HB0513S02 | Utah Commission for Earthquake Preparedness

Description
General Description: 

This bill creates the Utah Commission for Earthquake Preparedness.

Highlighted Provisions: 

This bill creates the Utah Commission for Earthquake Preparedness

Bill Details
Year: 
2025
Status: 
House/ filed
Last Action: 
Mar 07, 2025
Sponsor
Representative
Republican - District 1
Fiscal Note
Fiscal Note Amount: 
$0
None
Utah PTA Response
Utah PTA Position
Support
Impact on Children: 

The Utah Commission for Earthquake Preparedness aims to reduce earthquake risks, benefiting children by making their homes and schools safer. It will help improve school emergency plans, infrastructure, and safety protocols to protect children during earthquakes. The commission also works on strategies for quicker recovery, ensuring less disruption to children's education and routines. By providing awareness and educational resources on earthquake safety, children and families can be better prepared. Furthermore, the commission’s long-term mitigation efforts will ensure that environments children frequent are less likely to suffer major damage in the event of an earthquake. In all, the commission’s initiatives will create a safer, more resilient future for Utah’s children.

Commission: 
Safety
Utah PTA Public Policy Program
National PTA and Utah PTA Resolutions: 

Resolved, That Utah PTA and its constituent bodies encourage and support passage of legislation that will fund the initial retrofit-or-replace cost assessments of each identified URM school building and further funds to assess other schools at lower, but still significant, risk; and be it further
Resolved, That Utah PTA and its constituent bodies encourage and support passage of legislation that will help school districts fund earthquake retrofit or replacement of seismically unsound school buildings (including funding local cost-shares for federal grants), particularly for districts that lack adequate bonding capacity or authority to raise necessary funds; and be it further
Resolved, That Utah PTA and its constituent bodies encourage the state to extend the school inventory to include all Utah schools, including public charter schools and private schools, which may not yet have been evaluated.
 

Utah PTA Legislative Policy: 

To promote the welfare of children and youth in home, school, community, and place of worship.
To secure adequate laws for the care and protection of children and youth.

Utah PTA Legislative Priorities: 

SAFETY: Support funding to strengthen school safety and security measures, to ensure a physical, academic, social, and emotional safe school community for all This includes but is not limited to school infrastructure, comprehensive safety training, community violence and bullying intervention and reduction, mental health training and resources as well as the education to families and communities on school safety protocols, children's online security, and the assessment of digital threats posed to schools across Utah.