September Update

During September we celebrate our National Constitution, which is a remarkable document that has served our country well since 1787. The Freedom’s Light Festival in the Bountiful City Park this weekend (see article below) is a reminder of how freedom has blessed our lives and our country.

A great key feature of both the U.S. Constitution and the Utah Constitution is the concepts of checks and balances. We have seen this tension play out before us the past months, first with the Utah Supreme Court ruling that citizen initiatives should be a special class of law, and then the Legislature voting to put Amendment D on the ballot to let the citizens weigh in on whether to restore initiatives to the same status they previously held (to be like any other law) for the past 100+ years, and to limit outside influence on initiatives. In the August newsletter, I outlined my reasons for voting to place Amendment D on the ballot for all citizens to vote on and why I think all laws should be amendable. You can read that here. A special thanks to all those who reached out with feedback on this issue. I’d love to meet you and discuss more at the upcoming town halls listed below.

When the legislature voted to put Amendment D on the ballot, the actual ballot question language had not been written. After the ballot question language was written (by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate), it was challenged in court, and a District Court judge blocked Amendment D, ruling that legislative leaders failed to accurately describe the "subject matter" in the text of the ballot question and failed to publish the text of the amendment in newspapers across the state. Currently the ruling states Amendment D may appear on the ballot (some ballots may have already been printed), but the votes for or against won’t be counted. The Legislature has appealed the ruling to the Utah Supreme Court and arguments will be heard next week.

While I was disappointed in the ruling, I think the Judge made some very good points. The Legislature absolutely failed to follow the letter of the law by not publishing the complete text in newspapers around the state. How could such a mistake happen? The law was changed in recent years to allow local & state governments to advertise most proposed changes electronically on websites, but the statute regarding proposed changes to the Utah State Constitution was never updated, and it still states changes must be published in a newspaper in most counties 60 days before the election, which was never done. While I still believe that Amendment D is good policy, personally, I would have chosen different words if I had been asked to help describe the initiative via a ballot question. You can read the ballot question language and the complete text of the bills for each of the four constitutional amendments (A,B,C,D) here: 2024 Utah State Constitutional Amendments.

In the end, I’m OK if this decision is delayed 2 years and put on the 2026 ballot for voters. It’s a serious decision, and I think there is benefit from time to educate everyone on the issues and to consider more careful language to explain the policy choices and the implications of creating more laws via ballot initiative. There is a very real risk that national groups may attempt to fund ballot initiatives in Utah in 2026 as a result of this delay – and that may be the price we pay for the system of checks and balances we have between the Judicial and Legislative branches.

September Interim

We heard an interesting presentation on homelessness in our Economic Development & Workforce Services Committee. We reviewed the homeless data dashboard and discussed the goals that homelessness should be brief and rare. The data shows that 35% of individuals are in a shelter less than 7 days, and the majority (59%) stay 30 days or less. https://jobs.utah.gov/homelessness/hard.html The head of the Homeless Office shared his opinion that investments to increase affordable housing, especially for those with a criminal record, would help prevent an increase in homelessness. You can view the presentation here.

Farmington is Leading out on efforts to improve Housing Affordability

During the September interim Session, we also heard presentations about how three different Cities are creating housing by allowing property owners add Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU). Kudos to Farmington City for their hard work and creative solutions to improving housing affordability by expanding options for ADUs. I was especially impressed with the innovative idea to allow property ownership of an ADU. Here are links to the presentations:

Farmington: https://le.utah.gov/interim/2024/pdf/00003236.pdf

Millcreek: https://le.utah.gov/interim/2024/pdf/00003320.pdf
St George: https://le.utah.gov/interim/2024/pdf/00003310.pdf

Stand for our Land

After decades of policy work and legal analysis, the state of Utah filed a landmark public lands lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to address whether the federal government can simply hold unappropriated lands within a state indefinitely. Right now, the federal government controls nearly 70% of land in Utah. For some perspective, the federal government owns less than 1% of the land in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island.

In Utah, the Bureau of Land Management controls 18.5 million acres of “unappropriated” lands, meaning the United States simply holds the land without any designated purpose. Importantly, this lawsuit does not impact the millions of “appropriated” lands – or those designated as national parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, national forests, Tribal lands, or military properties.

If the state succeeds, Utah intends to keep these public lands in public hands – actively managed by locals – and open for sustainable use and recreation.

Utah is Best in the West for Education

In government, budgets are a reflection of values and priorities. If you look at Utah’s budget, it's clear our historic investments in education are paying off.

U.S. News & World Report ranks Utah’s public education system as the second best in the nation – only behind Florida – and far ahead of our peers in the west.

Over the past two years alone, the House and Senate invested nearly $2 billion in our students and schools. We worked together to strengthen school safety, eliminate unnecessary school fees, and increase funding for classroom supplies.

American Founders and Constitution Month

The Legislature has designated September as American Founders and Constitution Month, giving us the chance to honor the many freedoms we enjoy because of those who came before us. I am deeply grateful for our country’s great constitution and the many freedoms we enjoy because of it. I hope you will join me over the next month in reflecting on the wisdom of our Founding Fathers and the values that have shaped our nation.