SALT LAKE CITY – On Thursday, Attorney General Sean D. Reyes joined a 17-State coalition, led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, in suing the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over its new rule mandating workplace abortion accommodations through an illegal interpretation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act of 2022 (PWFA).

The PWFA fills a gap in federal law by ensuring pregnant women in the workplace receive accommodation to protect their pregnancies and unborn children. A diverse coalition of lawmakers, business groups, and nonprofit organizations supported that pro-family aim and secured broad bipartisan support.

Yet in a new rule, unelected commissioners at the EEOC seek to hijack these new protections for pregnancies by requiring employers to accommodate women’s elective abortions—something Congress clearly did not authorize. Further, the EEOC’s rule contradicts States’ duly enacted abortion prohibitions and undermines their commitment to protecting prenatal life at all stages of development.

If the EEOC’s rule stands, the State of Utah, the co-plaintiff States, and countless others must allocate resources to support women’s workers’ elective abortions or face federal suit—even if illegal under state law. Seventeen states now bring this complaint to enjoin and set aside the EEOC’s unprecedented and unlawful abortion accommodation mandate.

The following states joined Utah, Tennessee, and Arkansas in this lawsuit: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia.

The lawsuit can be read here.

SALT LAKE CITY – The State of Utah continues to benefit from Utah’s enforcement of the 1990s-era tobacco settlement. The Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), orchestrated in 1998 by former Utah Attorney General Jan Graham, has resulted in over $800 million in payments to the State of Utah. Today, Attorney General Sean D. Reyes announced a settlement extension agreement, securing Utah’s 2023 and 2024 payments of $30 million and $27 million, respectively.

The MSA states that each covered state receives yearly settlement payments, which are at risk if a state fails to “diligently enforce” tobacco statutes. Attorney General Reyes settled diligent enforcement disputes on behalf of Utah in 2018 for the years 2004-2022 and the most recent agreement extends the settlement through 2024.

“Nearly three decades ago, the late Attorney General Jan Graham helped lead a landmark settlement (MSA) with big tobacco companies requiring them to pay damages to each state so long as the states complied with certain enforcement conditions. Thanks to diligent work by lawyers in the AG Office and other state agencies, we have been able to hold tobacco companies to their MSA obligations even when they have made claims of Utah not enforcing tobacco statutes,” said General Reyes. “It has taken a lot of work, negotiation, careful planning, and strategic decision-making to keep settlement dollars coming in every year to Utah now and into the future. We will continue to do what is necessary to protect Utahns and safeguard our children from the dangers of tobacco use in all forms.”

The 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement required the tobacco companies to make annual payments to the 46 states involved in the settlement, including Utah. The MSA settled state litigation for health care costs and other damages caused by cigarette smoking, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. The payment provisions partly compensate the states for the billions of dollars associated with treating tobacco-related diseases under state Medicaid programs.

The Attorney General’s Office is committed to ensuring that tobacco companies meet their obligations to Utah under the MSA without delay or uncertainty. This agreement again provides certainty for prompt and reliable payments into the State Endowment Fund and in support of vital health-related programs, including cancer research, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and alcohol, tobacco, and drug prevention.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office has an office dedicated to protecting the integrity of the Medicaid program. Working with federal agents, we take on fraud, waste, or abuse of the system. It’s called the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit—or MFCU.

Every state has a MFCU, but Utah received the 2023 Inspector General’s Award for Excellence, which is a huge feather in the cap of everyone who works in the office and to our guest, Kaye Lynn Wooten, its director. Listen to Kaye Lynn answer questions about how the MFCU does its job on behalf of victims and taxpayers.

To report fraud and/or abuse, visit the MFCU page on the Utah Attorney General’s Website. 

Read more about a recent case where a man was convicted of a 2nd-degree felony and sent to prison for financial abuse of a vulnerable adult—his mother.

Listen to the podcast here.

This Legally Speaking episode examines one of the largest dark net drug trafficking cases in Utah.

