Governor signs 'revenge porn' bill, 110 others into law

Gov. Gary Herbert may have writer's cramp — he announced Monday signing 111 more bills into law.

They include legislation banning "revenge porn," reforming payday loans, approving moving the state prison from Draper, preventing repeats of the Stericycle medical waste incinerator controversy, and a bill to rename a Utah County highway in honor of a recently murdered law officer.

A complete list of all bills that passed the 2014 Legislature, and which the governor has signed so far, is available at le.utah.gov/asp/passedbills/passedbills.asp.

Among bills he signed Monday includes:

• HB71 by Rep. Marie Poulson, D-Cottonwood Heights, to clearly outlaw "revenge porn," or distribution of "intimate images," such as partial nudity or sexual conduct, of adults without consent and with intent to cause emotional distress or harm.

She said it is often distributed by ex-spouses or ex-lovers as a form of revenge.

• HB127 to reform payday loans — which average 474 percent annual interest in Utah. That industry long tried to avoid similar reform and to do it even created scandals that helped lead to the resignation of former Attorney General John Swallow.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, who headed the special committee that investigated Swallow. It found that in return for big donations from payday lenders, Swallow funneled money in hard-to-trace ways to help them defeat former Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, who had pushed similar reform.

The bill will require lenders to give borrowers time without penalty or interest at the end of 10 weeks to pay back loans; require any lawsuits to be filed where borrowers live; and require lenders to report how many loans go the full 10 weeks allowed, how many end up in default, and the amounts involved.

• HCR8 and SB268 to declare the intent of the Legislature — and now governor — to move the aging state prison now in Draper, and create a new commission to choose a new location.

The Draper prison sits in a high-tech corridor some refer to as "Silicon Slopes" and is eyed as a potentially lucrative site for new development.

• SB196 by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, to prevent future medical waste incinerators from being located within two miles of residential areas — hoping to avoid the kind of problems that have plagued Stericycle in North Salt Lake.

• SB234 by Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Saratoga Springs, renames SR-73 — through Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain and Cedar Valley — as the "Cory B. Wride Memorial Highway." It honors a Utah County Sheriff sergeant who was murdered along the highway in January.