The Legislature has passed a bill that will create a registry of people convicted of white collar crimes.
HB378 would give authority to the Utah Attorney General to create a public a list of people convicted of fraud. First time offenders will be on the list for 10 years, while people convicted three times or more will remain on the list for life. But the bill would also allow people to get off of the list if they pay full restitution to their victims. Rep. Mike McKell is the bill’s primary sponsor. He says getting criminals to pay restitution is one of the Attorney General’s biggest challenges, and this list will hopefully be a motivator.
“Look, we’re dealing with people who commit fraud and bad people do bad things and some of them are just not going to care, but I hope there are those that do care enough to make it right with society and do pay restitution,” McKell says.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes says this bill is one of his biggest priorities this legislative session and that he’s happy to see it pass.
“These types of crime have to be addressed," Reyes says. "Often we sweep them under the rug or we try to pretend that they don’t happen. And it’s a blight that we need to own up to and say it’s not going to happen here in our state and we’re going to do everything we can to try and help each other and warn each other. And this is one of the mechanisms that I think will be affective.”
The bill now heads to Governor Gary Herbert’s desk for his signature. Herbert has said that he supports this legislation.