In 2019, Aaron Shamo was sentenced to life in prison under the Controlled Substance Act for running a massive Fentanyl and Xanax manufacturing and distribution scheme.

A case of this magnitude is fascinating. In this interview, Assistant Attorney General Michael Gadd, who worked with the Department of Justice, shares more details about this case.

Listen to the podcast here.

Explore these resources to learn more:

• DOJ News Release on Shamo’s Conviction
• Shamo accomplices convicted
• CNBC Documentary on Shamo case

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Attorney General’s Office (“AGO”) is deeply concerned about the recent Public Lands Rule issued by the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”), which could have a devastating effect on the health of Utah’s public lands. 

Assistant Attorney General Kathy Davis, section director of the Public Lands Section, cautioned, “Utah is America’s leader in proactive conservation, where state and local governments work cooperatively with local BLM employees to improve and restore landscapes while mitigating the risk of catastrophic wildfires. The Biden Administration’s new Rule seems specifically designed to hinder those efforts.”

The new Rule also drew criticism and concern from the highest levels of leadership at the Utah AGO: “The BLM’s efforts should be focused on working with Western States to help make our public lands more productive and resilient,” said Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes. “It is disheartening to see the BLM adopt unnecessary layers of bureaucratic red tape that will make landscape improvements much more difficult to implement. The BLM is obliged by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (“FLPMA”) to manage Utah’s public lands under the principles of “multiple-use,” a concept absent from the new rule. We will explore all options to challenge these short-sighted policies.”

The Utah AGO will continue defending Utah’s rights and ensuring Utahns can access and enjoy their public lands.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – Attorney General Sean D. Reyes co-led a letter with the State of Indiana to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to address its policy of providing blanket authorizations for investment companies under Section 203(a)(2) of the Federal Power Act (FPA). The letter from several attorneys general focuses on the legal and ethical responsibilities and duties of asset managers of investment companies that manage investment funds for their clients.

In their letter, the attorneys general note that FERC’s practice for granting company-specific blanket authorizations to asset managers under Section 203(a)(2) must have three critical requirements to achieve the FPA’s pro-competitive and consumer-protection focus. First, asset managers must limit ownership to 20% or less in the company. Second, asset managers must pledge to FERC to function as passive investors for the company. Finally, recipients of blanket authorizations must follow and keep their fiduciary duties to their investors. Adherence to these stipulations would practically eliminate companies’ involvement in ESG organizations and agendas.

“The State of Utah has led the fight to hold asset managers accountable to the rule of law and to their fiduciary duties,” said General Reyes. “We trust FERC will protect American interests from a radical environmental agenda seeking to fundamentally transform entire industries and institutions in dangerous and irresponsible ways. I am grateful for our coalition of AGs and other stakeholders working to safeguard everyday Americans from the excesses of the ESG movement.”

FERC’s statutory duty is to perform due diligence on these authorizations to ensure robust competition among electricity providers and a reliable and affordable electricity supply for consumers and businesses. If FERC does not take its statutory obligations seriously, then unsuspecting Americans would be harmed by anti-competitive actions of large investment companies promoting the ESG agenda. As the letter highlights, the lawful compliance of FERC and asset managers directly affects, not just economic security in each state across the union, but also the health, safety, and welfare of citizens.

Joining Utah and Indiana on this letter were the States of Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming.

Read the letter here.

Is the AG’s Office Utah’s law firm?

One of the Utah Attorney General’s constitutional functions is to act as counsel for every state agency. In essence, the office is the state’s law firm. State Agency Counsel comprises approximately 25 attorneys at the AGO.

Our office has attorneys who work exclusively for various state agencies as their attorneys and specialize in specific areas. Amanda Montague oversees this little-known office function every day.

This episode of Legally Speaking explains just how important the work performed by these attorneys is.

Listen to the episode here.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – Attorney General Sean D. Reyes sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice over the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Victim Compensation Grant Program (“Proposed Rule”). The letter from the State of Utah follows letters from the States of Alabama and Kansas in opposition to the federal government’s proposed regulations.

