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SALT LAKE CITY — The push to change the ballot-initiative process in Utah and give state lawmakers more say in tweaking legislation that emerges from citizen-led initiatives is spurring backlash.
What's more, as the special legislative session on Wednesday looms — to debate the matter and possibly craft a constitutional amendment to put to voters in November — the strong sentiments the issue has prompted are coming into sharp focus.
Better Boundaries Utah, the coalition behind the successful 2018 ballot initiative on voter redistricting that is at the root of the controversy, issued a statement Tuesday decrying the planned special session. GOP lawmakers scheduled the session, worried about the implications of a July 11 Utah Supreme Court ruling that called into question lawmakers' moves sidestepping provisions of the 2018 initiative, Proposition 4.
"Attempts to circumvent this ruling through hasty constitutional amendments would severely undermine the balance of power between the legislative, executive and judicial branches that our founders wisely established," reads the Better Boundaries statement, signed by more than 2,500 supporters. "We urge you to respect the court's unanimous decision and the constitutional rights it upholds."
Likewise, plans for the special session — called by Senate President Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz, both Republicans — are prompting a critical response from Utah Democrats, a minority in the state. Thom DeSirant, executive director of the minority party, said the effort amounts to "a totally needless power grab" by GOP members of the Legislature.
Republican lawmakers "have amassed more and more power of the last few years," DeSirant charged. "Right now they're trying to take the Utah voters' power away."
Such criticism notwithstanding, defenders of the push to change the guidelines governing ballot initiatives say the stakes are high.
In an interview with KSL.com on Tuesday, Schultz said the July court ruling upends how lawmakers had contended with ballot initiatives going back to ratification of the Utah Constitution in 1895. "It's always been interpreted the Legislature can make modifications and changes and amendments to ballot initiatives," he said.
The ability of lawmakers to revise ballot initiatives after voters have approved them, he said, means they have been able to pull out otherwise unnoticed provisions quietly inserted in them by special interest groups before they become law. That power, he said, has "kept out all these big money, out-of-state special-interest groups from coming in and running initiatives that benefit themselves."
Similarly, the Utah Republican Party issued a statement last Friday saying the July 11 Supreme Court ruling on the redistricting issue "represents an existential threat to the values, culture and way of life that define our state." Citizen-led initiatives have their place, but the Republican Party statement warns of "special interests" essentially abusing the process without proper checks and reining the ability of elected lawmakers to refine legislation that has emerged via ballot questions.
The July court ruling makes Utah "vulnerable to the whims of special interests and fleeting majorities. If we do not act to mitigate the consequences of this decision, Utah's strong community and quality of life will be severely jeopardized, impacting our future and generations to come," reads the Republican statement.
The Republicans also warn of the possibility of big cash injections from outside the state to sway policy via the ballot initiative process. "Utah now faces the risk of becoming like California, where large sums of outside money influence laws that do not reflect the values of our citizens and undermine our cultural integrity," reads the GOP statement.
In its July 11 ruling, the Utah Supreme Court determined Utah lawmakers had overstepped their authority in sidestepping terms of the 2018 redistricting ballot question. With the passage of Proposition 4, a commission was formed to draw political redistricting maps every 10 years. But lawmakers later watered down its role to an advisory one with SB200 in 2020 and then adopted their own maps during the redistricting cycle in 2021, prompting the lawsuit at the center of the controversy by the League of Women Voters of Utah and other organizations.
Adams and Schultz on Monday announced plans for the special session, singling out the Supreme Court decision, which sends the Proposition 4 case back to district court for further consideration. Last month's decision leaves Utah "vulnerable to laws advanced by foreign interests through ballot propositions that citizens cannot amend through elected representatives," reads their proclamation.
Adams and Schultz propose creation of a ballot question to be put to voters on the Nov. 5 ballot that would amend the Utah Constitution to give lawmakers authority "to amend or repeal legislation" coming from ballot initiatives. Such change, presumably, would preclude decisions like the July 11 ruling.
In his comments to KSL.com, Schultz discounted the notion of lawmakers abusing their power and altogether axing ballot initiatives approved by voters or making extreme changes to them.
"It's never happened that the Legislature's just ignored it or repealed it or anything like that because we are still elected by the people. So that's the check and balance — if the Legislature does totally repeal it and go too far, the voters can still hold elected officials accountable through the ballot box," he said.
Schultz and Adams also intend to include new language in the guidelines that would prohibit "foreign entities" from contributing to ballot initiative efforts. Utah voters would have the final say on any proposed constitutional amendment to emerge from the special session.
