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Utah Senate narrows and preserves public-review steps in initiative-reform bill after day-long debate
Summary
After hours of floor debate over constitutional burdens and geographic representation, the Utah Senate kept the first substitute to Senate Bill 28 — requiring petition thresholds by senatorial districts and statewide public hearings — and rejected a second substitute that would have cut hearing requirements and lowered district thresholds.
Senator Hickman, the floor sponsor, defended a first-substitute version of Senate Bill 28 on Thursday, saying the measure aims to give Utah voters more information and a fair, 1-person/1-vote approach to statewide initiatives. "If this is if this initiative is is good and for the benefit of the state, then why wouldn't you not why would you not want to open it up and make it as public a process as possible?" Hickman said during floor remarks.
The first substitute would allow petitioners to bring an initiative to the legislature with signatures from 5% of voters (based on senatorial districts) and to the ballot directly with 10%, require a minimum of seven public hearings…
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