SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Legislature passed bills to modify the signature gathering process for initiatives and delay their effective date until after a legislative session.
HB145 gives a timeline for when signatures on a petition are turned in and made public, and when signatures can be removed. It requires the names and voter ID number be placed online.
Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, spoke against the bill, saying employers or neighbors could find names online but requiring a records request under the state's Government Records Access and Management Act protects constituents.
"I think it creates a little bit of a conduit for harassment in a process that shouldn’t really be one that can be a harassment," Riebe said.
HB145 passed in the Senate with a vote of 19-6 along party lines Wednesday. The House also agreed with the changes in the bill with a 50-21 vote.
HB133, which would delay the effective date of a voter initiative to the same day as bills from a legislative session, passed the Senate with a 22-5 vote, also along party lines.
Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, the Senate sponsor of the bill, said the intervening legislative session would give time in case the initiative needs to be changed.
HB195, another initiative bill — which would alter the required number of signatures on an initiative associated with the number of active voters rather than the number of voters in the presidential election — also passed in the Senate with a vote of 26-1.
The Senate sponsor, Sen. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton, said this will make the required number more predictable because the number of voters on a presidential election can fluctuate.
HB195 bill was amended in the Senate to coordinate with other bills and will go back to the House.
