Near the end of a roughly hour-and-a-half editorial board meeting with Utah’s state Senate leadership on Tuesday, Senate President Stuart Adams emphasized what he considers the most important issue facing Utah.
It isn’t the state’s homelessness problem, though it’s a priority for the governor, as he told us a few weeks ago. It isn’t the need for affordable housing, as the largest percentage of respondents, 32%, said in the January poll by the Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics, conducted by Morning Consult. It isn’t even redistricting, where 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson selected a new congressional map angering Republican lawmakers (and a few Democrats who didn’t like the process).
Those are worthy but not the most significant issue, Adams said.
Pure democracy
No, the biggest issue is the aftermath of a 2024 state Supreme Court decision that said lawmakers may not change a citizen initiative that alters or reforms government.
This, Adams said, is a step toward changing Utah from a republic to a pure democracy.
“That is the worst decision in the history of my political career,” he told the Deseret News/KSL editorial board. He prefaced this by saying he has great respect for the state’s high court, but this “just ties the state up in knots.“
Two things may be gleaned from this declaration. One is that Utahns are not yet close to seeing the final outcome of what they wrought by passing Proposition 4 in 2018. The issue will be front and center at the upcoming legislative session.
The other is that, somewhere in the great beyond, Sherman S. Smith is probably stirring.
How Utah embraced initiatives
Smith was a populist, elected to the Utah Legislature out of Ogden in 1898. From what I’ve read, he wasn’t a favorite among his colleagues. He did, however, help get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 1900 to allow citizen initiatives and referenda. Voters approved it.
Utah thus became only the second state, behind South Dakota, to grant such power to the people. Today, 26 states plus the District of Columbia allow citizens such power, subject to various rules.
In each case, elected lawmakers often find themselves in conflict with direct democracy, where voters — at least those who bother to cast ballots — write laws.
Lawmakers will argue, with sound logic, that they are the ones elected to make decisions for the good of the entire state. Their bills are vetted and amended through public hearings and floor debates, with costs measured against other state needs. Citizen initiatives, meanwhile, are presented in a vacuum and require an up-or-down vote from the public, even though state law requires public hearings. And as we know from every election, many voters are unacquainted in full with many issues.
The proponents of initiatives argue there are occasional issues where, for whatever reason, state lawmakers refuse to follow the will of the people. Initiatives are a relief valve, expelling the excess steam from disgruntled citizens.
The weakness, however, can be seen in other states, such as California, where a small number of people vote to change a law, often drawing from out-of-state people with monied interests. And often voters — with less time than legislators to consider fully the impact of a law — fail to understand the true impact of their vote on craftily worded initiatives.
Proposition 4
More than seven years ago, voters approved Proposition 4, which set up an independent commission to recommend new congressional district maps that met certain guidelines. Lawmakers, not happy with this, passed a law making the commission’s work only advisory, and then they drew their own maps instead.
A court battle ensued. Last year, Judge Gibson threw out the Legislature’s map and replaced it with one that includes one solidly Democratic congressional district in Salt Lake County — a map preferred by nonprofit plaintiffs.
To be clear, no lawmaker has proposed trying to remove initiatives from the state Constitution. That would be highly unpopular. But the court decision could end up unduly restricting the people’s representatives and throw every initiative into court, where a judge would define whether it alters government.
To fight this result, Republicans are planning to draft a constitutional amendment that would make it clear lawmakers have power to amend initiatives that pass. Voters would have a chance to support or reject this change next fall. This approach successfully led to compromise and better law when legalization of marijuana for medical purposes was debated, for example.
Also, a Republican-led effort is underway to pass an initiative that repeals Proposition 4.
No more No. 1?
Adams said he believes unalterable direct democracy would be the end of Utah’s string of No. 1 rankings. For example, U.S. News has ranked the state as best in the nation for three years straight. And Utah has, for 18 straight years, been ranked first in the “Rich States, Poor States” assessment of the state with the best economic outlook.
“It’s the biggest issue of my career. It’s the biggest issue of the legislative session, in my opinion,” Adams said. “And it’s the biggest issue facing the public. And redistricting pales compared to the form of government that has changed.”
Republican House leaders are similarly concerned.
“What the court has done on initiatives will undermine what is happening in the state faster than anything,” state House Majority Leader Casey Snider told the Deseret News/KSL editorial board earlier this month.
No less than former President John Adams is quoted as saying, “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
This is why, legislative leaders say, the founders established a republic, in which elected representatives make the decisions.
While we’re on the subject of the perils of democracy, the latest Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll asked voters about repealing Proposition 4. The largest percentage, 44%, said they didn’t know.
If they don’t know about redistricting, they probably don’t know whether to limit the power of initiatives, either. Expect a noisy year of people trying to educate them.