Utah Governor Spencer Cox has signed 50 bills from the 2024 General Legislative Session into law on Wednesday. This brings the total number of legislation signed from the 2024 session to 503, as stated in a press release from the Governor’s Office.
Among the bills signed on Wednesday, one of them was House Bill 269, titled “Public School History Curricula Amendments.” This bill seeks to enhance Utah public school history studies by incorporating the Ten Commandments and Magna Carta into the curriculum.
H.B. 269 aims to enhance the study of historical documents and principles in schools by including the Ten Commandments and the Magna Carta in the curriculum and activities.
The Ten Commandments will join esteemed company alongside the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.
The bill has been modified to state that school curricula should incorporate “principles” along with historical documents, now including the Ten Commandments.
The Public School History Curricula Amendments will be implemented on July 1st.
One intriguing law that was recently enacted is the Utah Legal Personhood Amendments, also known as H.B. 249.
The bill’s general description concisely states that it tackles the concept of legal personhood.
The bill includes a notable provision that prevents government entities from granting or acknowledging legal personhood to certain categories of nonhumans.
So, what does that mean?
In the bill, “legal personhood” is described as the legal rights and obligations that state laws provide to both individuals and entities that are not individuals.
The text of the bill states that certain nonhumans, including artificial intelligence, property, land, and bodies of water like Great Salt Lake, will not be granted legal personhood by a “governmental entity.”
The effective date of this bill is set for May 1st.
