Utah lawmaker hopes to create new path for counties to split

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah hasn’t had a new county in over 100 years, but in case residents in existing counties want to split and become a new county, one lawmaker wants to give them path to do so.

But voters have to sign on first.

Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, is working on legislation that would allow counties with over 1 million residents to create a new county.

The legislation won’t be ready during the current session, but Teuscher told Inside Sources he’ll be working on it during interim committee meetings.

An alternative path to a new county in Utah

Right now, Teuscher said, 25% of registered voters in a county have to vote in favor of splitting into a new county.

“So what this (new legislation) says is when a county gets to a certain size, over a million people, that we have an alternative path that would allow for a split.”

Right now, only Salt Lake County meets the size requirement for the proposed legislation.

Under the legislation, cities interested in splitting into a new county would have to go through a feasibility study.

“They get all the data back to the voters, to those municipalities, to the county to say, ‘Here’s what the cost of that would be. Here’s what the impact is going to be.'”

Then, the split would go before voters on the ballot. It would take a majority vote to actually pass the measure.

“If the whole county votes 50% plus one, then then you would allow for the split,” he said.

Teuscher said the legislation may also provide a type of accountability to counties.

“So, if the cities are coming together and saying, ‘Hey, we think we need to split off because of X, Y and Z,’ this might motivate the county to say, ‘Well, let’s look at X, Y and Z and try to solve those problems so that you don’t want to move.'”

Teuscher hopes to introduce the bill during the 2026 general legislative session.

Related: On the Hill: Open records management and access in Utah

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