House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, is pictured during a news conference at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Both House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, told reporters Thursday evening that they made a mistake when they rejected the vague ballot language of the proposed Constitutional Amendment D wrote. annulled by the court because it would be “misleading” to voters.
The courts also struck down Amendment D (which would have made clear in the Utah Constitution that the Legislature has the power to repeal or replace any type of ballot initiative) and Amendment A (which would have eliminated the state’s constitutional earmark on income tax revenue deleted). for education) because government officials did not meet publication requirements.
“I made some mistakes, and I will acknowledge that,” Schultz said when reporters asked him about the lessons from Amendments A and D. “We will work together to find better ways.”
The Utah Constitution explicitly states that the legislature “shall cause” that the text of proposed constitutional amendments “be published in at least one newspaper in each county of the state in which a newspaper is published for two months immediately preceding the next general elections.’
But that didn’t happen on any of the proposed constitutional amendments that appeared on the Nov. 5 ballot. Amendments A and D were the most controversial, so critics challenged them in court. A district court judge struck down Amendment D for two reasons: because it did not meet publication requirements, and because the ballot language was not only too vague but also inaccurate and misleading. The Utah Supreme Court affirmed that decision.
Voting language amendment D
Should the Utah Constitution be amended to strengthen the initiative process by:
If approved, the state law would also be changed to:
If Amendment D had remained valid and voters had approved it, it would have essentially bypassed the Utah Supreme Court recent interpretation of the Utah Constitution, which limited the legislature’s powers to repeal and replace government reform ballot initiatives, instead rewriting the Constitution to strengthen lawmakers’ power to override any voter-approved ballot initiative to slide.
However, the Nov. 5 ballot language asking voters the question — written by Utah’s top Republican legislative leaders, Schultz and Adams — did not explain it in plain language, prompting critics to file a lawsuit claiming that the language of Amendment D “false and misleading.”
When asked if he regretted not writing Amendment D’s voting language more clearly, Schultz said, “I probably regret that we used the word ‘strengthened.’” However, he said he “really believed (that) it was factual.”
“It could have been a little clearer about what ‘strengthen’ meant, but then the language becomes too big, so I think it probably would have been better to take that word out,” Schultz said.
When asked if members of the House Republican caucus were upset about the way Amendment D played out, Schultz said, “There’s always sadness.”
When the conversation turned to what they will do differently, Schultz said “we will work with the Senate,” but indicated that lawmakers might consider revising a new law that would require the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Speaker of the House Senate gives the duty to write the ballot. language for proposed constitutional amendments instead of impartial legislative lawyers.
He said lawmakers could also try to address “the process by which notice occurs,” as well as the requirement that proposed constitutional amendments be printed in newspapers.
Adams said in a separate media availability Thursday evening that “we can all do better” when reporters asked if he had any similar regrets — though he indicated that lawmakers will likely try to address the issue again. Both he and the speaker have characterized the Utah Supreme Court’s ruling limiting the legislature’s control over “governmental reforms” as one that “made a new law about the power of initiative, creating chaos and striking at the heart of our Republic.”
“I think both Chairman Schultz and I would have changed the language a little bit,” Adams said. “But we are also quite passionate about the republic. So sometimes you walk a little fast. Those mistakes happen.”
However, Adams said the Amendment D controversy did not affect Senate majority leadership elections, with Republicans electing three new members of legislative leadership to that body.
Asked whether he expects lawmakers will again try to achieve what they hoped to achieve with Amendment D during the 2025 legislative session, Adams said, “I will never give up the passion I have for being a republic.”
Asked whether this means lawmakers will try to propose a new constitutional amendment with different wording to Utah voters, Adams declined to elaborate.
“We’re working on things like that,” he said. ‘We have to remain a little worried. We make sure you stay informed. But you’ll see something, I guarantee it. We are not going to give that up.”
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