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Utah law currently places many peace officers employed by county sheriff's offices under a merit system or career service framework that sets rules for how they are hired, promoted, disciplined, and fired. This bill would remove those civil-service protections from certain supervisory positions — specifically those no more than three levels below the sheriff who oversee other supervisors, as distinct from "frontline" supervisors who oversee only non-supervisory officers — unless the sheriff designates the position as a merit system position before July 1, 2026, when the bill would take effect. Officers who already hold merit status before that date would keep it unless they voluntarily move into a non-merit position or otherwise give up their status, and each merit commission would be required to adopt a policy offering financial or other incentives to encourage officers to voluntarily surrender merit protections. The bill also revises related procedural rules governing county merit systems and law-enforcement interlocal agreements more broadly, including how commissions are organized, how competitive examinations and promotions are conducted, how temporary appointments and layoffs are handled, and how disciplinary decisions can be appealed to district court.