Utah 2026 General Session Status: Enacted 2 R cosponsors

HB 219 — Higher Education Civics Amendments

Last action — Governor Signed

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed House
  4. ✓
    Passed Senate
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 09, 2026. Enacted.

Signed by Governor Spencer Cox (Republican) on March 19, 2026.

Prognosis

Advancing 54% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 2 sponsors

    1 primary, 1 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (2 R).

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Bill Text

What changed in the latest version

81 added · 170 removed

Plain-language change summary

The revised version of Bill HB 219 now allows colleges and universities in Utah to voluntarily adopt writing requirements that include using foundational documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Previously, the bill mandated a specific center to incorporate these writing assignments, which has been removed. This change matters because it gives educational institutions the flexibility to decide how and when to integrate these important documents into their curricula, potentially encouraging a broader range of approaches to teaching writing.

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HB0219S01 compared with HB0219 {Omitted text} shows text that was in HB0219 but was omitted in HB0219S01 inserted text shows text that was not in HB0219 but was inserted into HB0219S01 DISCLAIMER:
Enrolled Copy H.B.
This document is provided to assist you in your comparison of the two bills.
219 Higher Education Civics Amendments GENERAL SESSION STATE OF UTAH Chief Sponsor:
Sometimes this automated comparison will NOT be completely accurate.
Therefore, you need to read the actual bills.
This automatically generated document could contain inaccuracies caused by:
limitations of the compare program;
bad input data;
or other causes.
Higher Education Civics Amendments GENERAL SESSION STATE OF UTAH Chief Sponsor:
Ballard Senate Sponsor:Lincoln Fillmore 3 LONG TITLE General Description:
Ballard Senate Sponsor:
Lincoln Fillmore 3 LONG TITLE General Description:
▸ {requires the Center for Civic Excellence at Utah State University to incorporate analytical writing assignments based on certain seminal documents;} ▸ allows {other } institutions of higher education to voluntarily adopt {similar } certain writing requirements;
▸ allows institutions of higher education to voluntarily adopt certain writing requirements;
H None B Other Special Clauses:
None Other Special Clauses:
2 None 1 HB0219 compared with HB0219S01 Utah Code Sections Affected:
None Utah Code Sections Affected:
53H-3-610 {(Effective 05/06/26)}, Utah Code Annotated 1953 AMENDS:
53H-3-610, Utah Code Annotated 1953 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
{53H-4-307.5 (Effective 05/06/26) (Repealed 07/01/30), as renumbered and amended by Laws of Utah 2025, First Special Session, Chapter 8} Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1 is enacted to read:
Section 53H-3-610 is enacted to read:
53H-3-610.
53H-3-610 .
{(Effective 05/06/26)}Incorporation of seminal documents in writing courses.
Incorporation of seminal documents in writing courses.
(iv) the Bill of Rights;
H.B.
219 Enrolled Copy (iv) the Bill of Rights;
- 2 - HB0219 compared with HB0219S01 (a) requires an institution of higher education to incorporate seminal documents into writing courses where the institution and the course instructor determine the incorporation is appropriate and advances the learning objectives of the course;
(a) requires an institution of higher education to incorporate seminal documents into writing courses where the institution and the course instructor determine the incorporation is appropriate and advances the learning objectives of the course;
and (d) maintains genre diversity in writing instruction by ensuring multiple forms of writing are taught, including:
and (d) maintains genre diversity in writing instruction by ensuring multiple forms of writing - 2 - Enrolled Copy H.B.
219 are taught, including:
(4) Beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, an institution of higher education {other than Utah State University } may voluntarily adopt structured writing course requirements similar to {those described in Subsection 53H-4-307.5(3)(e).} the following requirements:
(4) Beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, an institution of higher education may voluntarily adopt structured writing course requirements similar to the following requirements:
- 3 - HB0219 compared with HB0219S01 (d) encourage the use of seminal documents for additional writing assignments, class discussions, and other pedagogical purposes beyond the minimum requirements described in this Subsection (4);
(d) encourage the use of seminal documents for additional writing assignments, class discussions, and other pedagogical purposes beyond the minimum requirements described in this Subsection (4);
{Section 2.
Section 53H-4-307.5 is amended to read:
} 53H-4-307.5.
Center for Civic Excellence -- Curriculum.
(1) The center shall:
(a) govern the general education program and general education courses at Utah State University;
and (b) ensure that:
(i) the general education program aligns with the general education program requirements described in board policy;
and (ii) there is general education transferability to and from Utah State University and other institutions within the Utah System of Higher Education.
(2) The center is founded on the following principles, values, and purposes:
(a) a commitment to viewpoint diversity and civil discourse, ensuring that students understand opposing points of view and can contribute in the public square in civil and productive ways;
(b) the development of program outcomes and courses that engage students in enduring questions of meaning, purpose, and value;
and (c) the cultivation in students of the durable skills necessary to thrive in educational, social, political, economic, and personal contexts.
(3) The center shall ensure, within the general education program:
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(a) a cap of 30 credits;
(b) the integration of six written and oral communication credits with three humanities credits;
(c) that three three-credit courses in the humanities:
(i) engage with perennial questions about the human condition, the meaning of life, and the nature of social and moral lives;
- 4 - HB0219 compared with HB0219S01 (ii) emphasize foundational thinking and communication skills through engagement with primary texts predominantly from Western civilization, such as:
(A) the intellectual contributions of ancient Israel, ancient Greece, and Rome;
and (B) the rise of Christianity, medieval Europe, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and post- Enlightenment;
(iii) include texts for each course that are historically distributed from antiquity to the present from figures with lasting literary, philosophical, and historical influence, such as Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Lao Tzu, Cicero, Maimonides, Boethius, Shakespeare, Mill, Woolf, and Achebe;
and (iv) are organized around themes central to the preservation and flourishing of a free society, such as the moral life, happiness, liberty, equality and justice, and goodness and beauty;[ and] (d) that one three-credit course in American institutions:
(i) engages students with the major debates and ideas that inform the historical development of the republican form of government of the United States of America;
(ii) focus on the founding principles of American government, economics, and history, such as natural rights, liberty, equality, constitutional self-government, and market systems;
and (iii) use primary source material, such as:
(A) the Magna Carta, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers;
and (B) material from thinkers, such as Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Adam Smith, John Locke, Montesquieu, and Alexis de Tocqueville[.] ;
and (e) that writing courses offered through the center:
(i) incorporate seminal documents as described in Section 53H-3-610;
(ii) require students to complete at least three analytical writing assignments that use seminal documents as primary sources for analysis;
(iii) emphasize foundational thinking and communication skills through close reading and analysis of primary texts, consistent with Subsection (3)(c)(ii);
(iv) encourage the use of seminal documents for additional writing assignments, class discussions, and other pedagogical purposes beyond the minimum requirements described in Subsection (3)(e)(ii);
(v) integrate, where appropriate, primary texts and source materials described in Subsections (3)(c)(iii) and (3)(d)(iii);
and (vi) develop in students the capacity to engage with complex texts, analyze historical and rhetorical contexts, and articulate evidence-based arguments in writing.
- 5 - HB0219 compared with HB0219S01 (4) The vice-provost overseeing the center:
(a) shall ensure that the center:
(i) no less than seven days before the first day of class for a given semester or other academic term during which the institution offers a course, makes available to the public on the institution's website a syllabus for each section of the courses in the humanities described in Subsection (3) that:
(A) provide the section number;
(B) provides a brief description of each major assignment and examination;
(C) lists any required or recommended reading;
(D) provides a general description of the subject matter of each lecture or discussion;
(E) is accessible from the home page of the institution's website by use of not more than three links;
(F) is searchable by keywords and phrases;
and (G) is accessible to the public without requiring registration, use of a user name and password, or another method of user identification;
(ii) continues to make the information described in Subsection (4)(a) available on the center's website until at least the second anniversary of the date on which the center initially posted the information;
and (iii) updates the information described in Subsection (4)(a) as soon as practicable after the information changes;
and (b) may assign duties under this Subsection (4) to one or more administrative employees.
Effective date.
1-28-26 12:06 PM - 6 -
- 3 -
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Action History

