Senate Pres. Adams warns Utah could be the next ‘Petri dish of America’

Adams said the Legislature will draft another constitutional amendment to expand their power to change citizen initiatives.

Utah Senate President Stuart Adams warned that if the state fails to respond to a recent court ruling that limited legislative changes to citizen initiatives then Utah could become the next “Petri dish of America.”

Adams predicted that lawmakers will draft language for another constitutional amendment before the 2026 election cycle to work around the Utah Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Legislature’s limited ability to reform citizen ballot initiatives.

“The people in Utah that are elected ought to be making decisions for people in Utah,” Adams, R-Layton, told reporters on Tuesday.

How did we get here?

In July, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that the Utah Constitution prohibits lawmakers from altering the results of citizen-led ballot initiatives that reform the government unless the changes are narrowly tailored to meet a compelling government interest.

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In September, the state’s highest court upheld a decision from a 3rd District Court judge that voided “Amendment D,” a ballot initiative crafted by legislative leadership that would have amended the Utah Constitution to allow lawmakers to amend or repeal citizen initiatives in all cases.

But the Utah Legislature is far from ready to cede their ability to amend laws passed via ballot initiative.

Is Utah becoming more like Oregon?

Adams insisted that continuing with the court decision would undermine the state’s republican form of government and would set the state on a path to becoming like California and Oregon.

Adams recounted a conversation he had with the Democratic senate president of Oregon, where a ballot initiative decriminalizing hard drugs wreaked havoc for four years before the legislature stepped in last year with a recriminalization law.

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Oregon’s citizen initiative policy made it “the Petri dish of America,” this lawmaker reportedly told Adams. “Every crazy idea in America is passed with an initiative in Oregon,” Adams said.

Citizen initiatives are often driven by activist groups from other states, Adams pointed out. The 2020 Oregon initiative that legalized the possession of all drugs was funded by an organization from New York City.

“Out-of-state companies coming in and running initiatives like that are destroying states,” Adams said.

Another constitutional amendment

Other states have attempted to prohibit foreign influences on ballot initiatives. But these laws have been held up by court challenges on First Amendment grounds, according to Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Draper.

Passing this kind of restriction on special interests through a constitutional amendment before all Utah voters could put it on stronger legal footing, Cullimore said.

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Voters can only vote on a constitutional amendment during a presidential election year. Adams said he isn’t sure whether the Legislature will pass a bill to place another constitutional amendment on the ballot this session or next.

The last time lawmakers attempted to amend the state Constitution to allow changes to all citizen-led ballot initiatives, the effort was struck down because of misleading language and the failure to adequately advertise the amendment.

“We have served the people well, and I’m just really concerned that out-of-state groups will come in and spend the money and destroy all that we’ve done here,” Adams said.

Source: Utah News