From the Salt Lake Tribune:

”The Republican supermajority in the Utah Legislature absurdly declared an “emergency” for the purpose of calling itself into a special session Wednesday to pass a proposed amendment to the state Constitution.

That amendment, unless the state’s electorate steps up to block it, would effectively negate the part of the Constitution that allows voters, with great difficulty, to pass laws on their own initiative. It would destroy the part of Utah’s basic charter that says, “All political power is inherent in the people.”

(Salt Lake Tribune - Full Article)

WHY THIS IS HAPPENING

• 2018 : A voter initiative, Proposition 4, was adopted by voters, to limit the ability of any party to gerrymander the states congressional boundaries and thus provide an unfair advantage to that party.

• 2020: The Legislature passed SB200 which negated Proposition 4 and returned power to the legislature to choose their own constituents.

• 2022: Proposition 4 backers sued the Legislature.

• July 2024: Utah Supreme Court rules in favor of Proposition 4 and slaps the hands of republicans for their overreach.

• August 2024: Republican Supermajority proposes SJR401 to amend Utah Constitution and thus regain their power.

“…The Utah Supreme Court, in a recent unanimous ruling, rightly said that the lawmakers’ 2020 act disemboweling the Better Boundaries initiative [Proposition 4], adopted by the voters in 2018, smells of an unconstitutional overreach of legislative power…” (Salt Lake Tribune - Full Article)