By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News | Photo courtesy of the Utah State Legislature

As the Utah State Legislature enters its final stretch, HD69 Rep. Logan Monson joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss his priorities thus far in the session, as well as the major difference between his first year in the body and now.

Opening our conversation, Monson discussed his experience in his second legislative session,” I think probably the biggest thing is you’re not jumping into something brand-new, like, you’re just trying to get to know the people in the process. Like, that’s already said and done, so here we are and just jump in headfirst.”

The first bill Monson spoke on was HB540, which, according to its description,” addresses public access to court records and proceedings, judicial financial disclosures, and employment of a former judge.”

In its current form, it would do this by requiring public access to audio recordings of hearings, setting requirements for the website containing all public court records, and addressing fees for court records.

“I’ve believed, and still believe, that we have the opportunity to have the best court system in the country. We have the people. We know that, like in Utah, we have some of the very best people; we just need to clear up the transparency piece and bridge that gap a little bit,” said Monson of the bill.

“We have an opportunity to do something big here, and we’re going to do it because we have a lot of buy-in. We have buy-in from the courts, we have buy-in from lots of people. That doesn’t mean that this bill is perfect right now. We’re working on some things, but we’re going to end in a place that I think everyone’s going to be happy with.”

Pivoting from the judiciary to education, Monson spoke on HB532, which would create a school-based behavioral health pilot program if passed. “I understand we put in a lot of work on this space for a while now, but we’re missing a few things. We’re missing rural communities specifically. There aren’t as many resources and things available. So in hopes that we can bridge some of that and bring the needed resources that we’re going to only see increase as time goes on to where people need them.”

The last bill Monson discussed was HB471, which would enact several provisions relating to Utah’s social service programs, including work and citizenship requirements for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid.

“So many people have heard of or know of HR1 or the one big beautiful bill. All we’re doing with this bill that I’m running is matching state code to federal code as far as that goes,” explained Monson. “So we’re already going to be required to do all these things as a state from a federal perspective. So we’re just going to put it into state code that we’re going to do it and we’re going to be on board for lots of different things.”

He continued,” When we initially drafted this bill, we went further than HR1; we had stricter work requirements, we had lots of different things in there. Some of those things just didn’t make sense. They were going to have a lot of costs. So really, coming back down to just the level of the federal HR1 and the requirements that are already going to be in place, we’re just going to codify it at the state level.”

Despite the session ending for Monson and other Representatives on March 6, the grind doesn’t stop when ‘Sine Die’ is proclaimed, as on March 11, Monson travels to Green River for an open house alongside the Emery County Commissioners.

“So we’ve done this before with the commissioners there, and we had a great turnout. It’s a really good time to bring the public in and let them know what we’re working on at a county level and at a state level,” expressed Monson. “We also have lots of other events going on, lots of Lincoln Bay dinners happening just even that same week through Grand County and San Juan County. And then we’ll jump right into all the county conventions and the state convention for primary stuff this year.”

Closing our conversation, Monson shared,” Thanks for being involved, engaged, and making sure that you stay connected. I’m happy to hear from people and want to see and hear where people are on different bills.”

To keep up with the 2026 general session of the Utah State Legislature, visit le.utah.gov.