diff --git a/conda.recipe/meta.yaml b/conda.recipe/meta.yaml
index 818fc7197..3a1da8f51 100755
--- a/conda.recipe/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda.recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ requirements:
     - numba
     - toolz
     - six
+    - bokeh >=0.12.3
   run:
     - python
     - numpy >=1.12.1
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ requirements:
     - numba
     - toolz
     - six
+    - bokeh >=0.12.3
 
 test:
   commands:
diff --git a/taxcalc/utils.py b/taxcalc/utils.py
index 3a26e6ac7..bc771b13e 100644
--- a/taxcalc/utils.py
+++ b/taxcalc/utils.py
@@ -16,11 +16,8 @@
 import six
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
-try:
-    import bokeh.io as bio
-    import bokeh.plotting as bp
-except ImportError:
-    pass
+import bokeh.io as bio
+import bokeh.plotting as bp
 from taxcalc.utilsprvt import (weighted_count_lt_zero,
                                weighted_count_gt_zero,
                                weighted_count, weighted_mean,