---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Defamation Amendments"
description: "Criminal Defamation Amendments"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ut"
legislature: "Utah Legislature"
session: "2024"
identifier: "HB 158"
citation: "Utah HB 158 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Procedure", "Judicial Operations", "Legislative Operations", "Sunsets and Repealers"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Shipp, Rex P."]
version_count: 2
action_count: 36
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2024-01-04"
last_action: "2024-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/92d88134-a78a-4e0c-b082-2f49455e8fb9"
source_url: "https://le.utah.gov/~2024/bills/static/HB0158.html"
source_hash: "af48234ed12358fe4e537bb77e12ff7e957824764aa5fda2a97a57a7d81c521e"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ut"]
---

# Utah HB 158 (2024) — Criminal Defamation Amendments

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://le.utah.gov/~2024/bills/hbillint/HB0158.pdf)
2. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://le.utah.gov/~2024/bills/hbillenr/HB0158.pdf)

## Votes

- Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation — **3–0** (pass) · lower
- House Comm - Favorable Recommendation — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- passed 3rd reading — **22–1** (pass) · upper
- passed 3rd reading — **61–11** (pass) · lower
- passed 2nd reading — **23–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Shipp, Rex P. — primary (person)
- Kennedy, Michael S. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2024-01-04** Bill Numbered but not Distributed
- **2024-01-04** Numbered Bill Publicly Distributed
- **2024-01-04** fiscal note sent to sponsor
- **2024-01-04** bill sent to agencies for fiscal input
- **2024-01-04** fiscal note publicly available
- **2024-01-10** received bill from Legislative Research `receipt`
- **2024-01-16** received fiscal note from Fiscal Analyst `receipt`
- **2024-01-16** 1st reading (Introduced) `introduction, reading-1`
- **2024-01-23** to House Judiciary Committee
- **2024-01-25** House Comm - Favorable Recommendation `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-01-26** committee report favorable `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-01-26** 2nd reading `reading-2`
- **2024-02-05** 3rd reading `reading-3`
- **2024-02-05** passed 3rd reading `passage`
- **2024-02-05** to Senate
- **2024-02-05** received from House `receipt`
- **2024-02-06** 1st reading (Introduced) `introduction, reading-1`
- **2024-02-06** to Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee
- **2024-02-12** Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-02-12** committee report favorable `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-02-12** placed on 2nd Reading Calendar
- **2024-02-21** 2nd reading `reading-2`
- **2024-02-21** passed 2nd reading `reading-2`
- **2024-02-22** 3rd reading `reading-3`
- **2024-02-22** passed 3rd reading `passage`
- **2024-02-22** signed by President/returned to House `passage`
- **2024-02-22** to House
- **2024-02-22** received from Senate `receipt`
- **2024-02-22** signed by Speaker/sent for enrolling `passage`
- **2024-02-26** Bill Received from House for Enrolling
- **2024-02-26** Draft of Enrolled Bill Prepared
- **2024-03-07** Enrolled Bill Returned to House or Senate `enrolled`
- **2024-03-07** enrolled bill to Printing
- **2024-03-08** received enrolled bill from Printing `receipt`
- **2024-03-08** to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2024-03-18** Governor Signed `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/92d88134-a78a-4e0c-b082-2f49455e8fb9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Utah legislature records).