’s county of residence.

Failed in House

Topic(s): Voting Rights
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 1/25/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 29 - Sensitive Materials Review Amendments

Streamlines and standardizes the review process that school districts and charter schools must undertake to investigate and possibly ban school materials if they are found to contain “criminally indecent or pornographic” material; allows for the statewide ban of books determined to contain “objective sensitive material” by three school districts or at least two school districts and five charter schools, but allows the State Board of Education to vote to override the ban within 60 days in a public hearing.

Passed in House and Senate

Signed by Governor Cox 3/12/24

Topic(s): Education
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date: 2/21/2024

Bill Status: Passed

Yes

H.B. 36 - Open and Public Meetings Act Amendments

Clarifies and tightens definitions of “meetings” in Utah’s Open and Public Meetings law; prohibits members of a public body that constitute a quorum from acting together outside a meeting in a concerted and deliberate manner to predetermine an action to be taken by the public body at a meeting on a relevant manner.

Passed in House and Senate

Topic(s): Transparency
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 2/23/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 79 - Initiatives and Referenda Amendments

Modifies ballot initiative and referendum signature requirements to comply with the Americans for Disabilities Act.

Passed in House and Senate

Vote Date: 3/1/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 80 - Candidate and Officeholder Disclosure Modifications

Requires elected officers of all state political subdivisions and land use authorities to file annual conflict of interest disclosure statements; requires disclosure statements to be posted online and requires the Lt. Governor to create a directory of all conflict of interest disclosures on their website, along with campaign finance statements from candidates for municipal and county offices; standardizes the level at which conflicts of interests must be disclosed at $5,000.

Passed in House and Senate

Topic(s): Transparency
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 2/22/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

No

H.B. 97 - Gun Safety Amendments

Creates a five-day waiting period between the purchase and delivery of a firearm.

Failed in House Committee

Vote Date: 2/9/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

No

H.B. 98 - Firearm Access Amendments

Requires firearm owners to securely store firearms or render them inoperable with a locking device; imposes civil fines if the firearm is accessed by a restricted person, minor, or at-risk individual, or if they use the firearm in the commission of a crime or cause injury to someone else with the firearm.

Failed in House Committee

Vote Date: 2/9/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 101 - Law Enforcement Reporting Requirements

Requires law enforcement agencies provide annual reports to the State Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice on the number of firearms that were lawfully seized from restricted persons, the types of those firearms, information on where those firearms were obtained by the restricted person, and the reasons those individuals were restricted persons.

Passed in House and Senate

Vote Date: 2/22/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 107 - Recycling Facility Transparency Amendments

Requires political subdivisions to publish in a newsletter or on its website information from recycling facilities and haulers about the amount of recyclable material that was sent to recycling facilities or landfills.

Passed in House and Senate

Topic(s): Sustainability
Category: Sustainable Future

Vote Date: 1/31/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 111 - Employment Training Requirement Limitations

Forbids trainings and attestations professing certain beliefs as a condition of employment, advancement, promotion, or demotion, including requiring signing documents affirming beliefs around identity traits such as race, color, sex, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disabilities.

Passed in House; Failed in Senate Committee

Vote Date: 2/1/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 119 - School Employee Firearm Possession Amendments

Creates the “Educator-Protector Program” to incentivize school teachers to responsibly secure or carry firearms on school grounds by waiving liability for civil damages or penalties for harm caused by use of the firearm if they attend an annual free “classroom response training” on how to defend classrooms against active threats.

Passed in House and Senate

Vote Date: 2/28/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

N/A

H.B. 127 - Victim Targeting Reporting

Requires the attorney general’s office to establish a hate crimes hotline for the reporting of “victim targeting offenses” that could then be referred to law enforcement agencies where the offenses occurred.

Passed in House Committee: Did not receive vote on House floor

Topic(s): Public Safety
Category: Equal Rights

Vote Date: 2/23/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 134 - Marriage Modifications

Repeals Utah’s court-blocked ban on interracial marriage and prohibits the government from refusing to recognize a marriage, issue a marriage license, or solemnize a marriage on the basis of the race, ethnicity, or national origin of a part to the marriage.

