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SALT LAKE CITY — The Senate rejected a bill as expected Tuesday that would have delayed changes to Utah's system for choosing candidates for elected office.
Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, sought to give the political parties until after the 2016 election to comply with a law the 2014 Legislature passed as part of a compromise with the Count My Vote initiative.
"As of right now we're not sure of all the ramifications of SB54, and it's in court on top of that," Jenkins said in floor debate on his bill.
The Senate voted 19-9 against SB43.
The Utah Republican Party says it can't comply with the law in time for the 2016 election and filed a federal lawsuit last year to overturn it.
"They're struggling to put this together," Jenkins said, adding the GOP's 4,000 delegates need to agree to change the party's bylaws.
But Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Wood Cross, said that's not true.
"For the life of me, I can't see a single bylaw that needs to change," he said.
Weiler said the Legislature would lack integrity if it went back on the compromise it reached with Count My Vote backers. He said they would restart the initiative and tell voters that lawmakers had deceived them.
"Many of us believe an agreement is an agreement and you hold to it," said Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who carried SB54.
Last year, initiative supporters dropped a statewide petition drive calling for a referendum on a direct primary election in exchange for getting an alternative path to the ballot. The law lets parties keep the state's unique caucus and convention system, but candidates also can collect signatures to get on the primary election ballot.
SB54 is the law. It's bad law.
–Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Saratoga Springs
"SB54 is the law. It's bad law," said Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Saratoga Springs. He said it takes away a party's ability to put its brand on the ballot.
The Utah Republican Party reiterated its objections to SB54 in a statement Tuesday.
In addition to the law's "blatant disregard for our constitutional rights," Chairman James Evans said the party never was directly or indirectly part of the compromise bill.
The law allows candidates who are not Republicans to run on the ballot as Republicans, he said. It also allows someone to win a Republican primary with as little as 10 percent of the vote because there is no majority vote requirement, Evans said.
The Salt Lake Chamber sent a letter to senators Tuesday urging them to vote against SB43.
"We believe the compromise reached last session adequately provides time for political parties to implement changes," chamber president Lane Beattie wrote.
Beattie said the Legislature should grant no delays and let the Republican Party's lawsuit work through the courts "unadulterated" by the changes proposed in Jenkins' bill.
Gov. Gary Herbert later told reporters he agrees that lawmakers should keep their bargain.
"I think they need to be careful about looking like we've dealt in bad faith. 'Well,we suckered you into that, and now we're springing a trap on you' is not going to be good for our own integrity" and public perception, he said.
