The Republican-led legislature on Wednesday passed an amendment to the Utah state constitution that would overturn a ruling by the state Supreme Court and give lawmakers the power to amend or repeal citizen-initiated ballot initiatives – provided voters approve the ballot measure in the fall.
Utah Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore of Cottonwood Heights sought to dispel the impression that the amendment was an attempt by the legislature to strip voters of the power to pass laws.
“This is an opportunity for the people of Utah to determine the direction of their government,” he said. “We are asking people to affirm that their government will remain balanced, flexible and protected from outside influences.”
Cullimore warned that the Supreme Court ruling – which requires lawmakers to have a “compelling” interest to amend a referendum reforming government – creates “super laws” that lawmakers cannot touch and opens the door for special interests outside the state to pour millions into referendums.
“The incentives have changed,” he said, warning that “there are outside companies that want to take advantage of this. That’s why we need this clarification.”
Utah does not want to become like California, where it is easier to put a ballot initiative on the ballot, Cullimore said. “Let’s let Utah stay Utah.”
Senator Daniel Thatcher (Republican of West Valley City) said it is difficult to get an initiative on the ballot in Utah. In his lifetime, only five have passed. Since the right of initiative was added to the Constitution in 1900, seven have passed.
“I don’t think we’re becoming California,” he said. “I don’t think those arguments will stand up to public scrutiny. I don’t think the public will buy into it, and I don’t think it will pass in November. But I think it will give us as a legislature the biggest blemish we can have.”
(READ: How Utah lawmakers voted on a constitutional amendment to restrict ballot initiative power)
The amendment passed on a nearly party-line vote just over 24 hours after the text was first released. Two Republican senators – Sen. Daniel Thatcher (R-West Valley City) and Sen. Wayne Harper (R-Taylorsville), who is running for re-election this year – voted with Democrats against the amendment.
The vote in the House of Representatives was 54 to 21, with seven Republicans breaking with their party and joining the Democratic opposition.
Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, Utah residents gathered in a meeting room to voice their opinions on the proposal. Most of them appeared to be against the change. Only six were allowed to make brief comments, three were for and three were against.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Cory Maloy, warned viewers not to applaud or cheer for critics of the bill. After less than 30 minutes of discussion, the amendment passed on a party-line vote.
Governor Spencer Cox does not have to sign the resolution and cannot veto it.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, discusses a constitutional amendment regarding citizen initiatives during a special session in the Senate on Wednesday, August 21, 2024.
“A power struggle”
The change in the law will likely be met with a concerted campaign to persuade voters to reject the measure. On Tuesday, a group of voters registered the People’s Initiative Reform Coalition with the state elections office to protest the change in the law. Other groups may be formed as well.
Katie Wright, executive director of Better Boundaries, the organization that supported the anti-gearing initiative at the heart of the Supreme Court’s decision, said Wednesday’s special session validated all concerns.
“There was very little public participation, probably less than 15 minutes, and yet we had four additional rooms and people on standby,” she said. “So the people of Utah are very interested. They showed up, but they weren’t listened to.”
“I think voters will see this for what it is: a power struggle,” Wright said. “I think the legislature, with its two-thirds majority, completely underestimates voters and their deliberation. So I think the bill will ultimately fail.”
The measure will now go to a vote in the November 5 general election, where it will need the approval of a majority of voters to come into force. If that happens, it would apply retroactively to make clear that the change also affects the anti-getting initiative.
Senator Nate Blouin (D-Millcreek) proposed removing the retroactivity clause, saying it was an unprecedented step and that if the goal of the constitutional amendment was to set clear rules for future initiatives, retroactivity was unnecessary.
Cullimore said the change must take effect retroactively so that supporters of two other 2018 referendums that passed and were amended – one of which legalized medical marijuana and another expanded health insurance coverage for low-income Utahns through Medicaid – don’t come back and sue over the changes that were made.
Blouin’s amendment failed.
It would also prohibit foreign interests from funding referendums – a response to an initiative in the state of Maine, where a Canadian energy company spent more than $22 million to block a power transmission project.
On Tuesday, Senate President Stuart Adams said he was unaware of any examples of foreign influence on initiatives in Utah.
Lawmakers passed two more bills — one speeding up the process for the constitutional amendment to get on the November ballot and the other giving citizens more time to collect signatures for a referendum that would allow citizens to repeal a law passed by the legislature. Cox must sign or veto both bills.
“I am also very disappointed that I, as a legislator, am being accused of trying to take away the people’s voice,” said Senator Todd Weiler (Republican, Woods Cross). “Instead, the legislature is giving the public an opportunity to have their say, and the additional time to collect signatures will make it easier to pass initiatives.”
People4Utah, a political advocacy group, is considering launching a ballot initiative to change the way Utah’s primary elections are conducted. Candidates from all parties would participate in the primary and the two candidates with the most votes would advance to the general election. Executive director Barbara Stallone said the potential change does not change the group’s plans.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Salt Lake City, asks the sponsor a question as the Senate debates a constitutional amendment on citizen initiatives during a special session on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024.
“All political power lies with the people”
In 2018, voters passed Proposition 4, which banned partisan gerrymandering—the drawing of political boundaries in favor of one party—and created an independent redistricting commission. A little over a year later, lawmakers passed SB200, which made the commission an advisory body and repealed the ban on gerrymandering.
The legislators ignored the maps created by the commission and adopted district boundaries that divided Salt Lake County into four parts. The League of Women Voters, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, and several voters affected by the districting filed suit, arguing that the district maps deprived them of representation in Congress and that the legislature exceeded its authority when it rejected the proposal.
The Utah Supreme Court agreed, ruling that the Utah State Constitution states: “All political power is vested in the people… and the people shall have a right to alter or reform their government whenever the public welfare shall so require.”
In oral arguments, the justices suggested that the constitutional right becomes meaningless when citizens can spend vast amounts of time and millions of dollars to pass an initiative only to have it struck down by the legislature.
And in their unanimous ruling, the five justices – all appointed by Republicans – said that when lawmakers take initiatives to change and reform government, they must show a certain level of deference to those laws and can only change them to help carry out the will of the voters or when there is a “compelling government interest.”
The court has remanded the gerrymandering case to a district judge to decide whether the state can meet that threshold.
Republican legislative leaders expressed outrage, saying the ruling would “overturn over 100 years of representative democracy” and provide an opportunity for outside interest groups to spend millions to influence politics in Utah.
The constitutional amendment that Republican lawmakers passed on Wednesday would reverse the court ruling – and with it the voters’ assurance that initiatives would not be reversed. It explicitly states that the legislature has the right to amend or repeal any initiative passed by voters.
“The unelected judges cannot be the final authority on what happens in Utah,” said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan. That power, he said, rests with the state’s legislature and citizens.
This story is brand new and will be updated.
