SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Senate Government Operations Committee unanimously passed Senate Joint Resolution 4 on Friday, a resolution to establish congressional term limits and enshrine those limits in the U.S. Constitution.
Republican State Sen. Jerry Stevenson sponsored the resolution during the 2026 session for the state legislature, spearheaded by the nonpartisan nonprofit U.S. Term Limits.
"The people of Utah are lucky to have public servants who see what is going on in D.C. and are willing to take action to fix it," U.S. Term Limits' President Philip Blumel said. "They know that Congress won't set term limits on itself. Therefore, it is the obligation of the states to do so."
SJR4 was placed on the Senate 2nd Reading Calendar on Monday morning.
Congressional term limits
According to SJR4, Utah and 22 other states have previously passed statutes or state constitutional amendments to place term limits on members of Congress. However, the Supreme Court overruled those efforts.
According to a poll from the RMG Research group, approximately 85% of likely voters in Utah support term limits on Congress, including support from Democrat, Republican and independent voters.
The resolution calls for Congress to call a convention to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution in accordance with Article V of the Constitution.
For any proposed legislation to become an amendment, 34 states must pass similar resolutions on the topic. Once an official amendment has been approved, it must be ratified by 38 states to become part of the U.S. Constitution.
Only 27 amendments have been made to the U.S. Constitution since it was ratified on June 21, 1788.