Passed in House and Senate

Topic(s): Racial Justice
Category: Equal Rights

Vote Date: 3/1/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

N/A

H.B. 214 - Election Modifications

Requires mail-in ballots to be received by the election officer before the polls close on election day for the ballot to be counted, changing it from the current requirement that mail-in ballots be postmarked before election day.

Held in House Committee

Topic(s): Elections
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 1/22/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 257 - Sex-Based Designations for Privacy, Anti-Bullying, and Women's Opportunities

Prohibits students from accessing sex-specific restrooms, locker rooms, shower rooms, and changing rooms in public schools that do not correspond with a person’s biological sex as defined in the bill, instead requiring students and their parent or guardian to work with the school to develop a privacy plan that allows reasonable access to unisex, single-occupant, or faculty restrooms; for publicly owned or controlled facilities accessible to the general public, the bill makes it a crime to enter a sex-designated changing room (not restrooms) that does not correspond with that person’s “biological sex” and increases criminal penalties for other crimes committed in that situation; outside of regulating access to “privacy spaces,” the bill requires “equivalent quality or rotational sharing” of sex-designated athletic facilities or venues within the public education system, and that government entities shall ensure the construction of single-occupant facilities in new construction and consider retrofitting or remodeling existing spaces to include privacy protections.

Passed in House and Senate

Signed by Governor Cox 1/30/24

Topic(s): LGBTQ+ Rights
Category: Equal Rights

Vote Date: 1/26/2024

Bill Status: Passed

Yes

H.B. 261 - Equal Opportunity Initiatives

Broadly prohibits “diversity, equity, and inclusion” statements, submissions, practices, programs, and initiatives based on “prohibited discriminatory practices” in state and local government entities, including public higher education institutions, instead requiring the establishment of “student success and support” centers or positions that provide support, guidance, and resources to all students, including those at higher risk of not completing a certificate or degree; for higher education institutions, also requires the online publishing of the syllabi of all mandatory courses, seminars, classes, workshops, and training sessions, annual employee training on the separations of personal political advocacy from an institution’s business and employment activities, the development of strategies to promote viewpoint diversity on campuses, the establishment of policies and procedures to include opportunities for education and research on free speech and civic education, and an annual “campus expression climate survey” to measure student and faculty “perception of and experience with an institution’s campus environment”.

Passed in House and Senate

Signed by Governor Cox 1/30/24

Vote Date: 1/26/2024

Bill Status: Passed

Yes

H.B. 269 - Public School History Curricula Amendments

Includes the Ten Commandments and Magna Carta in a list of historical documents and principles that teachers may use in school curricula and activities to teach American history and government.

Passed in House and Senate

Topic(s): Education
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date: 2/22/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 284 - Initiative Amendments

Contingent on the passage of H.J.R. 14, requires statewide initiatives that impose new taxes or increase tax rates to receive greater than 60% approval to pass; and requires statewide initiatives to include descriptions of how the proposed law will be funded, a description of new taxes or increased tax rates,a description of the amount and source of new revenues, and a description of existing line items or programs that will receive less funding in order to fund the proposed law and amount by which that funding will be reduced.

Passed in House; Passed in Senate Committee but died on Senate floor

Vote Date: 2/8/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

N/A

H.B. 285 - Public Sector Labor Organizations Amendments

Prohibits public employers from providing payroll deduction of labor organization dues for employees unless an employee affirmatively opts-in every year; requires “recertification” every years for a labor organization to represent employees with the employer; requires a labor organization to report to the employer or state auditor the number of members in the organization and particular bargaining unit; and imposes unclear limits on labor organizations to access and use public property.

