[7] The red, white, and blue tricolor references the colors of the flag of the United States.

At the top, a blue stripe symbolizes Utah's skies and lakes and fundamental principles such as faith, knowledge, and freedom.

Below, a red canyon stripe signifies Southern Utah's desert landscapes and the spirit of perseverance.

This flag was lost in the 1850s but later recreated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2002[citation needed] and has flown on Ensign Peak since.

Contemporary reports describe similar flags being flown in 1877 at the funeral of Brigham Young and in 1880 at the Golden Jubilee of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

In the early years of the Territory, many of the pioneers flew unique homemade American flags.

[21] The flag's basic design uses the Seal of Utah which was adopted by the state legislature on April 3, 1896.

The state's first flag was created in March 1903 to be used at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri.

[3] Later that same 2011 session, House Bill #490 passed the legislature, making March 9 an annual Utah State Flag day.

[23] In 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune, along with the North American Vexillological Association, solicited designs for a new state flag.

In 2018, State Representatives Steve Handy and Keven Stratton proposed 2 different approaches to updating the Utah flag.

Representative Stratton sponsored separate legislation to adopt a specific flag design.

[31] The Utah House of Representatives was more amenable to a proposal to involve the public with a commission, but ultimately both efforts failed in 2019.

[32][33][34] Representative Handy proposed another bill in 2020, this time keeping the 2011 design as a "historical flag".

To prepare for the debate, the House and Senate watched a TED Talk by Roman Mars, "Why city flags may be the worst designed thing you've never noticed.

[38] In 2021, Senator McCay sponsored a bill to create a task force to redesign the Utah state flag.

[41] In 2022, the Utah State Flag Task Force accepted design submissions from the public.

[7] A public opinion poll conducted by the Hinckley Institute of Politics in March 2023 found that 48% of respondents supported the new flag, 35% opposed it, and 17% didn't know.

On February 8, 2024, a group linked to the campaign filed a federal lawsuit against the lieutenant governor, alleging that ten separate provisions of the citizen initiative process that the legislature created were unconstitutional.