The constitutional Amendment A ballot question that asks Utah voters to consider changing how state income tax revenue can be spent is now void, a judge ordered Wednesday.
Amendment A may still appear on printed ballots but votes on the question will not be counted, 3rd District Judge Laura Scott’s ruling states.
The decision comes two weeks after the Utah Supreme Court on Sept. 25 agreed with a lower court ruling to also void Amendment D, which would have given the Legislature the power to repeal citizen-passed ballot initiatives.
In both cases, plaintiffs argued that the Utah Legislature violated Article XXIII of the Utah Constitution, which mandates that ballot language be published in newspapers statewide at least two months before appearing on ballots.
Scott on Wednesday ruled that the previous decision on the “newspaper publication issue” regarding Amendment D also applies in the Amendment A case.
Her order came shortly after plaintiffs including the state’s largest teachers union (the Utah Education Association), as well as defendants including Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams and Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, acknowledged “the failure to comply with the newspaper publication requirement” in a joint court filing and agreed it was a valid reason for Scott to grant a preliminary injunction voiding Amendment A.
Schultz and Adams were responsible for writing the descriptions of all amendment questions bound for ballots, a task previously handled by nonpartisan legislative lawyers before a law change earlier this year. Neither immediately responded to requests for comment from The Salt Lake Tribune following Scott’s order.
Both plaintiffs and defendants also agreed Wednesday that a preliminary order regarding Amendment A would essentially constitute a permanent order, given the timing of the Nov. 5 election. Scott ultimately issued a permanent injunction to void the ballot proposal.
Though any votes on Amendment A will not count in the election, the judge noted in her order that due to the timing of the ruling, votes cast for or against the proposal will still be tabulated, because it is “too late” to reverse that process.
However, the ruling states that the lieutenant governor and county clerks cannot publish or release those tabulations to anyone, and that those tabulations will not be subject to public records requests.
Amendment A sought to eliminate the constitutional guarantee that Utah’s income tax remains reserved for public education, higher education and disability services.
If passed, it would have allowed the Legislature to use income tax revenue for a broader range of unspecified “state needs.”
“Voiding Amendment A is a significant victory for Utah voters and public education,” said Utahns for Student Success — a bipartisan coalition of educators, parents and child advocates — in a statement Wednesday. The coalition includes the Utah PTA, Voices for Utah Children, the Utah School Employees Association and the Utah Education Association.
The Utah Education Association’s challenge of Amendment A was filed last month as a supplemental complaint to a lawsuit that the teachers union filed in May. That lawsuit argues the state’s $82 million “Utah Fits All” school voucher program is unconstitutional, because it uses income tax dollars to fund vouchers meant to cover private school and homeschooling expenses.
The supplemental complaint argued that the Amendment A ballot question failed to inform voters that passing Amendment A would “eliminate one of the key constitutional obstacles” that they allege currently prevents the Legislature from diverting income tax revenue to “anything it chooses — including private school vouchers.”
But in an interview with The Tribune prior to Wednesday’s ruling, Schultz said that was untrue.
“It’s factually incorrect when they say Amendment A is to take money and put it towards vouchers,” Schultz contended. “The constitution already allows for that to happen.”
Though Scott addressed the supplemental complaint Wednesday in her order to void Amendment A, the underlying lawsuit is still being litigated. The Utah Education Association noted it would not individually comment on the Wednesday ruling because of that ongoing litigation.
A hearing for arguments regarding a motion to dismiss that lawsuit is currently slated for Dec. 19 before Scott.
— This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