In his letter, General Reyes shares Alabama and Kansas’ concerns regarding the lack of statutory authority for the Proposed Rule. He also argues that some of the conditions in the Proposed Rule directly conflict with Utah law and that the DOJ’s Office for Victims of Crime lacks statutory authority to regulate disparate impact in the criminal justice system.

General Reyes writes, “The VOCA Grant Program is an example of a State-Federal partnership that benefits innocent victims of crime, not criminals. I ask that you not destroy it by using the program as a cudgel to push controversial political objectives. The Proposed Rule should be withdrawn in its entirety. Any technical amendments to accommodate statutory changes should be made in a separate rulemaking, limited to just those technical amendments.”

Earlier this year, General Reyes joined a letter to the U.S. House and Senate “urging Congress to provide bridge funding to the Crime Victims Fund.”

Read the letter here.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT—Today, Attorney General Reyes joined a Florida-led coalition of 23 states in filing a legal action demanding that Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency modify its Title VI regulations. These regulations—known as “disparate impact” regulations—are what the EPA is using to advance much of its race-conscious “environmental justice” initiatives.

AG Reyes stated as follows:

The Supreme Court has, in the past, justifiably questioned the statutory authority for Title VI disparate impact regulations, explaining they rely on a “strange” reading of the law. However, this has not prevented the EPA from contorting that same “strange” reading into the enforcement of environmental regulations based on race. 

There are undoubtedly circumstances that may warrant disparate impact regulations. Congress made clear environmental protections aren’t one of them.

In a Petition for Rulemaking, Attorney General Moody and the coalition go on to state that the U.S. Supreme Court has indicated that the EPA’s regulations are unlawful: “Although Sandoval did not directly address the validity of Title VI disparate impact regulations, the Court expressed significant skepticism on the validity of those regulations.” The Court explained that the regulations were “in considerable tension with the rule…that forbids only intentional discrimination.” Additionally, the attorneys general claim that “other scholars have even suggested that the EPA’s regulations violate the Equal Protection Clause.” Notably, in 2020, the Trump administration proposed a revision to the Department of Justice’s similar Title VI regulations to remove disparate impact provisions. The Biden administration withdrew the proposal shortly after taking office.

The attorneys general conclude by stating: “By imposing disparate impact liability where it is not called for by statute, the EPA’s regulations gravely depart from the original understanding of Title VI and compel States to unconstitutionally discriminate against their citizens by incorporating disparate-impact liability. EPA should grant this Petition and revise its Title VI regulations to be consistent with Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause.”

Attorney General Reyes joined Attorney General Moody on the petition along with the state attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Read the petition here.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—Attorney General Sean D. Reyes joined a letter to the U.S. Department of Education about concerning—and possibly illegal—guidance given to postsecondary education institutions regarding the entangling of Federal Work-Study funds with election-related activities. The states of West Virginia and Indiana led the letter.

According to the States, Dr. Nasser H. Paydar, the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education, sent a Dear Colleague letter to postsecondary education institutions, telling them “that [Federal Work-Study] funds may be used for employment by a Federal, State, local, or Tribal public agency for civic engagement work that is not associated with a particular interest or group.” Dr. Paydar added that “[t]his work can include supporting broad-based get-out-the-vote activities, voter registration, providing voter assistance at a polling place or through a voter hotline, or serving as a poll worker.”

In their letter, the attorneys general argue that the guidance from the U.S. Department of Education “violates federal law, does not provide meaningful protections against abuse, [and] appears to be part of a broader effort to use public initiatives to enlist favored voters.”

The coalition encourages the federal agency to “reconsider [the] guidance” and to alert all contacted institutions that the Federal Work-Study funds “may [not] be used for supporting [the election-related activities] under any circumstances.” The attorneys general conclude their correspondence by writing, “If the Biden Administration really cares about ‘[r]espect[ing] free and fair elections’ and ‘[r]estor[ing] trust in our institutions,” this pullback would be a good place to start.”

Joining Utah, West Virginia, and Indiana were the states of Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas.

Read the letter here.