A bill that would strengthen penalties against rioters drew concerns Friday from public commenters worried it could chill peaceful protests.
HB58 would require a person arrested for rioting to appear before a magistrate before being released, and require the court to order a convicted rioter to pay restitution. The Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee passed the bill on to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation in a 3-1 vote. The measure already has passed the House.
Community members speaking at the meeting expressed concerns that the bill would discourage peaceful protesters and target minority communities, and that it did not define “riot”sufficiently to protect law-abiding demonstrators.
“It comes on the heels of all of last year’s protests from the George Floyd murder, so it’s got the potential to smack of racial underpinnings and that troubles me,” said Bret Webster, a Utah resident who said he was speaking for himself. “And it also kind of looks like it might be aimed at discouraging protests. I wonder — what problem is this legislation really solving?”
According to bill sponsor Rep. Ryan D. Wilcox, R-Ogden, the purpose of HB58 is to prevent rioters from being booked and released so quickly they can return to rioting and engage in more violence or property damage.
Efforts to free the thousands of protesters arrested in the months following the death of George Floyd swept the country last summer and donations to bail funds skyrocketed. While HB58 does not address bail issues, it would make it harder for someone arrested for rioting to get out of jail because of the requirement to appear before a magistrate.
Rae Duckworth, a Utahn who provided public comment at the committee meeting, said this legislation would harm minority communities more than anyone else, as racial injustice has been the catalyst for many recent demonstrations.
“This bill is targeting marginalized communities,” she said. The vast majority of demonstrations in Salt Lake City last summer were peaceful, and without a clearer definition to differentiate between protesting and rioting, the bill will become a “heavy weight to silence people of color and people who want to express and protest.”
Woods Cross Police Chief Chad Soffe said differentiation between protesting and rioting isn’t a problem for police officers under the current law, and suggested the law would not be abused to target minority community members.
Rep. Wilcox likewise denied any race-related motivation behind the bill. To him, HB58 is simply about protecting people and property.
“This is not about protests and certainly not about ideology. This does not apply to one side or the other. This applies to all of us equally. We saw similarly abhorrent behavior in Washington, D.C., in our nation’s Capitol,” Wilcox said. “When you talk about violence to each other or to one another’s property, that is a completely different act than the act of a protest and expressing ourselves.”
