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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 around the state, and add financial-disclosure requirements for proponents. Sponsors said the changes respond to a recent Utah Supreme Court ruling that found the prior county-based geographic threshold unconstitutional and that district-based thresholds satisfy the court’s equal-population concerns.
Senator Valentine offered a second substitute proposing two significant changes: removing the seven public hearings as an 'undue burden' and reducing the senate-district threshold from 29 of 29 districts to 20 of 29. Valentine argued the 29-district rule could allow a single district to veto statewide consideration. "One senate district could be led by one senator...and you would have the right to veto the right of the people to even consider that particular issue," Valentine said, urging a smaller threshold to avoid singular vetoes.
Opponents pressed that reducing districts or eliminating hearings risked excluding rural communities. Senator Knudson warned that lowering the geographic requirement would let the Wasatch Front dominate statewide initiatives and leave rural voices out of the process. Senator Dimitrych said he would prefer an intermediate threshold, suggesting 25 or 26 districts as a compromise.
Lawmakers also debated a provision that would bar substantially similar initiatives from being re-filed within two years; opponents said it could permit strategic preemptive filings to block legitimate citizens’ initiatives. Senator Stevenson moved to delete the preemptive-application language, arguing it would enable tactical filings to keep issues off the ballot; the motion to strike that language failed and the section remained in the first substitute.
After lengthy exchanges and failed motions to adopt the second substitute, the Senate voted to keep the first substitute and move it to third reading. The roll call on the first substitute registered 20 ayes and 9 nays. Sponsors indicated they expect further amendments on third reading to address concerns raised on the floor. The bill now proceeds to the third-reading calendar.