Passed in House Committee

Topic(s): Labor
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date: 1/26/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Absent

H.B. 290 - Ranked Choice Voting Amendments

Modifies the repeal date of the Municipal Alternate Voting Methods Pilot Project, which allows municipalities to use ranked choice voting in lieu of primary elections, from January 1, 2026 to May 1, 2024.

Passed in House; Failed in Senate

Topic(s): Elections
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 2/22/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 298 - Homelessness Services Amendments

Revamps the Utah Homelessness Council, replacing the 29-member council with a 9-member Utah Homeless Services Board, and tasking it with updating the state’s plan for reducing homelessness, recommending best practices for administering services, and developing metrics measuring the effectiveness of services and goals to reduce homelessness; requires more detailed data gathering on homelessness and progress toward eliminating homelessness in certain categories; and removes limitations on unsanctioned champing enforcement during a Code Blue Alert, even if no shelter beds are available.

Passed in House and Senate

Topic(s): Homelessness
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date: 2/28/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

No

H.B. 303 - School Curriculum Requirements

Prohibits teachers and school staff from using their position through instruction, materials, or the display of symbols, images, or language to promote, endorse, or disparage political viewpoints or viewpoints regarding sexual orientation or gender identity; allows the wearing of religious clothing and display of personal photographs or certain national or state flags.

Failed in House

Topic(s): Education
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date: 2/26/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Absent

H.B. 305 - Firearm Data Amendments

Requires law enforcement agencies to provide annual reports to the State Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice on the number of crimes reported to or investigated by the law enforcement agency in which a lost or stolen firearm was used in the commission of the crime, as well as the disposition of firearms in the law enforcement agency’s custody.

Failed in House Committee

Vote Date: 2/21/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 326 - Firearm Safety Incentives

Creates a one-time nonrefundable income tax credit for the purchase of a firearm safety or storage device.

Passed in House; Failed in Senate Committee

Vote Date: 2/15/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

No

H.B. 355 - Residential Rental Modifications

Requires landlords to provide at least 60-days notice of rent increases to tenants.

Passed in House; Failed in Senate Committee

Topic(s): Tenants Rights
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date: 2/14/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 380 - Attorney General Amendments

Clarifies that the Utah Attorney General is a full-time employee of the state and prohibits them from engaging in the private practice of the law.

Passed in House and Senate

Topic(s): Ethics
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 2/16/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 421 - Homelessness and Vulnerable Populations Amendments

Prioritizes access for overnight shelter beds, including unsheltered Utahns who have been discharged from the Utah State Hospital and, for family shelters, Utahns who qualify for the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program; requires homeless shelters to comply with these prioritization standards to receive funds from the Office of Homeless Services; prohibits municipalities from receiving mitigation funds unless they enforce prohibitions on camping and panhandling, and demonstrate improvement in reducing such conduct; increases the temperature for a Code Blue Alert from 15 to 18 degrees Fahrenheit; and establishes the HOME court pilot program to provide for comprehensive and individualized, court-supervised treatment and services to individuals with mental illness.

Passed in House and Senate

Topic(s): Homelessness
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date: 2/29/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 429 - State Employment Revisions

Except for POST-certified positions and independent state entities that choose not to participate, ends state civil service protections for new state employees beginning January 1, 2025.

Passed in House; Failed in Senate Committee

Topic(s): Labor
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date: 2/20/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 430 - Local Government Transportation Services Amendments

Seeking to improve public transit services in underserved high-growth areas, requires the Department of Transportation and Transportation Commission to use a certain amount of public transit funds to award “public transit innovation grants” to pilot bus routes, services, shuttle connections, and other pilot programs to demonstrate need for public transit services; also requires Utah Transit Authority to provide a report every two years to each city and town with an accounting of how transit revenues are raised and utilized to provide service to residents of their city.

Passed in House and Senate

Topic(s): Public Transit
Category: Sustainable Future

Vote Date: 3/1/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 448 - State Water Program Reporting Requirements

Requires the Division of Water Resources to collaborate with state agencies to quantify and monitor state legislative water optimization efforts including water banking, and annually report its findings, including recommendations for changes to state legislative water-optimization efforts that did not lead to intended water conservation.

