Bad Bill Tracker – Higher Ground

Higher Ground's Natalie Cline & Monica Wilbur sit down with We Are The People to discuss Utah's Bad Bills of 2025 and the lawmakers behind them

It’s January 2026 and BAD BILLS SEASON, also known as Death By a Thousand Paper Cuts, is upon us once more and yes, it’s as bad as it sounds.

Utah’s 2025 lawmaking session bloodied capitol watchdogs with a barrage of bills — almost 1,000 pieces of legislation were introduced in fewer than 45 days. This fast pace makes it extraordinarily easy for bad bills to slip through virtually unopposed. There simply isn’t enough time to mount meaningful opposition, not to mention that many legislators are hell-bent to get their bills passed, no matter how much they hurt Utahns and their families.

We created 60 Bad Bill tags(!) to help us better illustrate why and where so many bills go off the rails. Check out our Bad Bill Tags gallery.

we break down the elements of what makes a bad bill bad

Register for our Breaking down Bad Bills zoom

Join Natalie Cline & Monica Wilbur of Higher Ground, Wednesday nights starting January 28, from 8-9 on Zoom. You’ll get our unique take on which bills to watch out for, and more importantly, why they’re so dangerous.

You can text one of the phone numbers on the flier for the meeting link, or fill out our form below.

PLEASE CHECK YOUR JUNK FOLDER IF YOU DON’T SEE THE LINK IN 24 HOURS.

What BAD BILLS are & why they matter

Bad Bills, Bad Bills,
whatcha gonna do?

Every legislative season, Utah's lawmakers produce many bills. How many bills? Too many bills! In 45 days, Utah's lawmakers introduce close to 1,000 pieces of legislation. This creates a quantity-over-quality problem, resulting in an unacceptable number of BAD BILLS.

Death by a thousand paper cuts

After studying lots of bills, we arrived at the conclusion that there are so many more ways to make a BAD BILL bad than to make a GOOD BILL good. As Matthew 7 says—For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction.

Bad bills have a multiplier effect, often doing greater damage than is initially realized.

Birth of the #BadBillTags©

In line with our mission to Inform & Warn the public about bad education policies, practices, programs, & pedagogies, we have developed a series of what we call Bad Bill Tags that explain the different elements of what makes a bill objectively bad.

We apply these tags to bills listed in our BAD BILL Tracker. These are just a few of the most notable BAD BILLS from the latest session. We hope our tags & tracker provide a helpful lens through which to analyze & scrutinize bills so as to protect our faith, families & freedoms against being overcome by arrogant governance and bureaucratic hubris.

#BadBillTags

Click to see copyright notice on #BadBillTags

Bad Bill Tags may not be copied, reproduced, published, transmitted, distributed, modified, have derivative works created from, sold, licensed or otherwise exploited without Higher Ground's prior written permission.

OUr 2026 Bad Bill Tracker...IS now live!

So happy to bring this really rad way of breaking down bad bills by visualizing exactly where and how a bad bill goes bad.

Watch the short video tutorial to get a feel for how to use the tracker. If you are viewing the tracker on a mobile phone, adjust the zoom in your browser to 75% to see it best.