SALT LAKE CITY—The Utah State Legislature convened last Wednesday in a special session to propose a constitutional amendment on citizens initiatives. J. Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz invoked the Utah Legislature's emergency powers to convene the 65th Legislature into the special session on Wednesday, Aug. 21. Lawmakers approved the proposal that will now be placed on the November ballot to be voted on by the public. 

 “The Utah Supreme Court’s new interpretation created uncertainty and ambiguity,” said Adams and Schultz. “This amendment provides a path for Utahns to weigh in and make their voices heard. To be clear, the proposed amendment restores the over 100-year-old effect of citizen initiatives. The initiative process will remain unchanged, and Utahns will continue to have the ability to propose and run ballot initiatives. Additionally, it prohibits foreign entities from contributing to ballot propositions, adding safeguards against undue influence.”

“I did not support calling an emergency special session,” said Rep. Paul Cutler, R-Centerville. “I would have preferred more time and a slower approach, but I lost that argument. I do, however, support the policy that initiatives should be subject to amendment like any other law on the books.”

Cutler said he voted “yes” to the package of bills after an amendment was negotiated that made the language better than what was initially proposed. “The amended language included a couple of key lines in my opinion that made it clear that the legislature “(i) shall give deference to the initiative by amending the law in a manner that…leaves intact the general purpose of the initiative. The amendment also made it clearer that if the initiative was projected to have a big impact on the state budget the legislature ‘may amend the law in any manner determined necessary by the Legislature to mitigate an adverse fiscal impact of the initiative.’”

Passing ballot initiatives in Utah does not happen very often, said Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful who voted against the proposal. “Over the past 10 years, only three ballot initiatives have passed by being put on the ballot by citizens.”

All three of those ballot initiatives were in 2018 and they were regarding the Medicaid expansion, implementing a medical cannabis program and creating an independent commission to carry out the redistricting process after the 2020 census, he said. “My view of what happened with those three initiatives is that the legislature made some changes to the Medicaid expansion and medical cannabis initiative, but largely implemented both of them.”

But the legislature made changes to the redistricting initiative which essentially gutted what had passed on the ballot and just put the redistricting process back under the direct control of the legislature, said Ward. “I think that’s the first time I’ve seen the legislature completely overturn an initiative.”

Citizens are concerned that the legislature is trying to take more power to themselves and not paying attention to what the people want, he said. 

Ward took a poll of his constituents on the proposal before the special session to see what they thought. “Eight-five percent were against it,” he said. “It wasn’t even close. That made it easier to vote against it.”

Unlike all other laws, citizen initiatives don’t allow for compromise once ballot language is certified, said Cutler. “That means it becomes a super law that can’t be changed. Long term we need to look at this. This is not a power grab, it's to restore the ability to update the laws. We must have the discussion or it will become lawmaking by initiative.”

The timing was unfortunate, he said. “I would have liked a longer process but the changes had to be made in August to get it on the ballot in November which would then set the expectations for the 2026 election.”

This is a complex issue, said Cutler. “I think it needs a thoughtful, careful solution that balances the current will of the people to pass an initiative and a mechanism for those initiatives to be adjusted and updated over time via the legislative process.”