Proposed amendment would raise the bar for some Utah ballot initiatives

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah voters will have a chance this November to weigh in on a proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the threshold for passing certain ballot initiatives.

The proposal, also known as Amendment B, would require any future ballot initiatives that create new taxes or increase tax rates to earn support from at least 60% of the voters in order to pass.

Lawmakers who support the proposal argue it is needed to prevent a small majority of voters from imposing new tax burdens on the rest of the state, while opponents say it chips away at a tool citizens have to pass policy.

A group called Utahns Protecting Our Constitution this week launched a campaign encouraging Utahns to vote against the measure, calling it an "unnecessary, permanent change" to the state's Constitution that would be difficult to change in the future. Elizabeth Rasmussen, the executive director of Better Boundaries and an officer with the political issues committee opposing the amendment, told KSL that her opposition is part of a yearslong effort to "protect the initiative process."

"We have seen the Legislature over the last several years try to undermine our constitutional right to the ballot initiative process, and this is just one other attempt that they have tried to use," she said. "We see this as making it harder for citizens to hold government accountable and permanently changing our constitution in a way that strips regular Utahns of their power."

"Amending the Constitution is not a small thing," she added. "Once you do it, it's very hard to undo, and so we take every single constitutional amendment very seriously."

Better Boundaries was behind the 2018 initiative known as Proposition 4 that created a commission for redrawing political boundaries and standards meant to prevent partisan gerrymandering.

Although Proposition 4 would not have been impacted by the proposed amendment, two other initiatives that passed the same year would have failed under the higher threshold: one legalized medical marijuana with about 53% support, while another got 55% support for expanding Medicaid coverage in the state.

Constitutional amendments must first be approved by at least two-thirds of both the state House and Senate, and then be approved by a simple majority of voters during the next general election.

SJR2, the resolution placing Amendment B on this year's ballot, passed on mostly partisan lines in 2025, with only a handful of Republicans joining Democrats in voting against it.

The sponsors of the resolution, Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, and Rep. Jason Kyle, R-Huntsville, told KSL in a joint statement the amendment "protects the initiative process while recognizing a simple principle: If you want to raise your neighbors' taxes, you should have broad support from your neighbors."

"Utah voters will still decide," they added. "Amendment B leaves the decision with Utah voters while requiring broader agreement before a statewide initiative can raise taxes on Utah families."

While presenting the bill on the Senate floor in 2025, Fillmore said if lawmakers voted to implement an unpopular tax, voters could make their displeasure known at the ballot box.

"But when citizen initiatives come through that raise taxes, citizens will never have the ability to vote for or against their neighbors who may have voted to raise their taxes," he said. "In that way, a citizens' initiative that proposes to raise taxes really gives 51% of the population (the ability) to raise taxes on the other 49%."

Kyle told his House colleagues that the bill will let voters decide "whether they want to make it harder for their neighbors to raise their taxes."

Their messaging seems to have gotten through to voters so far, at least according to a survey conducted early last month by Noble Predictive Insights. Its poll of 602 registered voters in Utah found 50% would vote in favor of the amendment, with only 21% saying they would vote against it. Twenty-three percent said they were not sure, and another 6% said they didn't plan to vote on the measure.

There are still several weeks before the Nov. 3 general election, and Utahns Protecting Our Constitution says it plans to run television ads, send mailers and knock doors to try to convince Utahns to change their minds.

"We're very optimistic," Rasmussen said. "Once people hear our message, it's very clear what they support. Utahns overall are very supportive of the ballot initiative process. They like using it, and they don't want to make it harder."

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