H.B. 27

1

PROTECTIONS FOR AGRICULTURAL
2 PRACTICES
3 2009 GENERAL SESSION
4 STATE OF UTAH
5 Chief Sponsor: Michael T. Morley
6 Senate Sponsor: Margaret Dayton
7
8 LONG TITLE
9 Committee Note:
10 The Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Interim Committee
11 recommended this bill.
12 General Description:
13 This bill eliminates the presumption that agricultural operations are conducted in
14 accordance with sound agricultural practices and provides that agricultural operations
15 are not nuisances.
16 Highlighted Provisions:
17 This bill:
18 . states that agricultural activity is not a nuisance if conducted in accordance with
19 sound agricultural practices.
20 Monies Appropriated in this Bill:
21 None
22 Other Special Clauses:
23 None
24 Utah Code Sections Affected:
25 AMENDS:
26 76-10-803, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2008, Chapter 3
27 78B-6-1101, as renumbered and amended by Laws of Utah 2008, Chapter 3

28 78B-6-1104, as renumbered and amended by Laws of Utah 2008, Chapter 3
29
30 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
31 Section 1. Section 76-10-803 is amended to read:
32 76-10-803. "Public nuisance" defined -- Agricultural operations.
33 (1) A public nuisance is a crime against the order and economy of the state and consists
34 in unlawfully doing any act or omitting to perform any duty, which act or omission:
35 (a) annoys, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, or safety of three or more
36 persons;
37 (b) offends public decency;
38 (c) unlawfully interferes with, obstructs, or tends to obstruct, or renders dangerous for
39 passage, any lake, stream, canal, or basin, or any public park, square, street, or highway;
40 (d) is a nuisance as defined in Section 78B-6-1107 ; or
41 (e) in any way renders three or more persons insecure in life or the use of property.
42 (2) An act which affects three or more persons in any of the ways specified in this
43 section is still a nuisance regardless of the extent to which the annoyance or damage inflicted
44 on individuals is unequal.
45 (3) (a) [Agricultural operations that are consistent] Activities conducted in the normal
46 and ordinary course of agricultural operations, as defined in Subsection 78B-6-1101 (7), or
47 conducted in accordance with sound agricultural practices are presumed to be reasonable and
48 do not constitute a public nuisance under Subsection (1) [unless the agricultural operation has a
49 substantial adverse effect on the public health and safety].
50 (b) Agricultural operations undertaken in conformity with federal, state, and local laws
51 and regulations, including zoning ordinances, are presumed to be operating within sound
52 agricultural practices.
53 Section 2. Section 78B-6-1101 is amended to read:
54 78B-6-1101. Definitions -- Nuisance -- Right of action -- Judgment.
55 (1) A nuisance is anything which is injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the
56 senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable
57 enjoyment of life or property. A nuisance may be the subject of an action.
58 (2) A nuisance may include the following:

59 (a) drug houses and drug dealing as provided in Section 78B-6-1107 ;
60 (b) gambling as provided in Title 76, Chapter 10, Part 11;
61 (c) criminal activity committed in concert with two or more persons as provided in
62 Section 76-3-203.1 ;
63 (d) party houses which frequently create conditions defined in Subsection (1); and
64 (e) prostitution as provided in Title 76, Chapter 10, Part 13.
65 (3) A nuisance under this part includes tobacco smoke that drifts into any residential
66 unit a person rents, leases, or owns, from another residential or commercial unit and the smoke:
67 (a) drifts in more than once in each of two or more consecutive seven-day periods; and
68 (b) creates any of the conditions under Subsection (1).
69 (4) Subsection (3) does not apply to:
70 (a) residential rental units available for temporary rental, such as for vacations, or
71 available for only 30 or fewer days at a time; or
72 (b) hotel or motel rooms.
73 (5) Subsection (3) does not apply to any unit that is part of a timeshare development, as
74 defined in Section 57-19-2 , or subject to a timeshare interest as defined in Section 57-19-2 .
75 (6) An action may be brought by any person whose property is injuriously affected, or
76 whose personal enjoyment is lessened by the nuisance.
77 (7) "Agricultural operation" means any [facility for the] activity engaged in the
78 commercial production [for commercial purposes] of crops, orchards, aquaculture, livestock,
79 poultry, livestock products, [or] poultry products, and the facilities, equipment, and property
80 used to facilitate the activity.
81 (8) "Manufacturing facility" means any factory, plant, or other facility including its
82 appurtenances, where the form of raw materials, processed materials, commodities, or other
83 physical objects is converted or otherwise changed into other materials, commodities, or
84 physical objects or where such materials, commodities, or physical objects are combined to
85 form a new material, commodity, or physical object.
86 Section 3. Section 78B-6-1104 is amended to read:
87 78B-6-1104. Agricultural operations -- Nuisance liability.
88 (1) [Agricultural operations that are consistent] Activities conducted in the normal and
89 ordinary course of agricultural operations or conducted in accordance with sound agricultural

90 practices are presumed to be reasonable and do not constitute a nuisance [unless the
91 agricultural operation has a substantial adverse effect on the public health and safety].
92 (2) Agricultural operations undertaken in conformity with federal, state, and local laws
93 and regulations, including zoning ordinances, are presumed to be operating within sound
94 agricultural practices.




Legislative Review Note
as of 9-17-08 4:16 PM

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel