Guides
General information about Utah law. Not legal advice.
The uniform act, beyond Utah
The Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (UPEPA) is Utah's anti-SLAPP statute. The act instructs the court to look outside Utah in construing it, not just at state court precedent, and to consider the need for uniformity with the other states that have adopted it.
That means a Washington or Kentucky ruling on UPEPA is not just a curiosity in a Utah courtroom. It matters.
This instruction in the law comes from the committee of the Uniform Law Commission that wrote UPEPA. That committee also recorded the reasoning behind every section of Utah's anti-SLAPP law, in material that sits outside the Utah code. Below are resources for exploring it.
Uniform Public Expression Protection Act
Approved 2020The commission's approved text, in twelve sections, with a prefatory note explaining what the committee set out to fix in the anti-SLAPP laws that came before it. Utah's version follows it closely.
- Drafted by
- Uniform Law Commission
- Approved
- July 2020
- Sections
- 1 through 12
- Utah's version
- § 78B-25
The commission published material to help legislators and courts understand what they were adopting. It is written for people meeting the act for the first time.
Enactment kit and committee archive
Uniform Law CommissionA plain summary of the act, the final text in two formats, and the letters filed in support while states were considering it. The committee archive behind it holds the drafts and meeting material from the years the act was being written.
- Includes
- Act summary
- Includes
- Final act, 2020
- Includes
- Support letters
- Also
- Drafting archive
Anti-SLAPP Law Modernized
2022Jay D. Adkisson and Carl A. Berthold Jr. take the act phrase by phrase and explain why the committee chose the language it did. Adkisson served as the American Bar Association's advisor to the drafting committee, which puts this book closer to the drafting table than anything else written about the act.
He also wrote a series for Forbes working through the act section by section as states were adopting it, covering the burdens, the stay, the fee provision, and the construction mandate Utah adopted at § 112.
- Authors
- Adkisson and Berthold
- Published
- 2022
- ISBN
- 978-1-66783-466-5
- Role
- ABA advisor to the committee
Adkisson also keeps AntiSLAPPLaws.com, which gathers the act, state-by-state rankings and decisions from around the country. It is worth reading, but it is not updated on a schedule, so check dates before relying on what is there.
The commission answers questions about its acts and can point to the committee record behind them.
Uniform Law Commission
Founded 1892Also known as the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. It drafts legislation for states to adopt, and keeps the record of who drafted what and why.
- Phone
- (312) 450-6600
- [email protected]
- Fax
- (312) 450-6601