SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah’s Republican-controlled Legislature is meeting Wednesday to decide whether to ask voters in November to relinquish some of their rights to lawmakers who want the ability to change state ballot measures after they’ve passed.
Frustrated by a recent state Supreme Court ruling, lawmakers called a special session focused on amending Utah’s constitution to grant themselves power over citizen initiatives that the state’s highest court said they don’t currently have. The Legislature used its emergency powers, which are broadly worded, to hold the session.
If the amendment passes and is approved this fall by a majority of Utah voters, it would give lawmakers constitutional authority to rewrite voter-approved ballot measures to their liking or repeal them entirely.
The proposal also would let lawmakers apply their new power to initiatives from past election cycles, including the redistricting measure that spurred the state Supreme Court case that limited the Legislature’s authority.
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Utah voters passed a ballot measure in 2018 that created an independent commission to redraw voting districts each decade and send recommendations to the Legislature, which could approve those maps or draw their own. The measure also prohibited drawing district lines to protect incumbents or to favor a political party — language the Legislature tried to strip out and replace with looser provisions in 2020.
Voting rights groups sued after lawmakers ignored a congressional map drawn by the commission and passed one of their own that split liberal Salt Lake County among four congressional districts, which have all since elected Republicans by wide margins.
Last month, all five Republican-appointed state Supreme Court justices sided with opponents who argued the Republican supermajority had undermined the will of voters when it altered the ballot initiative that banned partisan gerrymandering.
Utah’s constitution gives significant weight to statewide ballot initiatives, which if approved become laws equal to those passed by the Legislature. Lawmakers currently may not change laws approved through ballot initiatives except to reinforce them without impairing them, or to advance a compelling government interest, the Supreme Court ruled.
Now, the Legislature is attempting to circumvent that ruling by expanding its constitutional authority — but voters will have the final say.
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Legislative Democrats have criticized the move as a “power grab,” while the Republican legislative leaders, Senate President Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz, have argued it’s dangerous to have certain laws on the books that cannot be significantly changed.
Utah isn’t the only place where lawmakers have sought the power to undo ballot measures — at least under certain circumstances. Changes to the political mapmaking process have been the impetus for such efforts in multiple states.
Missouri voters approved a new redistricting process in 2018 — the same year as Utah. Lawmakers promptly placed a new amendment on the ballot to undo some of the key elements, and voters approved the new version in 2020.
In 2022, Arizona lawmakers placed on the ballot a proposal that would allow them to amend or repeal entire voter-approved measures if any portion of them is found unconstitutional or illegal by the state or federal Supreme Court. Voters defeated it.
This year, an advocacy group has won a spot on the ballot in Ohio for a measure that would appoint a new commission to make legislative and congressional maps. State Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, objected twice to the ballot measure language.
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A lower court in Utah also will revisit the process for redrawing the state’s congressional districts following the Supreme Court ruling, but the current boundaries will remain for this election cycle.
Forward Keanu Dawes is the latest player from the Runnin’ Utes to enter the transfer portal, according to Sam Kayser of League Ready.
The 6-foot-9, 220-pound sophomore announced his intention on Saturday night, just ahead of Utah’s game against Butler on Monday in the inaugural College Basketball Crown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Dawes is at least the seventh player to enter the portal during the coaching transition from Josh Eilert — who was made interim coach after Craig Smith was fired in late February — to former Utah star Alex Jensen. Jensen was hired on March 6 and will take over full-time once the season ends for the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, where he’s an assistant to Jason Kidd.
Dawes transferred from Rice after his freshman season and was part of the Runnin’ Utes’ main rotation, playing in 30 of 32 games, with one start. He led the team with 6.3 rebounds per game and was the fourth-leading scorer at eight points per game.
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The eldest daughter of disgraced Utah parenting blogger Ruby Franke has taken action to help protect other kids with a new child actor law in her home state.
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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed the bill that Shari Franke helped promote, HB322, which gives certain payment and privacy protections to minors involved in entertainment, which could include traditional acting, i.e. acting in TV commercials, or acting in social media content.
“I have been working on drafting HB322 that would protect child influencers in our state,” Shari Franke said in a February Instagram post. “This bill would require parents to create a trust fund for their children and require parents to pay children a minimum amount. It would also allow children influencers, at 18, to have any content they appeared in to be removed from all social media platforms.”
Shari added that certain family bloggers and lobbyists in Utah are against the legislation, but wrote that “[i]f family vlogging is as good as ‘ethical’ family vloggers want you to think, they should not fear being mandated to pay their children (because they say the children are already being paid anyway).”
MOMMY BLOGGER RUBY FRANKE ASKED DAUGHTER FOR ONE THING BEFORE ARREST: MEMOIR
Shari Franke details the last word she said to her mother in her new memoir, “The House of My Mother.”(Handout)
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“And if children are supposedly consenting to being filmed, why fear the kids would want content removed once 18?” she wrote.
Shari’s support of HB322 is one of many actions she has taken to try and help protect the rights of children whose parents are social media influencers since her mother pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child abuse in 2023 and sentenced to years in prison.
MOMMY BLOGGER RUBY FRANKE’S HUSBAND SAYS ‘SOME CRAZY S–T’ WENT ON IN ABUSE ACCOMPLICE’S $5.3M FORTRESS
Blogger Ruby Franke pleaded guilty to child abuse in Utah.(Instagram/ moms_of_truth)
Democratic Utah State Rep. Doug Owens, who sponsored the bill, explained its purpose to Fox News Digital.
