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SALT LAKE CITY — State senators are scheduled to dive into a controversial bill Tuesday that would delay changes to the way Utah political parties nominate candidates for elected office.
SB43 aims to slow down the compromise lawmakers reached with the Count My Vote initiative last year. In exchange for getting an alternative path to the ballot, initiative supporters ended a statewide petition drive that was expected to put a referendum calling for a direct primary election before voters last November.
The Utah Republican Party says it can't make the changes in time for the 2016 election and filed a federal lawsuit over the legislation.
Majority Republican leaders in the Legislature say they intend to stick to the deal.
But Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, argues the state shouldn't tell political parties how to choose candidates. In addition to sponsoring SB43, he has a resolution that would undo last year's compromise.
As a precursor to Tuesday's debate, the Senate on Monday preliminarily approved Jenkins' resolution for a constitutional amendment that would let voters decide whether to keep the current system that allows candidates with enough support from party delegates to be nominated without a primary election.
"Maybe me and Tom want to get together and draw straws. We ought to be able to do that," he said during debate on SJR2. The state holds the election, but parties have the right to decide whom to place on the ballot, Jenkins said.
Although the resolution passed 17-12, several senators in the majority signaled they might change their votes when it comes up for final passage. That outcome, however, isn't indicative of how the Senate might vote on SB43, which isn't expected to pass.
Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said the proposed amendment seems to allow parties to hold as many primary elections as they want — if that's how they decide to pick their candidates — at the state's expense.
"It tends to imply an absolute constitutional right to trump the authority of the Legislature on how to spend money," Bramble said. "That creates some very serious concerns in my opinion."
Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, said it costs about $3 million for the state to put on an election. He estimated it has cost as much as $20 million for the state to hold GOP primaries, which are open to only registered Republicans, the past decade.
Weiler said he would respect Jenkins' argument more if the GOP were paying a share for its closed primaries.
Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, voted for the resolution, saying lawmakers would have a year to talk about the proposed amendment before it went on the ballot in 2016.
The resolution, he said, would not violate the Count My Vote compromise but voting for SB43 would because it delays the date that lawmakers agreed to for parties to adopt the changes.
