Weird Utah Laws: Strange Statutes In The Beehive State

Utah didn’t just “update” its laws in 2019, it quietly deleted decades of criminal baggage, and the timing is the whole plot twist. Until March 2019, adultery in Utah was still a Class B misdemeanor, sitting in the same dusty neighborhood as sodomy and fornication statutes that the U.S. Supreme Court had already made basically untouchable.

Then along came House Bill 40, signed by Governor Gary Herbert, and the state moved to repeal the criminal penalties for adultery and sodomy between consenting adults. The Utah House passed it unanimously, 74-0, which makes it feel even stranger when you look across the border, where Wisconsin’s adultery law is still a Class I felony, no repeal in sight.

But Utah’s cleanup is only half the story, because the Beehive State kept plenty of statutes that read like they were written after someone yelled “wait, we need a rule for that.”

A Law Utah Cleaned Up in 2019

Until March 2019, adultery in Utah was a Class B misdemeanor under the state's criminal code. It had been on the books for well over a century, alongside sodomy laws and fornication statutes - all of which the U.S. Supreme Court had effectively rendered unenforceable by 2003. Utah's criminal code task force eventually flagged them as dead weight.

House Bill 40, signed by Governor Gary Herbert in March 2019, repealed Utah's criminal penalties for adultery and sodomy between consenting adults. The bill passed the Utah House unanimously, 74-0.

The contrast with Wisconsin is worth noting. Wisconsin's adultery law - §944.16, a Class I felony carrying up to 3 years and 6 months in prison - is still on the books and has never been repealed. Utah cleaned house. Wisconsin hasn't.

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That’s when the repeal of adultery and sodomy starts to feel less like “progress” and more like Utah finally deciding which old charges it can stop pretending to enforce.

Utah Laws With Actual Statute Numbers

Causing a catastrophe has a specific criminal classification. Utah Code §76-6-105 criminalizes causing widespread injury or damage through explosion, fire, flood, avalanche, or building collapse. The penalty is a first-degree felony only when a weapon of mass destruction is used knowingly.

Causing a catastrophe through any other means, such as an explosion or flood, is a second-degree felony if done knowingly, and a Class A misdemeanor if done recklessly. The fact that "starting a flood" and "collapsing a building" needed to be listed as distinct criminal categories gives the statute an unexpected quality when you read it for the first time.

Utah criminalized "ultimate fighting" before the term was mainstream. Utah Code §76-9-705, enacted in 1997, defines and prohibits "ultimate fighting matches" - live contests where an admission fee is charged, participants use a combination of fighting techniques, and the rules fail to prohibit: biting; direct forceful strikes to the eyes, groin, Adam's apple, or temples; or using foreign objects to inflict serious injury.

A match that doesn't prohibit these things is an "ultimate fighting match" and is a Class A misdemeanor to promote, conduct, or participate in. The result is a statute that effectively bans biting and groin strikes in combat sports by making their absence from the rules an element of the crime.

Unfair discrimination against milk distributors is prohibited. Utah Code §76-10-3005 makes it illegal for any person to unfairly discriminate against milk distributors based on the grade or quality of their product. The statute uses the phrase "unfairly discriminate," which it does not define. The law was written to protect dairy market competition and reflects the economic importance of the dairy industry in Utah's agricultural history.

Bicycle riders must keep at least one hand on the handlebars at all times. Utah Code §41-6a-1112 requires anyone riding a bicycle or moped on a public road to keep at least one hand on the handlebars at all times. The same statute prohibits carrying anything on a bicycle that prevents the use of both hands when needed. Riding no-handed is a traffic violation.

Throwing a missile at a bus is a third-degree felony, with a notable exception. Utah Code §76-10-1505 makes it a third-degree felony to hurl any missile at a motor bus. The statute provides a specific exemption: elected and appointed peace officers and commercial security personnel are not liable under this law if the throwing or hurling occurs within the scope of their employment. The exemption applies to the act of throwing missiles at buses if it's part of official duties.

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The Utah Myth That Gets Repeated Constantly

Women in Logan, Utah cannot swear in public. This one circulates with enough specificity, naming Logan as the city, that it sounds verifiable. When the Herald Journal newspaper searched the Logan City Code to check, it found nothing. No current Logan ordinance matches the claim.

The paper concluded the law may have existed at some point but is no longer in effect, or it never existed at all. No historical ordinance has ever been produced to support it.

This cleanup in Utah mirrors Alabama’s laws on plastic confetti bans and impersonating clergy.

Why Utah's Laws Read the Way They Do

Utah's legal code reflects the same forces that shape legal codes everywhere: specific incidents, specific industries, specific moments of public concern. The avalanche provision exists because Utah has mountains. The milk distributor protection exists because Utah has dairy farmers. The boxing statute exists because combat sports regulation became state business.

What makes Utah's code feel different is the level of specificity that sometimes appears in criminal law. A statute that lists Adam's apple strikes alongside general boxing rules suggests that at some point, the conduct required its own explicit prohibition rather than falling under a broader assault provision.

For similar examples of specificity in other states, weird laws in California include a law specifically addressing what must happen to frogs that die during jumping contests. Weird laws in Ohio regulate bread sizes down to two-ounce increments. Weird laws in Wisconsin have explicit rules about the flavor standards required for different grades of cheese.

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So while Utah erased the old moral offenses in 2019, it left in place statutes like these, and the contrast makes the whole state feel like it’s constantly rewriting the rulebook mid-story.

Utah's catastrophe law lists explosion and fire as specific criminal methods. For a look at what a real uncontrolled fire-based catastrophe looks like - and the questions about how it started - the weird roadside attractions and sits prominently on any map of unexpected American facts.

The complete Utah Code is searchable at le.utah.gov, where every statute cited in this article can be read in full. The broader pattern of how these laws come to exist and stay in place is covered in weird laws in the United States.

Utah cleaned up some crimes in 2019, but it still leaves you wondering what, exactly, everyone was arguing about back then.

Utah finally repealed adultery penalties, now see what happens in Wisconsin where adultery is a felony.