Why Are Flags in WA, UT, and ID at Half Staff This Week?

Flags across Idaho, Utah, and Washington will be at half-staff this week. But Why?

Governors in each state have ordered that flags be lowered, and they do it every year.

Why Are the American Flags at Half Staff in UT, ID, and WA Today?

Some states recently ordered flags at half-staff for the death of the Pope, and before that, flags were lowered for an extended period following the death of former President Carter in December of 2024.

The flag order, or directive, this week is for national recognition of Peace Officers Memorial Day on May 15th. State and US flags should be lowered to half-staff from sunrise to sunset.

The President of the United States and each state Governor have the power to order a change to the flag status.

Idaho’s Governor, Brad Little, announced the flag mandate in a press release on May 14th and on the Flag Status webpage.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox hasn’t updated the Flag Status webpage, as of this writing, but the change was posted in 2024. KPCW says Cox did make the announcement, but it isn’t posted to the government website that we could find.

The Governor of Washington, Bob Ferguson, has the list of all scheduled dates for flags to be lowered on the Official Actions webpage.

Credit Canva

As noted on the Washington State website, but applicable to all states, the next annually scheduled day for flags to be lowered will be Memorial Day, but they are only lowered from sunrise to Noon and then raised to full staff for the rest of the day.

No word on whether Boise and Salt Lake City will lower their other flags according to Flag Etiquette rules.

Based on previous refusal to follow an order regarding appropriate flags at government buildings, and a recent change adopting Pride flags as official government flags, they could choose to keep it raised to prove a point. Or they could lower it and carry on as normal.