Utah ranks #8 overall out of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions for its friendliness towards faith-based nonprofit organizations, making it one of the best places to operate a faith-based nonprofit in the United States. Utah has several laws that facilitate the contributions of faith-based nonprofits, including a statutory RFRA, protections for religious gatherings and exercise during a state of emergency, and exemptions for religious organizations from nondiscrimination employment laws. Utah, however, has some policies that are burdensome to faith-based nonprofits operating in the state, such as a broad Blaine Amendment and nondiscrimination laws regarding public accommodations that include no meaningful exemptions for religious organizations.
The Utah Constitution follows in lockstep with the federal constitution’s protections, meeting but not exceeding the required minimum protections of the First Amendment (as currently interpreted by the US Supreme Court).
Utah has enacted a RFRA that protects the religious free exercise of all individuals and entities by requiring government burdens on religious exercise to satisfy strict scrutiny. Since the RFRA is a statute rather than a state constitutional provision, Utah does not receive the highest score for this factor.
Utah’s nondiscrimination laws generally restrict religious freedom for religious organizations that offer public programming and facilities and provide no meaningful religious accommodations or exemptions.
Utah law provides that religious gatherings can only be prohibited or restricted by an emergency order that applies equally to all “similar” secular gatherings, and the government may not substantially burden religious exercise during a state of emergency unless the emergency order serves a compelling governmental interest and is narrowly tailored.
The Utah Constitution contains a Blaine Amendment that broadly restricts faith-based organizations’ freedom to participate in public benefit programs on the same terms as similarly situated secular institutions. Current U.S. Supreme Court precedent has rendered this language ineffective in many cases, but it could become effective in the future if Court precedent changes.
Utah nonprofit corporation law includes certain provisions to protect religious nonprofits’ right to self-government in internal affairs in some situations but does not include comprehensive laws specific to nonprofit religious corporations.
Utah law permits a director to rely on guidance from religious figures within his or her faith tradition in the fulfillment of the director’s fiduciary duties.
Utah imposes a sales and use tax on religious organizations’ sales but generally provides a broad and comprehensive, entity-based tax exemption for 501(c)(3) religious organizations’ sales upon application.
Utah imposes a sales and use tax on religious organizations’ purchases but generally provides a broad and comprehensive, entity-based tax exemption for 501(c)(3) religious organizations’ purchases upon application.
Utah imposes property tax and provides only fragmented property tax exemptions that include only a narrow subset of religious organizations or that apply only to a narrow category of religious and/or charitable property uses.
