Democrats may be in the minority at the Utah Legislature, but they still have priorities for the 2025 general session. Republican leadership has already highlighted their priorities such as improving quality of life, housing affordability and improving the state’s education system.
For Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, their priorities are getting back to the basics of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
“Utah is a state built on hope and resiliency and the promise of opportunity for all,” she told reporters on the first day of the session. “As we grow and thrive, our mission is clear, and that is to ensure that every Utahn, no matter where they're from, where they live or who they are, has access to the basics that create quality of life and a meaningful life.”
Democrats share many of those same goals as the majority. Escamilla said they hope to help build “a brighter future where every family feels secure, supported and empowered to pursue their dreams.”
Republicans love to tout the state’s top economic rankings, but she noted there are other important areas that need attention, too.
“The question we ask is, ‘Who in this economic growth is being left behind?” she said. “We hear a lot about great accolades of the state of Utah. We are part of the work that happens in the state of Utah, but we also see a lot of our constituents that are being left behind.”

Immigration
Minority Whip Karen Kwan said the national conversation around immigration — like the Trump administration’s effort to end birthright citizenship — has made it so “not all of our communities feel safe.”
“Especially the children who are in maybe mixed-status families, there is a lot of fear and anxiety that some of our community members are feeling of sort of going back to decades past when they felt as though they were hunted,” she said. “This is not something that we want here in Utah.”
Those sentiments were echoed in the House by Minority Leader Angela Romero, who has been disheartened by the way the conversation has been framed to equate immigration with public safety.
“Are we concerned about public safety as a caucus? Yes,” she said. “Do we want to make sure that criminals are held responsible? Yes, but we don't care what their immigration status is. If they're committing crimes, they need to be held accountable.”
Illegal immigration and crime were central campaign issues during the 2024 election and Utah leaders have said they will support President Donald Trump’s efforts to address both. Republican lawmakers have announced their intentions to increase sentencing and deportation for people without legal status who commit a crime in the state.
While many of the GOP-backed bills focus on crime and the southern border, Republican Rep. Candice Pierucci said the majority has “tried hard to focus on the criminal element,” as opposed to targeting people who do not have legal status.
Education
Budget cuts to higher education are on the menu this year to the tune of roughly $60 million. House Minority Assistant Whip Sahara Hayes said Democrats are invested in handling the cuts in a way that doesn’t harm students.
“If that's going to go through, we need to make sure that our students are being supported,” she said. “This is where young people go and develop the tools and the skills that they need to succeed in all areas of life and they need robust options for that, and they need well funded options for that.”
When it comes to K-12 education, Hayes added that in her conversations with teachers, they were “earnestly pleading for more resources,” including a strong desire to increase per-pupil classroom funding, called the weighted pupil unit.
“They do not have the tools that they need right now to support their students, and it is hard for them and it is hard for the students. And they need an increased WPU in order to do the job that they are given.”
Hayes said Democrats plan to oppose any expansion of the state’s school voucher program, the Utah Fits All Scholarship, which provides state funding for families to take their children out of public schools.
“We have $80 million into that program so far, and there's no accountability metrics built in,” she said. “We don't have any way of tracking the outcomes for that. And that is a lot of money for us to not know if it is being successful and what it is trying to achieve, particularly when it could be bolstering public ed.”
Energy
As Republicans push for a nuclear-powered future, Democrats are curious about the possibilities of nuclear power but are focused on renewable energy first.
“Utah is very unique in the fact that we have access to solar, geothermal and storage, and a lot of times, when you hear conversations in public utilities, we have people say that we're not there yet, but we are,” Romero said. “Our plea to our colleagues is to focus on not just clean energy, but renewable energy, and how we can utilize what we've already been able to do with solar and storage.”
Those sentiments are also shared in the Senate, with Sen. Nate Blouin saying the future of nuclear power is all about the money it will take to introduce it.
“It comes down to costs, and hopefully we can get that to a place where it works for all Utahns and not just these data centers, these AI projects that we're hearing a lot about,” he said.

Court reform
After a 2024 filled with high-profile Utah Supreme Court rulings that did not go in the Legislature’s favor, some Republicans expressed a worry that Utah courts were becoming too political. House Minority Caucus Manager Doug Owens said Democrats will guard against any attempts to reform the courts, like electing judges as opposed to the current system of appointment by the governor and confirmation by the Senate.
“We see that as an essential component of a healthy democracy is to have a third branch of government in the judiciary that's co-equal and independent and does not get its wings clipped.”
The 2025 legislative session ends March 7.