  1. Governor Signed

  2. House/ to Governor

  3. House/ received enrolled bill from Printing

  4. House/ enrolled bill to Printing

  5. Enrolled Bill Returned to House or Senate

  6. Draft of Enrolled Bill Prepared

  7. Bill Received from House for Enrolling

  8. House/ signed by Speaker/ sent for enrolling

  9. House/ received from Senate

  10. Senate/ to House

  11. Senate/ signed by President/ returned to House

  12. Senate/ passed 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension

  13. Senate/ 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension

  14. Senate/ Rules to 2nd Reading Calendar

  15. Senate/ 2nd Reading Calendar to Rules [Senate Rules Committee]

  16. Senate/ placed on 2nd Reading Calendar

  17. Senate/ committee report favorable [Senate Education Committee]

  18. Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation [Senate Education Committee]

  19. Senate/ to standing committee [Senate Education Committee]

  20. Senate/ 1st reading (Introduced)

  21. Senate/ received from House

  22. House/ to Senate

  23. House/ passed 3rd reading

  24. House/ uncircled

  25. House/ circled

  26. House/ 3rd reading

  27. House/ 2nd reading

  28. House/ committee report favorable [House Education Committee]

  29. House Comm - Favorable Recommendation [House Education Committee]

  30. House Comm - Not Considered [House Education Committee]

  31. House/ to standing committee [House Education Committee]

  32. Bill Substituted by Sponsor in House Rules Comm [House Rules Committee]

  33. LFA/ fiscal note publicly available for HB0219S01

  34. LFA/ fiscal note sent to sponsor for HB0219S01

  35. LFA/ bill sent to agencies for fiscal input for HB0219S01

  36. LFA/ bill assigned to staff for fiscal analysis for HB0219S01

  37. House/ 1st reading (Introduced)

  38. House/ received fiscal note from Fiscal Analyst

  39. LFA/ fiscal note publicly available for HB0219

  40. LFA/ fiscal note sent to sponsor for HB0219

  41. House/ received bill from Legislative Research

  42. LFA/ bill sent to agencies for fiscal input for HB0219

  43. LFA/ bill assigned to staff for fiscal analysis for HB0219

  44. Numbered Bill Publicly Distributed

  45. Bill Numbered but not Distributed

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 1 co-sponsors · 102 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (1)

Not signed on (102)

102 members have not signed on to this bill.

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"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

education
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Frequently asked questions

Who sponsors HB 219?
HB 219 is sponsored by Lincoln Fillmore (Republican) and Melissa G. Ballard (Republican).
What is the current status of HB 219?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 09, 2026. Enacted.
Where can I track HB 219?
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