Passed in House; Not considered in Senate Committee

Vote Date: 2/22/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 453 - Great Salt Lake Revisions

Imposes a fluctuating severance tax on companies that operate mineral extraction industries from brines in the Great Salt Lake, and requires the State Engineer to impose a “distribution management plan” that provides for the apportionment and distribution of Great Salt Lake water rights while also considering the strategic plan adopted by the Great Salt Lake Commissioner.

Passed in House and Senate

Vote Date: 2/29/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 465 - Housing Affordability Revisions

Allows city redevelopment agencies to use funding to help construct income targeted homes (those at 120% of area median income) to increase the supply of owner-occupied homes; encourages the Point of the Mountain State Land Authority to increase supply of affordable housing through the use of its land use authority.

Passed in House and Senate

Vote Date: 2/29/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 471 - Public Lands Possession Amendments

Asserts ownership and exclusive jurisdiction to Utah for any Class B (typically graded dirt roads) or Class D (trails used by ATVs and UTVs) included on a county travel plan, including roads on federal public lands; considers these public roads open for public use unless the road has been closed through adjudication and due process by the appropriate state or federal government agency; allows state to disregard road closure if simply done through mandates in agency travel management plans with public input process.

Passed in House and Senate

Topic(s): Public Lands
Category: Sustainable Future

Vote Date: 2/27/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

H.B. 472 - Water Revisions

Directs the Divisions of Water Resources and Water Rights to study the creation of a centralized database and center for all Utah water data, specifying collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Food, Department of Environmental Quality, and the Division of Technological Services in completing the study, the creation of which would help monitor water use and availability across the state.

Passed in House; Not considered in Senate Committee

Vote Date: 2/22/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

N/A

H.B. 477 - School Employee Conduct Amendments

Hijacked an unrelated bill to prohibit the display of certain flags, including Pride flags, on or in a public school by a school official or employee, and establish standing for parents of school students to file a civil action to enforce the law.

Failed in Senate

Topic(s): Education
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date:

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Absent

H.B. 514 - School Chaplain Amendments

Allows local school districts and charter schools to develop policies, guidelines, and requirements to permit volunteer chaplains to provide opt-in chaplain services within their schools.

Passed in House; Failed in Senate

Topic(s): Education
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date: 2/23/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

S.B. 57 - Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act

Allows the Legislature, by concurrent resolution, to prohibit the enforcement of a federal directive within the state by government officers if the Legislature determines the federal statute, executive order, rule, or regulation violates the principles of state sovereignty.

Passed in Senate and House

Signed by Governor Cox 1/31/24

Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 1/30/2024

Bill Status: Passed

Yes

S.B. 69 - Income Tax Amendments

Reduces the corporate and individual income tax rate from 4.65% to 4.55%, a reduction in income tax funds of about $201.4 million in FY 2025 and $167.7 million in ongoing funding.

Passed in Senate and House

Topic(s): Budget & Taxes
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 2/28/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

S.B. 131 - Information Technology Act Amendments

Requires audio or visual communications to include disclosures if they were substantially produced with artificial intelligence and are intended to influence voting.

Passed in Senate and House

Topic(s): Elections
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 2/22/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

No

S.B. 161 - Energy Security Amendments

Provides the State of Utah a two-year option to purchase for fair market value the coal-fired Intermountain Power Project near Delta, Utah once it is decommissioned and creates the Decommissioned Asset Disposition Authority within the Office of Energy Development to provide recommendations to the Governor and Legislature regarding such a purchase, govern the power plant, if purchased, submit a new air quality permit for the continued operation of the power plant, and eventually resell the decommissioned asset to a new operator.

Passed in Senate and House

Topic(s): Clean Energy
Category: Sustainable Future

Vote Date: 2/28/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

S.B. 176 - Child Care Services Amendments

Establishes the Child Care Capacity Expansion program to allow obsolete state buildings to be retrofitted and utilized for child care programs, with private sector employees helping to fund access to the child care program for their own employees and contracting with certified quality childcare providers to run the programs.

