Utah’s long dance with plural marriage is poised for another tango as a state senator seeks support to greatly reduce the penalties for polygamy while making it easier to pursue the worst polygamists.
Sen. Deidre Henderson, R-Spanish Fork, plans to file a bill in the 2020 legislative session, which begins in January.
She declined to discuss specifics, saying the text is still being negotiated. But she said the measure would encourage people in plural families to report frauds and abuse without fear of being prosecuted for polygamy itself.
“The general intent behind it,” Henderson said, “is to make sure we are not continuing to create a situation where the victims and witnesses of crimes are afraid to report it because of the lifestyle that they’ve lived.