On the morning of November 7, 2018, the Truth and Transparency  Foundation sent the following email to every state-level lawmaker in the  state of Utah:

According to Utah Code 62A chapter 4a section 403, “members of the  clergy” are not required to report child abuse if it is confessed by  the perpetrator. Various documents released by the Truth & Transparency Foundation (TTF), via MormonLeaks and FaithLeaks, show that  clergy typically and intentionally avoid reporting abuse to law  enforcement except in states where they are required to do so, including  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We, at the TTF, believe that any exemption of clergy members in  mandatory reporting laws is an affront to the safety and well-being of  abuse survivors and provides an environment where predators are enabled.  Thus, we are proposing the exemption be removed entirely and that  clergy members explicitly be required to report child abuse reported to  them by any individual regardless of the reporter’s role in the abuse. Attached is our proposal in detail.

Some may claim this is an attack on religious liberty. We ask you  to reconsider that argument and realize that the proposal does not  oppress members of any religious denomination. In addition, some of the  states with the highest rates of religious affiliation do not make any  exemptions for clergy.

According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway,  all 50 states have similar mandatory reporting laws, yet only 12 make  absolutely no exemption for clergy. These 12 states include Mississippi,  Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas. Like Utah, each of these states have  majority populations who, according to Gallup, identify as religious.

We implore you to put the survivors of abuse first and to consider  supporting and fighting for this proposal by sponsoring an amendment to  Utah Code 62A chapter 4a section 403 in the upcoming Utah legislative  session in early 2019. A petition has been formed that calls for this  change and can be found here.

Please, do what is right, let the consequence follow.

A copy of the accompanying proposal can be found here and the petition can be found here.  We encourage all of our supporters to place continual pressure on their  Utah representatives by signing the petition, as well as contacting  them and asking them to sponsor the amendment. When doing so, please  feel free to utilize scripts we have prepared here. You can find your representatives and their contact information here.