House Bill 456, the transient room tax amendments (first substitute), passed the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Standing Committee on Feb. 14, 2025, after extended stakeholder negotiations among counties, tourism interests and hoteliers.

Representative Bolender, sponsor of the bill, said the measure is intended to shift some of the cost of visitor impacts—search and rescue, EMS, solid waste and other mitigation—away from local residents and onto nonresident visitors. The bill raises the state transient room tax rate by one percentage point. Under the first substitute described at the hearing, the additional one percentage point is distributed as follows: half retained by the state; one quarter allocated to the county of origin; and one quarter directed to a new EMS/visitor mitigation grant program to be administered by the Utah Division of Natural Resources and the Office of Outdoor Recreation.

Representatives of the Utah Association of Counties, the Utah League of Cities and Towns and tourism industry stakeholders testified in support. Brandy Grace (UAC) described efforts to standardize reporting and encourage separate accounting of transient room tax revenue so funds earmarked for visitor mitigation are easier to track. The Utah Tourism Industry Association and the Utah League of Cities and Towns expressed conditional support and urged that rural high‑impact communities receive funding to respond to visitor pressures.

Representative Colford moved adoption of the first substitute and then moved that the committee favorably recommend HB 456 as substituted. The committee adopted the substitute and passed the bill by voice vote; committee testimony and public comments reflected broad stakeholder engagement and support from counties affected by high visitor use.

Votes at a glance: The committee adopted Sub 1 and then passed HB 456 Sub 1 by voice vote; transcript records the outcome as unanimous.