Three bills aimed at changing Utah’s ballot initiative process earned committee approval on Wednesday, setting up various debates on the Utah House floor over signature thresholds, ballot certification and the timeline for codifying propositions into state law.
And while two of the bills earned unanimous or near-unanimous committee approval, the House Government Operations Committee split along partisan lines for the third proposal, HB133, which would delay the implementation of a successful initiative until after a subsequent general session of the state Legislature.
HB133′s sponsor Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, pointed to December’s special session and the replacement of Proposition 2, the legalization of medical marijuana, saying a delay is necessary to allow lawmakers to make corrections and adjustments to ballot initiatives.