The bill stems from continued efforts from state leaders to prevent the crime and chaos that surrounded Salt Lake City’s downtown homeless shelter before the multimillion dollar Operation Rio Grande.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah House of Representatives support a move to toughen penalties for drug dealing near shelters, but some advocates worry that some of the homeless trying to get help may be hurt by the effort.
The bill stems from continued efforts from state leaders to prevent the crime and chaos that surrounded Salt Lake City’s downtown homeless shelter before the multimillion-dollar Operation Rio Grande, aimed at stopping drug dealers from taking advantage of the homeless near the three new homeless resource centers now under construction.
„We have spent significant sums of money, upward of $70 million or more, on Operation Rio Grande, and one of the things we’ve learned is that certain individuals will prey upon people in the homeless shelter,“ the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Steven Eliason, R-Sandy, told a House committee last week.
„I think we need to send a strong message that drugs are not tolerated in these facilities,“ Eliason said.
The bill sailed through the House on a 65-1 vote on Friday.
HB317 would add publicly funded homeless shelters — including those with 200 beds or more — to „drug-free“ zones currently in place in and on the grounds of schools, churches and libraries to enhance criminal penalties for drug distribution.