Passed in Senate; Failed in House

Topic(s): Childcare
Category: Strong Communities

Vote Date: 2/28/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

N/A

S.B. 196 - Great Salt Lake Amendments

Directs the Great Salt Lake Commissioner to develop a plan for “wet water years” to provide guidance for a coordinated effort to optimize the amount of water that makes it into the Great Salt Lake during or following a wet water year.

Failed to pass in Senate

Vote Date:

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Absent

S.B. 208 - Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone Amendments

Increases the housing affordability requirement of a housing and transit reinvestment zone from 10% affordable to 12% affordable, and requires that up to 9% must be affordable at less than or equal to 80% AMI, and at least 3% must be affordable at less than or equal to 60% AMI; requires housing and transit reinvestment zone proposal to include a housing affordability plan, which may include deed restricted units, to ensure maintained affordability throughout the entire zone term; promotes and encourages owner-occupied housing to the objectives of a housing and transit reinvestment zone.

Passed in Senate and House

Vote Date: 2/29/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

S.B. 211 - Generational Water Infrastructure Amendments

Creates a new “Water District Water Development Council” composed of the state’s four largest water districts and the Utah Division of Water Resources to plan for “generational water infrastructure” and advance the responsible development of water to address “generational need for adequate and reliable water supplies,” but exempts the Council from the “Open and Public Meetings Act” and the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA).

Passed in Senate and House

Topic(s): Transparency
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 2/28/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

S.B. 224 - Energy Independence Amendments

In addition to establishing a “Utah Fire Fund” to allow utilities to recover costs associated with wildfires, allows electrical utilities such as Rocky Mountain Power to petition the Public Service Commission to recover costs for existing coal-fired power plants in order to keep those facilities running when neighboring states stop paying for their ongoing operation and maintenance; additionally, changes the factors considered by the Public Service Commission when making decisions on connecting or closing energy resources, including the presumption that the costs of “proven dispatchable generation resources” are reasonable.

Passed in Senate and House

Topic(s): Clean Energy
Category: Sustainable Future

Vote Date: 3/1/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

S.B. 240 - Government Records Access and Management Act Amendments

Exempts the daily calendars of elected officials from disclosure under the Government Records Access and Management Act.

Passed in Senate and House

Signed by Governor Cox on 2/28/24

Topic(s): Transparency
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 2/27/2024

Bill Status: Passed

Yes

S.B. 242 - Utah Lake Modifications

Repeals the Utah Lake Restoration Act, the law that was deemed unconstitutional because it allowed the state to give away parts of Utah Lake for private development, like the project that would have dredged Utah Lake and used that dredged material to create islands for public and private development.

Passed in Senate and House

Vote Date: 3/1/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass

Yes

S.B. 270 - Utah Lake and Great Salt Lake Study

Funds a $1.5 million study to the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands to conduct a study looking into water quality, conserving water resources, removing invasive species, restoring native plants, restoring and conserving fish and bird species, and restoring recreation and community use of Utah Lake, including delivery of water from Utah Lake to Great Salt Lake.

Passed in Senate and House

Vote Date: 3/1/2024

Bill Status: Passed

Yes

S.B. 273 - Amendments Related to District Attorney in County of the First Class

Requires the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office to track time spent by prosecutors on each criminal case, the average amount of taxpayer dollars spent per case, and the cumulative total hours worked and the number of cases in certain categories; and allows the Revitalization Zone Committee established under S.B. 272 to recommend to the Utah Supreme Court that it appoint a replacement prosecutor to prosecute crimes within the project area in place of the district attorney if the committee determines, by majority vote in a public meeting, that the district attorney has failed or refused to adequately prosecute crimes within the project area.

Passed in Senate and House

Topic(s): Accountability
Category: Good Government

Vote Date: 3/1/2024

Bill Status: Did Not Pass