SB 234

Enrolled Copy  S.B. 234
1Rulemaking Amendments
                                      2026 GENERAL SESSION
                                           STATE OF UTAH
                                  Chief Sponsor: Brady Brammer
                                    House Sponsor: Colin W. Jack
2
3  LONG TITLE
4  General Description:
5      This bill enacts provisions related to rules involving environmental health and waste
6  management.
7  Highlighted Provisions:
8      This bill:
9      ▸ defines terms;
10      ▸ prohibits certain rules related to environmental health and waste management from being
11  more stringent or extensive in scope, coverage, or effect than any federal law or
12  regulation; and
13      ▸ requires an agency to ensure certain rules involving environmental health and waste
14  management are supported by scientific evidence.
15  Money Appropriated in this Bill:
16      None
17  Other Special Clauses:
18      None
19  Utah Code Sections Affected:
20  AMENDS:
21      63G-3-102, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2025, Chapter 483
22  ENACTS:
23      63G-3-306, Utah Code Annotated 1953
24
25  Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
26Section 1. Section 63G-3-102 is amended to read:
2763G-3-102 . Definitions.
28     As used in this chapter:
S.B. 234  Enrolled Copy
29   (1) "Administrative record" means information an agency relies upon when making a rule
30under this chapter including:
31(a) the proposed rule, change in the proposed rule, and the rule analysis form;
32(b) the public comment received and recorded by the agency during the public comment
33period;
34(c) the agency's response to the public comment;
35(d) the agency's analysis of the public comment; and
36(e) the agency's report of the agency's decision-making process.
37   (2)(a) "Agency" includes:
38(i) each state board, authority, commission, institution, department, division, or
39officer; or
40(ii) any other state government entity that is authorized or required by law to make
41rules, adjudicate, grant or withhold licenses, grant or withhold relief from legal
42obligations, or perform other similar actions or duties delegated by law.
43(b) "Agency" does not include:
44(i) the Legislature;
45(ii) the Legislature's committees;
46(iii) the political subdivisions of the state; or
47(iv) the courts.
48   (3) "Best available science" means science that:
49(a) is reliable, unbiased, and subject to independent verification;
50(b) maximizes the quality, objectivity, relevance, completeness, and integrity of
51information, including:
52(i) statistical information;
53(ii) human, animal, and other relevant scientific studies; and
54(iii) if applicable, human health risk-based assessments; and
55(c) involves the use of scientifically defensible and quality-assured supporting studies
56that are conducted in accordance with generally accepted scientific or technical
57practices utilizing data collected by generally accepted methods or best available
58methods.
59   (4) "Bulletin" means the Utah State Bulletin.
60   [(4)] (5) "Catchline" means a short summary of each section, part, rule, or title of the code
61that follows the section, part, rule, or title reference placed before the text of the rule and
62serves the same function as boldface in legislation as described in Section 68-3-13.
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Enrolled Copy  S.B. 234
63  [(5)] (6) "Code" means the body of all effective rules as compiled and organized by the
64      office and entitled "Utah Administrative Code."
65  [(6)] (7) "Department" means the Department of Government Operations created in Section
66      63A-1-104.
67  [(7)] (8) "Director" means the director of the office.
68  [(8)] (9) "Effective" means operative and enforceable.
69  [(9)] (10) "Executive director" means the executive director of the department.
70  [(10)] (11) "File" means to submit a document to the office as prescribed by the office.
71  [(11)] (12) "Filing date" means the day and time the document is recorded as received by the
72      office.
73  (13) "Generally accepted scientific or technical practices" means scientific methods,
74      principles, or protocols that:
75      (a) are broadly acknowledged and routinely applied by the relevant scientific
76community; and
77      (b) have been tested for reliability and validity.
78  [(12)] (14) "Interested person" means any person affected by or interested in a proposed
79      rule, amendment to an existing rule, or a nonsubstantive change made under Section
80      63G-3-402.
81  (15) "Initiate rulemaking proceedings" means the agency's filing of a proposed rule for the
82      purposes of publication in accordance with Subsection 63G-3-301(4).
83  (16) "Manifest bodily harm" means a physical disease or injury that is:
84      (a) presently existing and diagnosable;
85      (b) not based solely on the presence or detection of a substance in the human body; and
86      (c) not based solely on an increased risk of disease.
87  [(13)] (17) "Office" means the Office of Administrative Rules created in Section 63G-3-401.
88  [(14)] (18) "Order" means an agency action that determines the legal rights, duties,
89      privileges, immunities, or other interests of one or more specific persons, but not a class
90      of persons.
91  [(15)] (19) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association,
92      governmental entity, or public or private organization of any character other than an
93      agency.
94  [(16)] (20) "Publication" or "publish" means making a rule available to the public by
95      including the rule or a summary of the rule in the bulletin.
96  [(17)] (21) "Publication date" means the inscribed date of the bulletin.
