Curtis Booker is a reporter for KSL.
SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that would have brought changes to winter warming centers for people experiencing homelessness didn't progress past the House of Representatives in the final days of Utah 's 2026 legislative session.
Among other provisions, HB596 would have restructured funding that supports homeless service resources, adjusted how and when existing homeless resource centers can operate and raised Utah's current code blue threshold.Unsheltered Utah, in conjunction with the 2nd and 2nd Coalition and multiple Salt Lake area churches, hosts Code Blue movie nights on the coldest nights of the winter."We were really looking forward to that code blue temperature threshold to change. Right now it's 18 degrees , which is very cold. This bill would have changed it to 25 degrees, which is still quite cold," said Merinda Cutler, executive director at Unsheltered Utah.Utah's code blue alerts go into effect when temperatures in counties across the state are expected to drop 18 degrees or more, including a wind chill for 2 hours or more during a 24-hour period.Unsheltered Utah was one organization advocating for the bill.The bill passed through the House committee meeting, but failed in the House of Representatives.Some lawmakers feared the bill would potentially raise taxes and preempt control from local municipalities.'I think we should let the municipalities figure out their homeless problems on their own and offer support in a way that isn't going to dictate anything to them," said Rep. Nicholeen Peck, R-Tooele.However, the bill's sponsor, Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, said it would "do nothing to raise taxes," nor would it preempt local land control.An 'interesting spot'Last month, Cutler told KSL that the organization had only been able to open for 10 of the 30 code blue movie nights they'd planned due to Utah's mild winter.A string of bitterly cold nights triggered code blue alerts in February, which allowed Unsheltered Utah to open movie nights at St. Mark's Cathedral and First United Methodist Churches a few more times to help keep homeless individuals out of the cold."We want people's lives to be saved and we want to be able to provide that. I mean, I have not talked to a single person who has said, 'Yeah, I think that people should be out on the street at 25 degrees,'" Cutler said. "But I think the problem is we want to have better infrastructure in place in general, so people aren't on th
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