- A citizens group sues Utah's lieutenant governor over rejected ballot initiatives.
- They claim Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson lacked authority to reject initiatives.
- The group seeks Supreme Court intervention to extend deadlines for signature collection and allow all four initiatives to move forward.
SALT LAKE CITY — A citizens group is asking the Utah Supreme Court to step in after several proposed ballot initiatives were rejected by the state's lieutenant governor.
The Citizens Initiative Reform Committee filed a request for extraordinary writ with the state's high court last month, asking the justices to require Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson to roll back her rejections of three ballot initiatives. The group argues Henderson "lacked authority to reject" several initiatives, "as the rejections were not based on deficiencies in an initiative application," according to court documents obtained by KSL.com.
The group said the case could clarify provisions in the Utah Constitution giving the people equal power to enact laws to the state Legislature. Steve Maxfield, the organization's chairman, cited a Supreme Court ruling last summer reaffirming the people's right to alter or reform the government through initiatives.
The committee submitted four proposed initiatives for the ballot in April, which would have impacted rules on ballot initiatives, open records laws, taxation and zoning. All but the initiative setting rules for future ballot initiatives were rejected by Henderson on grounds that they did not include the full text of the law, and in the cases of the zoning and public records initiatives, because they they were "nonsensical" and could not become law, according to the lawsuit.
Groups seeking to place an initiative on the ballot must collect a certain number of signatures in a specific period of time to qualify, so the Citizens Initiative Reform Committee also asked the justices to extend the deadline for all four proposals to allow the group to collect signatures concurrently.
The lawsuit said the lower courts would be unable to hear the case in time, which is why the group filed its complaint directly with the Utah Supreme Court.
Henderson's office told the Deseret News it will not comment on pending or active litigation.
The lawsuit was filed with the Supreme Court late last month, and Justice Diana Hagen issued an order requesting a response from the state within 30 days on July 9. It's not certain the court will decide to hear the case at all, and a spokeswoman for the court said the five justices will decide how to proceed after the defendants respond, or after the 30 days are up if no response is filed.