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97   (22) "Refereed journal" means a publication that:
98(a) uses an editorial board or critical review panel of subject matter experts in the
99relevant scientific or technical disciplines who critically and objectively assess the
100methodology and analysis of submitted scientific studies in a nonpartisan fashion and
101provide editorial services before publication; and
102(b) takes meaningful steps to avoid biases in the journal's scientific review process.
103   [(18)] (23) "Register" may include an electronic database.
104   (24) "Regulated material" means an individual chemical substance, mixture, contaminant,
105pollutant, hazardous substance, solid waste, hazardous constituent, or hazardous waste.
106   [(19)] (25)(a) "Rule" means an agency's written statement that:
107(i) is explicitly or implicitly required by state or federal statute or other applicable
108law;
109(ii) implements or interprets a state or federal legal mandate; and
110(iii) applies to a class of persons or another agency.
111(b) "Rule" includes the amendment or repeal of an existing rule.
112(c) "Rule" does not mean:
113(i) orders;
114(ii) an agency's written statement that applies only to internal management and that
115does not restrict the legal rights of a public class of persons or another agency;
116(iii) the governor's executive orders or proclamations;
117(iv) opinions issued by the attorney general's office;
118(v) declaratory rulings issued by the agency according to Section 63G-4-503 except
119as required by Section 63G-3-201;
120(vi) rulings by an agency in adjudicative proceedings, except as required by
121Subsection 63G-3-201(6); or
122(vii) an agency written statement that is in violation of any state or federal law.
123   [(20)] (26) "Rule analysis" means the format prescribed by the office to summarize and
124analyze rules.
125   (27) "Rule involving environmental health and waste management" means a rule that
126relates to drinking water, water pollution control, hazardous substances, contaminated
127site remediation, air quality, solid waste handling, or hazardous waste handling.
128   [(21)] (28) "Small business" means a business employing fewer than 50 persons.
129   [(22)] (29) "Substantial fiscal impact" means an anticipated fiscal impact of a proposed rule
130of at least $2,000,000 over a five-year period.
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 Enrolled Copy  S.B. 234
131  [(23)] (30) "Substantive change" means a change in a rule that affects the application or
132      results of agency actions.
133  (31) "Weight of scientific evidence" means an approach to scientific evaluation in which
134      each piece of relevant information:
135      (a) is considered based on the evidence's quality and relevance, including the
136consideration of study design, fitness for purpose, replicability, peer review, and
137transparency and reliability of data; and
138      (b) is transparently integrated with other relevant information to inform the scientific
139evaluation before making a judgment about the scientific evaluation.
140Section 2. Section 63G-3-306 is enacted to read:
14163G-3-306 . Sound science requirement.
142  (1) For a rule involving environmental health and waste management:
143      (a) an agency may not initiate rulemaking proceedings to establish new or change
144existing numeric criteria or numeric limitations applicable to a regulated material if
145the new rule or amendment would result in criteria or limitations that are more
146stringent or extensive in scope, coverage, or effect than any federal law or regulation
147setting a standard regarding the same or a substantially similar topic; and
148      (b) in the absence of any federal law or regulation setting a standard regarding the same
149or a substantially similar topic, an agency may not initiate rulemaking proceedings
150that establish new or change existing numeric criteria or numeric limitations unless,
151for each regulated material to which the rule applies, all scientific and technical
152information relied on to support the rule is based upon the best available science and
153the weight of scientific evidence.
154  (2)(a) For a rule described in Subsection (1)(b) intended to protect human health, safety,
155      or welfare:
156(i) the best available science and the weight of scientific evidence shall establish a
157direct causal link between exposure at or above the numeric criteria or numeric
158limitations provided by the rule and manifest bodily harm in humans, based on
159generally accepted scientific or technical practices; and
160(ii) in the absence of data from voluntary scientific studies on humans, the best
161available science and the weight of scientific evidence may be based on tests
162performed on experimental animal species or human and animal cells establishing
163a direct causal link, based on generally accepted scientific or technical practices,
164between exposure at or above any numeric criteria or numeric limitations
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165provided by the rule and manifest bodily harm in humans, if the harm may be
166extrapolated to humans based on the best available science and the weight of
167scientific evidence.
168   (3) This section does not apply to:
169(a) a rule, including a rule made under Title 19, Environmental Quality Code, that is
170required by:
171(i) federal law or regulation to comply with and in furtherance of federal agency
172authorization or a primacy requirement; or
173(ii) state law and applied on a site-specific basis.
174(b) a rule that is less stringent or extensive in scope, coverage, or effect than any federal
175law or regulation setting a standard regarding the same or a substantially similar topic
176or that is substantively equivalent to a federal law or regulation;
177(c) a rule that would repeal or amend an existing rule to be less stringent or extensive in
178scope, coverage, or effect; or
179(d) an emergency rule made under Section 63G-3-304.
180Section 3. Effective Date.
181   This bill takes effect on May 6, 2026.
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