During a session underscored by efforts to assert legislative control, the 2025 Utah Legislature made moves to set new requirements on Utahns’ ability to enact laws via ballot initiatives — but the most significant proposed change can’t take effect without voter approval.
The Republican-controlled Utah legislature passed two pieces of legislation that would set new limits on ballot initiatives, but one will be going on the ballot in 2026 for voters to consider. The question? Should ballot initiatives to enact laws that would require tax increases be required to receive at least 60% of the vote, rather than a simple majority?
Here are two pieces of legislation impacting ballot initiatives that lawmakers passed:
- SJR2 puts a question on the 2026 ballot for voters to either approve or reject: Should ballot initiatives that would require a new tax or a tax hike only be allowed to take effect if at least 60% of voters approve it? Currently, the Utah Constitution only requires a simple majority vote for ballot initiatives to be enacted as new laws.
- SB73, if signed by Gov. Spencer Cox, sets new requirements for ballot initiative applications. It would require initiative backers to include in their application for the initiative a detailed description of how the proposed law would be funded and if it would require a tax increase. If they successfully get the initiative on the ballot, it would also require initiative backers to follow the same publication requirements that lawmakers do when they put proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot, which could increase the cost of ballot initiatives by an estimated $1.4 million — though that could change.
Currently, the Utah Constitution requires that constitutional amendments be published in newspapers statewide for 60 days before the next election. However, lawmakers want voters to consider changing that, which would impact not just proposed constitutional amendments, but also ballot initiatives. Here’s why:
Utah lawmakers also passed a resolution and a companion bill that could remove that newspaper publication requirement from the Utah Constitution and leave it up to lawmakers to decide how voters should be notified before an election. They included:
- HJR10 places this question on the November 2026 ballot for voters to consider: Should the Utah Constitution be changed to strike the language requiring that proposed constitutional amendments must be published “in at least one newspaper in every county of the state where a newspaper is published, for two months” immediately preceding the election, and should the constitution instead say those proposed amendments be published “in a manner provided by statute, for 60 calendar days” immediately preceding the next general election?
- If voters approve the question from HJR10, then another bill — HB481 — would take effect, setting a state law that requires proposed constitutional amendments and ballot initiatives be published as a “class A” notice on the Utah Public Notice website or a government’s official website for “60 calendar days immediately preceding” the next general election.
Read the full report at UtahNewsDispatch.com.
