Utah’s proposed Constitutional Amendment on initiatives: Here’s the question to ponder
Aug 22, 2024, 7:22 PM | Updated: 7:36 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — There’s a new and big decision facing Utah voters this November on whether or not they want to change Utah’s constitution. At the heart of it, who should have the final say on how the government is structured? The people? Or their elected representatives?
While ballot language isn’t finalized yet, experts say that’s a central question for voters to ponder in the wake of a decision Wednesday by the Utah legislature to place a new constitutional amendment on the ballot dealing with initiatives this November.
Typically, when making laws, Utahns might think about the legislature doing that. However, in Utah, citizens can create laws through a process called an initiative.
Initiatives must first appear on the ballot. They qualify through a rigorous process of signature gathering and a host of criteria, including a certain number of signatures in each senate district.
Because of those stipulations, they cost a lot of money to run.
“What stops us from being a citizens-initiative heavy state is how hard it is to get on the ballot,” said Maura Carabello of The Exoro Group.
Carabello’s firm has run several Utah initiatives, including Medicaid expansion in 2018. She said ballot measures can cost anywhere from $1 million to $3 million. The high hurdle is accessing the ballot, she said, and she believes that puts a check on frivolous laws from being passed by citizens.
So once a government-reform initiative does make it on the ballot, U of U Political Science Department associate dean Matthew Burbank says, then the question becomes, who gets the final say on who can change it?
Utah lawmakers want to change the language to say that “all political power is inherent in the people through the legislative process — which means to give them the ability to repeal, enact, or reform any initiative.”
If it passes, they would make repealing laws easier by giving extra time to signature gathering. They’ve also agreed to give more weight to initiatives’ intent.
“The Supreme Court (in its recent redistricting ruling) has come down on the side of saying it’s really fundamentally up to the people. And the state legislature is saying, no, it really should be up to us as well,” Burbank said.
“If it’s about welfare payments or it’s about eligibility for Medicaid or other policy issues, that’s going to be up to the legislature still,” he said.
However, lawmakers have contended that there’s ambiguity in the ruling by creating super laws that can’t be touched, because it’s not clearly defined which initiatives constitute a government reform.
The legislature argues that capable lawyers may try to prove that any initiative falls within the definition of government reform. They believe this would open Utah up to continued lawsuits.
Ultimately, voters will decide on Nov. 5 what they want their constitution to say; here’s a hypothetical to help illustrate.
Say voters wanted to approve ranked-choice voting statewide. The question would be, if it passed a ballot measure becoming law — should lawmakers be able to say no? Or, should they be able to change that so ranked choice voting only applies to, say, the governor’s race?
“So, who gets the final decision? Is it our elected representatives who we elected to do exactly this, or is it the people who have the initiative process?” Burbank said.
