Another Amendment has died only one week before ballots are set to be mailed out to voters. Amendment A, a measure that would remove the earmark on tax revenue for education to allow the state to fund other needs, will be on the ballot but any votes cast will not be counted. This came after 3rd District Court Judge Laura Scott ruled that the state failed to meet the constitutional requirement that sufficient public notice must be published in newspapers statewide for the proposed amendment to appear on the ballot. 

“Legislative Defendants acknowledge that there is no basis to argue that the newspaper publication requirement of Article XXIII of the Utah Constitution was met with respect to Amendment A,” Scott wrote. Scott made the same ruling on Amendment D that voided it. Her ruling was upheld by the Utah Supreme Court in September. Amendment D will also appear on the ballot but votes will not be counted.

The legislature passed Amendment D in a Special Session held in August that would have changed the Utah Constitution and given the legislature the ability to repeal or amend citizen initiatives. 

“In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Amendment D and given the notice for all the amendments were the same, the Legislature chose to file a joint brief allowing the district court to resolve the case. This action aimed to prevent unnecessary expenditure of tax dollars,” said Sen. J. Stuart Adams and Speaker Mike Schultz in a joint statement.