“It’s a bill that has a couple different parts: one is it protects traditional child actors, like in the film industry or making commercials, [it] has their parents set aside 15% of their earnings for when they become an adult, and that is copying a number of other states,” Owens said. “And then it goes further and also includes protections for children in social media content.”
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He added that it is “usually” children’s parents featuring kids in their content and, in turn, earning money from that content.
Utah authorities found two malnourished and emaciated children at a home in Utah prior to arresting Franke and Hildebrandt.(Instagram/ moms_of_truth)
“It … requires the parents or other adult to save some of that money for the kids when they get to be an adult,” he said. “And then it also has a third part, which says that if you are a child in content creation, when you get to be an adult and you find that content embarrassing or emotionally damaging in some way, you can have that removed from the website later so that it gives kids some protection for when they get to be an adult.”
“[I]f you are a child in content creation, when you get to be an adult and you find that content embarrassing or emotionally damaging in some way, you can have that removed.”
— Utah State Rep. Doug Owens
Ruby Franke, a 43-year-old mother of six, and Jodi Hildebrandt, a 55-year-old mother of two, ran a joint parenting and lifestyle YouTube channel called ConneXions Classrooms before they were arrested and pleaded guilty to four of six counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse in a St. George courtroom in December 2023.
Utah police found a “panic room” inside Jodi Hildebrandt’s $5.3 million Ivins home, where Ruby Franke sent her children to stay with Hildebrandt.(Washington County Attorney’s Office)
Utah authorities initially arrested Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt for abusing Franke’s two youngest children, a 9-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy, after Franke’s son approached a neighbor for help in 2022, and the neighbor called 911. Some of the abuse occurred in Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah.
911 CALL REVEALS SHOCK OF UTAH MOMMY BLOGGER’S ALLEGED CHILD ABUSE: ‘SHE’S A BAD LADY’
Prior to ConneXions, Ruby Franke ran a parenting vlog, or video blog, called 8Passengers, centered around her own family of six children and two parents. But the 8Passengers empire came crumbling down once users started to notice Franke’s unusual behavior and punishments for her children. Ruby Franke stopped posting to the 8Passengers YouTube channel after her last video was uploaded on June 5, 2019.
In earlier videos without Hildebrandt, Franke complained about her children’s school using TikTok to teach dances, the dangers of sleepovers, bullying, and other topics. Some of her videos included her husband, including a “live couples workshop” about managing finances.(YouTube/ ConneXions)
Fox News is not aware of any evidence that Ruby Franke or anyone associated with 8Passengers engaged in any illegal conduct during the period she was actively vlogging on the 8Passengers YouTube channel.
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Franke and Hildebrandt were both sentenced to serve up to 30 years in prison.
Shari also wrote a memoir titled “The House of My Mother,” in which she explains how she and her siblings were listed as 8Passengers LLC’s “employees.”
Shari Franke explained how she tried for years to get the Department of Family and Child Services to take action against her mother in her memoir.(Hulu)
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In dozens of YouTube videos and social media posts, Franke and Hildebrandt coached parents in calm voices from a living room couch on how to raise their children in “truth.” In a video posted just before their arrests, Hildebrandt said pain can be a good thing for children of a certain age.
The case has prompted discussions about how parenting and lifestyle blogs often present only a sliver of a person’s or family’s reality, as well as children’s rights to their own privacy if their parent is a social media star.
The University of Hawaii men’s basketball team has landed a “Big Fish.”
Isaac “Big Fish” Johnson, a 7-foot, 230-pound center, said he has accepted a scholarship offer from the Rainbow Warriors.
Johnson is transferring from Utah State, where he played in 65 games, starting 43, the past two seasons. He will join the ’Bows in June, and have one season of NCAA eligibility remaining.
“First off, I like the coaching staff,” Johnson said of his decision. “These coaches seem like they want to develop players. … The confidence they have in me and my game, and what I can bring to the University of Hawaii and to the program, is a really stick-out to me. They seem like really good guys.”
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Johnson will be reunited with Tanner Cuff, a 6-7 wing who is transferring from the University of Evansville. Johnson and Cuff were teammates at American Fork High in Utah. As a high school senior, Johnson earned a 4-star rating and was ranked as the No. 53 prospect in the ESPN top 100.
Johnson committed to Oregon as an American Fork senior in 2019. That summer he began serving a two-year church mission in Columbus, Ohio. “It was during COVID, so it was difficult,” Johnson said. “It was interesting. It taught me a lot. I’m grateful I did it.”
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After a freshman year at Oregon, he transferred to Utah State. He redshirted in 2022-23, then started in 31 of 35 games for the Aggies the following season. He averaged 6.6 points and 3.1 rebounds while connecting on 34.2% of his 3s. He scored 19 points against TCU in the opening round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
It was from that game where his “Big Fish” nickname that he had since junior high gained popularity. The local Arctic Circle, a burger restaurant with 71 franchises in seven states, named a Swedish Fish-flavored concoction the “Big Fish Milkshake.”
Despite appearing in 30 games (starting 12) this past season, Johnson’s role diminished under his third USU head coach in three years. In entering the portal, he sought a program where he would have a more valued role.
Johnson’s pledge to UH will be his second biggest commitment this year. June 6 is the wedding day for Johnson and Audrah Radford, an outside hitter for Utah State’s women’s volleyball team.
