SALT LAKE CITY — A coalition of citizen groups are calling on Utahns to pressure their elected lawmakers to defeat bills they say are making it harder to pass a citizen ballot initiative.
Better Boundaries, which backed Proposition 4 that created an independent redistricting commission, joined the ACLU of Utah, the League of Women Voters of Utah, the Rural Utah Project, the Disability Law Center and the Utah Citizens Council in calling for House Bill 284and House Joint Resolution 14 to be defeated.
"HJR 14 and HB 284 are direct attacks on the ability of Utahns, rural and urban alike, to participate in our democracy," said TJ Ellerbeck, the director of the Rural Utah Project.
One is a proposed constitutional amendment and the other is companion legislation. They say that if a proposed citizen ballot initiative seeks to raise taxes? It would then need more than a simple majority of voters to pass. The legislation raises the threshold to 60% of voters.
"If they want to raise the taxes on everybody else? They need to bring everyone to the table to make sure they get it right," said Rep. Jason Kyle, R-Huntsville, the sponsor of both bills.
Rep. Kyle argues that 60% is "not insurmountable" but is designed to make voters aware of the impact on their bank accounts.
"If a special interest group comes in from out of state and wants to spend a lot of money? That it’ll be right for Utah and what Utahns really, really want in the bill," he said in an interview Wednesday with FOX 13 News.
But the coalition of groups held a news conference on Wednesday to criticize the legislation, which they insist is an attack on voters and an effort by lawmakers to erode the power of citizen ballot initiatives.
"The people are smart enough to read the ballot initiative, the legislators seem to think they’re not. I think this is insulting to our citizens," said Katharine Biele, the president of the League of Women Voters of Utah.
Voters in 2018 approved citizen ballot initiatives on medical cannabis, Medicaid expansion and independent redistricting by a simple majority. Medicaid expansion (Proposition 3) had an impact on taxpayers. The legislature overrode all three initiatives with their own legislation on it. Proposition 4 (independent redistricting) is currently being litigated before the Utah Supreme Court.
"The legislature has made the ballot initiative process so hard for the people that it is not equitable. This is just a step in the wrong direction to make the power of the initiative process even more difficult," Sheryl Allen, a former state lawmaker and member of Better Boundaries, said of the latest effort by the legislature.
Rep. Kyle's legislation cleared the House Government Operations Committee on Tuesday on a party line 7-3 vote and is now in front of the House of Representatives. If it passes the entire legislature? Voters would get to decide the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot.
