The Republican-led Legislature pushed through an amendment to Utah’s Constitution on Wednesday that would overturn a Utah Supreme Court ruling and assert the lawmakers’ right to amend or repeal citizen-led ballot initiatives — that is, if voters approve the ballot measure this fall.
Utah Senate Majority Whip Kirk Cullimore, R-Cottonwood Heights, sought to dispel the idea that the amendment was an effort by the Legislature to strip voters of the power to pass laws.
“It’s an opportunity for the people of Utah to decide the direction of their government,” he said. “We’re asking the people to affirm that their government remains balanced, flexible and protected from outside influence.”
Cullimore warned that the Supreme Court’s ruling — which states the Legislature needs a “compelling” interest to change a ballot initiative that reforms government — creates “super laws” that lawmakers can’t touch and opens the door to special interests outside the state to pour millions into ballot initiatives.
“The incentives have changed,” he said, cautioning that there are “outside entities that are looking to take advantage of this. That is why we need this clarification.”
Utah doesn’t want to become California — which has an easier path to get an initiative on the ballot, Cullimore said. “Let’s keep Utah Utah.”
Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, said that it is difficult to get an initiative on the ballot in Utah — just five have passed in his lifetime. Seven have passed since the initiative right was added to the constitution in 1900.
“I don’t believe we’re going to become California,” he said. “I don’t believe that these arguments will survive scrutiny from the public. I don’t believe the public will come around on this and I don’t think it is likely to pass in November. But I do think this will give us the biggest black eye we could have as a Legislature.”
[READ: How Utah lawmakers voted on a constitutional amendment to gut voter initiative power]
The amendment passed on a near-party-line vote a little more than 24 hours after the text was first made available to the public. Two Republican senators — Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, and Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville, who is up for reelection this year — joined the Democrats in voting no.
The House vote was 54-21 with seven Republicans breaking with their party and joining the Democratic opposition.
Earlier, Utahns jammed a committee room Wednesday afternoon — most of them seeming to be opposed to the change — wanting to voice their opinions on the proposal. Just six were allowed to give brief comments, three in support and three opposed.
Rep. Cory Maloy, who chaired the committee, warned spectators not to clap or cheer for the critics of the bill. After less than 30 minutes of discussion, the proposed amendment passed on a party-line vote.
Gov. Spencer Cox does not need to sign and cannot veto the resolution.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, discusses a constitutional amendment over citizen initiatives in the Senate during a special session, on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024.
“A power grab”
The amendment is likely to 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 oppose the amendment. Other groups could also be created.
Katie Wright, executive director of Better Boundaries, the group that backed the anti-gerrymandering initiative at the heart of the Supreme Court’s decision, said that Wednesday’s special session confirmed all of the concerns.
“There was very little public input, probably less than 15 minutes of it, and yet we had four overflow rooms and people on standby,” she said. “So Utahns care about this. They have showed up, but they have not been heard.”
“I think that voters will see this exactly for what it is: a power grab,” Wright said. “I think the supermajority Legislature totally underestimates voters and how thoughtful they are. So I think ultimately it will be defeated.”
The measure will now go on the Nov. 5 general election ballot where it would need a majority of support from voters to take effect. If that happens, it would apply retroactively to make clear the change would apply to the anti-gerrymandering initiative.
Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Millcreek, proposed taking out the retrospective provision, saying it was an unprecedented move and that, if the goal of the constitutional amendment was to set clear rules for future initiatives, retroactivity is unnecessary.
Cullimore said the amendment needs to be retroactive so supporters of two other 2018 ballot initiatives that passed and were amended — one legalizing medical marijuana and another expanding health care 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 ban foreign interests from financing ballot initiatives — a response to an initiative in Maine where a Canadian power company spent more than $22 million to defeat an electricity transmission project.
On Tuesday, Senate President Stuart Adams said he wasn’t aware of any examples of foreign influences on Utah initiatives.
Legislators passed two other bills — one expediting the process for the constitutional amendment so it can make it onto the November ballot and the other allowing citizens more time to gather signatures for a referendum, which allows citizens to overturn a law passed by the Legislature. Cox will have to sign — or veto — both bills.
“I’m very disappointed, as well, that as a representative, I have been accused of trying to take away the voice of the people,” said Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross. “Instead, the Legislature is giving the public a chance to weigh in, and the additional time for signature-gathering will make it easier to run initiatives.”
People4Utah, a political interest group, is considering running a ballot initiative to change the way Utah primary elections are conducted, with candidates from all parties going on the primary ballot and the top two vote-getters moving to the general election. Executive director Barbara Stallone said the potential amendment doesn’t change the group’s plans.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Salt Lake City, asks a question of the sponsor, as the Senate discusses a constitutional amendment over citizen initiatives during a special session, on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024.
‘All political power is inherent in the people’
In 2018, voters passed Proposition 4, which prohibited partisan gerrymandering — drawing political boundaries to benefit one party — and established an independent redistricting commission. A little over a year later, legislators passed SB200, which made the commission advisory and removed the ban on gerrymandering.
Lawmakers ignored the commission maps and adopted congressional boundaries that split Salt Lake County into four pieces. The League of Women Voters, Mormon Women for Ethical Government and several voters impacted by the split districts sued, arguing that the congressional maps effectively deprived them of representation in Congress and that the Legislature had overstepped its authority when it gutted the proposition.
The Utah Supreme Court agreed, ruling that the Utah Constitution states that “All political power is inherent in the people … and they have the right to alter or reform their government as the public welfare may require.”
In oral arguments, the justices suggested the constitutional right becomes meaningless if citizens can spend vast amounts of time and millions of dollars to pass an initiative, only to be undone by the Legislature.
And, in the unanimous ruling, the five justices — all of them Republican appointees — said that when it comes to initiatives that alter and reform government, the Legislature must give a degree of deference to those laws and can only change them to aid in implementing the will of the voter or if there is a “compelling state interest.”
The court sent the gerrymandering case back to the district judge to decide if the state can meet that threshold.
Republican legislative leaders were outraged, saying the ruling was “upending over 100 years of representative democracy” and created an opportunity for outside interests to spend millions to shape policy in Utah.
The constitutional amendment GOP lawmakers passed Wednesday would undo the court’s ruling — and the assurances voters have that initiatives won’t be undone — by explicitly stating that the Legislature has a right to amend or repeal any initiative passed by voters.
“The unelected judges cannot be the final arbiter of what goes on in Utah,” said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan. That power, he said, belongs to the Legislature and the citizens of the state.
This story is breaking and will be updated.