Should it be harder for Utahns to pass ballot initiatives that raise taxes?​on February 6, 2025 at 1:50 pm

The Utah Senate approved putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot in the 2026 election that would make it more difficult to pass some ballot initiatives by requiring 60% of voters to support any initiative that would raise taxes.

Under a proposed constitutional amendment headed to the Utah House, any future ballot initiative raising taxes would need 60% support from voters.   

The Utah Senate approved putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot in the 2026 election that would make it more difficult to pass some ballot initiatives by requiring 60% of voters to support any initiative that would raise taxes.

“This is a fairly simple resolution,” said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan. “It asks the citizens of Utah to consider, ‘How easy do you want it to be to raise taxes on your neighbors.’”

Fillmore, who sponsored the amendment, argued that a simple majority should not be enough to justify raising taxes.

Several states have similar supermajority requirements in order to approve amendments to the state constitutions. In 2022, Arizona approved a measure requiring a 60% majority for tax-related measures. Utah has a provision that requires a two-thirds majority in order to approve any ballot initiative related to hunting.

Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, said her constituents have made clear that they appreciate the ability to make laws through the ballot initiative process.

“Creating an onerous threshold for the public to speak,” she said, is not something elected lawmakers should consider popular.

Polling has repeatedly shown broad public support for the public’s right to change laws through the ballot initiative.

But Fillmore said that, because constitutional amendments still have to be voted on by the public, this will let the voters decide whether they want to limit that right.

The proposed constitutional amendment comes in the aftermath of a bitter battle by the Legislature last year to limit the breadth of the ballot initiative right.

First, Republican lawmakers argued they should have the ability to amend or repeal any voter-approved ballot initiative they saw fit. After the Utah Supreme Court rejected that argument on the basis that being able to undo initiatives would make the ballot initiative right meaningless, the Republicans called a special session to try to amend the Constitution to explicitly state that they could repeal any ballot initiative.

But the Supreme Court blocked that amendment, as well, ruling that the language on the ballot — written by GOP legislative — leaders was deceptive. The justices struck the measure from the ballot.

Those rulings have prompted both a battle with the courts and sent the legislative Republicans looking for a way to limit ballot measures. Republican leaders allege that Utah risks becoming a state like California, where they say “big money and outside interest groups that run initiatives” push their agendas with ballot initiatives.

Since the Utah Constitution was amended in 1900 to give voters access to the ballot initiative, seven such measures have passed. Only two surpassed the 60% threshold — one that made English the state’s official language and one that sought to prevent civil asset forfeiture, which let prosecutors take property in cases.

Three ballot initiatives passed in 2018 — one expanding Medicaid to cover low-income Utahns, one to legalize medical marijuana and another aimed at banning partisan gerrymandering. Of the three, the Medicaid and medical marijuana initiatives included tax increases. Neither got more than 54% of the vote.

In addition to raising the threshold, Fillmore is sponsoring another bill that passed the Senate last week that would require proponents of any ballot initiative to spend $1.4 million to publish the text of their initiative in newspapers across the state.

Fillmore’s logic is that, based on a Utah Supreme Court ruling and the text of Utah’s Constitution, legislators have to publish the text of the proposed constitutional amendment in newspapers statewide for 60 days prior to the issue appearing on the ballot.

The public cannot amend the constitution through a ballot initiative, but Fillmore contends the same publication standard should apply.

Fillmore’s resolution raising the threshold passed the Senate 21-8, with two Republicans — Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, and Sen. Ann Milner, R-Ogden — voting against it. It now goes to the House for consideration.

Because it is a constitutional amendment, two-thirds in each chamber must pass the proposal. If approved, the governor does not have to sign it and the proposal will be on the ballot for voters to ratify in 2026.