Utah Legislature in talks to hold special session after Supreme Court ruling on initiatives

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Legislature is seriously considering calling a special legislative session to address a recent Supreme Court ruling that curtailed its ability to change voter-led ballot initiatives, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

Two members of the House confirmed that their chamber held closed caucus meetings Thursday where the issue of calling the session was discussed. One of the members said the discussion is around whether to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this November.

Those members weren’t willing to be named publicly to protect their roles within the body.

A spokesperson for the Senate confirmed the discussions but wouldn’t elaborate on the plans. “There are a lot of discussions about the possibility of a special session. They are reviewing all the requests, but no decisions have been made,” said Aundrea Peterson.

A spokesperson for the House also confirmed the discussions and ruled out the possibility that a special session would make changes to abortion laws, but would not confirm if the session would be in order to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this November.

A spokesperson for the Governor responded that they would check with the Governor on these details later responding that they had no update to share.

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It’s still unclear whether there’s enough support for lawmakers to call themselves into special session — for that to happen it would need to be considered an “emergency in the affairs of the state.”

The Governor can call the legislature into session for any reason, but by law would have to do so 48 hours in advance. That would mean by Monday morning he would need to issue a call if they are to meet on the same day as interim meetings Wednesday, August 21.

The chatter comes in the wake of the recent Supreme Court ruling on Utah’s redistricting case where the court ruled that Utah’s constitution protects the people’s right to “alter and reform” their government.

That case centered around whether a voter-led initiative that created an independent redistricting commission to draw new congressional boundaries should have stayed in place, or whether the legislature’s decision to adopt it’s own maps amounts to a constitutional violation.

“The people’s exercise of their right to reform the government through an initiative is constitutionally protected from government infringement, including legislative amendment or repeal that impairs the intended reform,” the Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion stated.

The ruling says that the legislature can still make tweaks to an initiative so long as it doesn’t impact the reform the people are trying to make and is narrowly tailored to advance government interest.

“This does not mean that the legislature can’t reform a government-reform initiative at all,” the ruling added. “Rather legislative changes that facilitate or support the reform, or at least do not impair the reform enacted by the people, would not implicate the people’s right under the Alter and Reform clause.”

It’s clear that many top Republican lawmakers were not happy with the ruling — specifically the top GOP House and Senate leaders — who were quick to criticize it. House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams issued a joint statement calling it “one of the worst decisions” they had ever seen.

“Rather than reaching the self-evident answer, today the court punted and made a new law about the initiative power, creating chaos and striking at the very heart of our republic,” the joint statement said. “This ruling will have profound and lasting ripple consequences that could negatively impact the state’s future. It mirrors how states like California are governed — by big money and outside interest groups that run initiatives to alter the government and push their own agendas.

As news of the special session talks was developing, Utah’s Republican Party released an open letter signed by numerous members of party and its supporters sent to GOP state leadership — urging them to take action.

“By allowing initiatives to become immutable “super laws,” the Court has opened the door to potentially devastating consequences. Utah now faces the risk of becoming like California, where large sums of outside money influence laws that do not reflect the values of our citizens and undermine our cultural integrity,” the release states.

As news of these discussions is breaking, two groups have come out in support of calling the session to change voter-led initiatives. The @UtahGOP and conservative think-tank @SutherlandInst. The Party issued a list of people who support it. pic.twitter.com/RUa35uaMmV

— Lindsay Aerts (@LindsayOnAir) August 17, 2024

Conservative think tank The Southerland Institute also issued their support for the possibility of the session.

“We understand that a special legislative session may be scheduled next week. …Sutherland Institute strongly recommends the consideration of a constitutional amendment to correct the flawed understanding of the Utah Constitution’s principle of proper exercise of legislative power reflected in the Utah Supreme Court’s recent ruling in League of Women Voters v. Utah State Legislature.”