This is your daily news rundown for Wednesday, Feb. 4. In this edition:
- Utah's air quality has improved in the last 20 years, even with its population doubling
- Salt Lake City librarians have unionized — the first of their kind to do so in Utah
- Restrictions on tracking devices could expand to include tracking people's possessions
Utah’s population growth hasn’t stopped air quality from improving
Utah's air quality has significantly improved in the past two decades despite its large population growth.
In a report to a legislative committee on Tuesday, the director of Utah’s air quality department reported that the state’s PM2.5 emissions were half as much in 2025 as in 2001 — even while the state's population doubled in that same time frame.
On the whole, 99% of Utah’s air quality data is acceptable to the federal Environmental Protection Agency as well, the report said.
However, the northern Wasatch Front and the Uinta Basin were noted as areas with high levels of ground-level ozone, which federal law requires action on to improve.
Recommendations included both commercial and private fixes, including reducing spills and drips at gas stations and putting floating lids on open-top gasoline tanks.
Salt Lake City librarians are the first in Utah to unionize
Salt Lake City librarians have become the first municipal library staff in the state to unionize.
It’s the culmination of three years of efforts — workers first requested to unionize in April 2023 and were authorized to do so in December 2024, but efforts to finalize an agreement stalled when state lawmakers banned collective bargaining for public sector employees.
However, that law was then overturned by the Legislature in December, allowing the library’s first collective bargaining agreement to be approved on Tuesday by city leaders.
The deal includes more benefits and wage increases, protections for joining a union, and outlines of what would be considered unfair labor practices.
City officials said the new wages and benefits aren’t expected to require tax increases.
Tracking vehicles without consent is illegal in Utah — but what about people?
Utah already prohibits tracking devices like Apple AirTags from being used to track vehicles — but the same restrictions don’t currently apply to tracking people.
House Bill 158, sponsored by Rep. Doug Owens, a Democrat from Millcreek, seeks to address that problem.
It would make it illegal to place trackers not just on someone else's vehicle, but on any personal property without consent, as well as secretly tracking someone through phone applications.
Exemptions to the bill would include law enforcement acting in an official capacity and parents or guardians tracking their dependent minors with appropriate consent.
The bill passed favorably out of committee on Monday and has been sent to the full House of Representatives for discussion.
