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SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Spencer Cox signed two bills on Thursday related to the ballot-initiative process, focus of intense debate this week and a special legislative session on Wednesday.
But he hasn't offered a public response yet to the proposed ballot question to go to voters in November that, if approved, would codify into the Utah Constitution the authority of lawmakers to revise citizen-led initiatives.
The Utah House and Senate held a special session on Wednesday, when they approved Senate Joint Resolution 401, the constitutional amendment question that has sparked fierce debate and now goes to voters on the Nov. 5 ballot. Lawmakers on Wednesday also approved SB4002 and SB4003, which are related to SJR401, and Cox inked them into law without comment Thursday.
SB4002 adjusts the time line for the varied bureaucratic steps required in handling constitutional amendment questions with regard to SJR401 so it can be placed on the Nov. 5 ballot. SB4003, which goes into effect if voters approve the amendment contemplated in SJR401, would extend the period those pursuing ballot initiatives have to collect the needed signatures to get them on the ballot from 40 to 60 days.
While Cox hasn't yet sounded off, SJR401 has prompted plenty of reaction from others. Proposed constitutional amendments coming from the Legislature require support from two-thirds of House and Senate members before going to voters but do not require the governor's signature.
The resolution's legislative defenders say lawmakers need authority to tweak and revise ballot initiatives, when approved, as a safeguard against the possibility that special interest groups insert questionable provisions into them. A July 11 Utah Supreme Court ruling in a case related to a 2018 ballot question, they say, throws into doubt whether lawmakers have such authority.
Lawmakers also need to be able to change laws created via ballot initiatives, they say, to keep pace with ever-evolving standards and guidelines that might otherwise render them outdated.
Foes, which include the Legislature's Democrats and many others, see the proposal variously as a bid by GOP lawmakers to augment their power and unnecessary. They see it as a check on the ability of Utah citizens to pursue change via the ballot box and don't think the Utah Supreme Court ruling limits lawmakers as much as the GOP legislators think it does.
When the Supreme Court issued the July 11 ruling at the center of the constitutional amendment debate, Cox offered mixed sentiments. "While I disagree with some of the court's analysis and determinations, I respect the role of the court in our system of government," he said in a statement that day.
The justices unanimously determined Utah lawmakers had overstepped the authority of Utah citizens to alter government in sidestepping Proposition 4, which called for creation of an independent commission to draw up voting maps for redistricting. After Proposition 4's passage in 2018, lawmakers turned the commission into an advisory body and didn't implement its redistricting recommendations.
Though lawmakers pushing for SJR401 have described that ruling as having a chilling effect on their authority, SJR401 foes have said other sections of the decision acknowledge the right of legislators to make changes to laws created via ballot initiatives under certain circumstances.
