Utah
Legislature may hold special session to override Utah Supreme Court ruling on citizen initiatives
SALT LAKE CITY — Republican leaders in the Utah State Legislature are considering a special session to override a Utah Supreme Court ruling on citizen ballot initiatives.
On Monday, lawmakers were still weighing whether to advance a proposed constitutional amendment undoing the ruling by the state’s top court. A unanimous court ruled earlier this summer that the legislature overstepped its bounds when it overrode a citizen ballot initiative.
A number of groups including the Utah Republican Party, the Sutherland Institute, Pro-Life Utah and top conservatives including GOP attorney general candidate Derek Brown, legislative candidate Nicholeen Peck and Utah Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka, have been pushing legislative leaders to call a special session to advance a constitutional amendment undoing the Court’s decision.
In a letter sent by the Utah Republican Party, many of the groups warn that “Utah now faces the risk of becoming like California, where large sums of outside money influence laws that do not reflect the values of our citizens and undermine our cultural integrity.”
They argued the Court’s ruling leaves Utah vulnerable to the “whims of special interests and fleeting majorities.”
“If we do not act to mitigate the consequences of this decision, Utah’s strong community and quality of life will be severely jeopardized, impacting our future and generations to come,” the letter said. “Given these exigent circumstances, we believe it is imperative that the legislature be immediately called into special session to propose a constitutional amendment. This amendment should safeguard our laws from being unduly influenced by outside groups while simultaneously respecting the role of properly balanced grassroots-led initiatives and strengthening the people’s right to veto laws through a referendum process.”
If it is advanced in a special session and passes the Republican supermajority in the Utah State Legislature? Voters would decide the issue on the November ballot.
In July, the Utah Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s decision to strike a central part of a lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Utah, Mormon Women for Ethical Government and a group of plaintiffs. They sued, challenging the legislature’s decision to override Proposition 4, which created an independent redistricting commission for political boundaries. Lawmakers passed their own maps, which the plaintiffs argue constitutes illegal gerrymandering in favor of Republicans.
“We hold that the people’s right to alter or reform the government through an initiative is constitutionally protected from government infringement, including legislative amendment, repeal or replacement of the initiative in a manner that impairs the reform enacted by the people,” Justice Paige Petersen wrote in the Court’s unanimous opinion. “Thus, an alleged violation of the people’s exercise of these rights presents a legally cognizable claim on which relief may be granted.”
At the time, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, blasted the ruling as “one of the worst outcomes we’ve ever seen from the Utah Supreme Court.”
“Rather than reaching the self-evident answer, today the Court punted and made a new law about the initiative power, creating chaos and striking at the very heart of our republic,” they said, expressing concern about what could happen with future citizen initiatives.
On Monday morning, President Adams said it was still under discussion.
“I appreciate Utahns and stakeholders engaging and expressing their concerns on this important issue. There has been significant discussion about a special session, and we are carefully considering their requests,” he said in a statement.
Katharine Biele, the president of the League of Women Voters of Utah, told FOX 13 News she wished the Utah State Legislature would leave the Court’s ruling alone.
“We couldn’t be more disappointed in our Utah politicians,” she said. “They claim they are a representative government, we believe that. We believe in representation. They need to start representing the people.”
Katie Wright, the executive director of Better Boundaries, which sponsored Prop. 4, told FOX 13 News that if lawmakers were to advance a constitutional amendment, a number of groups were lining up to campaign against it.
“Once the people heard what was planned? There is outrage. People feel like, ‘Wait. There was a decision. It came from the Utah Supreme Court and now the legislature is trying to override that?’” she said. “It’s overreach. People are uncomfortable with it. We all know that our branches of government are supposed to have balances and checks and balances and this really throws that to the wayside.”
Read the letter from the conservative groups to the Utah State Legislature here:
Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.
BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.
After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.
Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.
“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.
An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.
Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.
Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.
“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”
When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.
An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.
In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.
Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.
Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.
In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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