AI-generated summary, not yet reviewed by Better Utah staff. Please consult the bill text.

Utah law currently allows a state agency to claim partial ownership of an "environmental commodity" (a credit representing reduced or avoided greenhouse gas emissions) when state money helped create it, and lets the state treasurer manage the sale or exchange of that state-owned share; this bill would eliminate those ownership and treasurer-management provisions, instead simply requiring that any carbon credit created or purchased by a state agency remain under that agency's control. The bill renames "environmental commodity" as "carbon credit," updates related definitions (including adding "carbon emission offset" and "natural asset credit"), and removes the current exemption for credits created from activity on state school and institutional trust lands. Before selling or exchanging a carbon credit, a state agency would still need to obtain an official identification number and report transaction details—such as the source of the offset and terms of any sale—to the state auditor, who would keep a running record and report annually on revenue and activity to a legislative budget subcommittee. The bill also creates the Carbon Credit Litigation Fund, funded by money won through lawsuits or settlements over carbon credit fraud or violations of state carbon credit law, which the attorney general could use to resist federal mandates like cap-and-trade programs, required emissions reporting, or climate remediation programs, or to recover credits fraudulently moved out of state.