Protect Utah Workers coalition far exceeds signature gathering goal

After weeks of an extensive signature gathering effort across the state, the Protect Utah Workers coalition exceeded its stated goal and submitted thousands of signatures supporting a referendum against HB267 on Wednesday.

But a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll shows Utahns are fairly evenly divided on their feelings about the new law, which bans public sector collective bargaining.

During a press conference after the signatures were submitted to the Salt Lake County clerk, John Arthur, a sixth grade teacher in Salt Lake City and a member of the Utah Education Association, shared that the coalition had collected over 320,000 signatures in support of the referendum.

“We are on track to becoming not only the most successful citizen led referendum in Utah history, but one of the most successful in our nation’s history. I’m used to teaching history, but today we’re out here making it because we turn frustration into action and action into results,” Arthur said.

If the group has gathered enough signatures, it can get a referendum on the ballot in 2026 allowing Utahns to vote on whether to repeal HB267, a law which bans public sector collective bargaining. The law was passed by the Legislature earlier this year and was one of the first bills signed by the governor during the session.

“Politicians came after public workers and the public got to work,” Arthur said.

The group needs 140,748 signatures to get the referendum on the ballot and had set a goal of 200,000. Though organizers far exceeded their goal, the battle isn’t over yet, as signatures can still be removed and all the signatures have to be verified.

There are a number of reasons why signatures may not get verified: Signers may not be registered to vote, they may have written their address wrong, filled out the form incorrectly or their handwriting may be illegible.

Protect Utah Workers submitted the referendum application soon after the end of the legislative session and launched a signature gathering effort on March 15. The coalition includes 19 public labor unions such as the Utah Education Association, Teamsters Local 222, Utah State Fraternal Order of Police, Professional Firefighters of Utah and Utah Public Employees Association.

The signatures were gathered in 30 days through a statewide signature gathering effort that included both volunteers and paid signatures gatherers.

“Today, I stand here joyful, proud and determined. This is a celebration of what is possible when workers and communities get together, but this is also a promise,” said Jessica Stauffer, a nurse and president of Utah Health Workers United, CWA Local 7765.

How do Utah voters feel about HB267?

Throughout Wednesday’s press conference, the union members who spoke repeatedly emphasized how popular they believe their movement is and how the public is against HB267. A recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll asked Utah voters whether or not they support HB267.

Out of the 880 registered Utah voters who participated in the poll, 34% said they support the law while 38% oppose it. Another 28% said they don’t know.

The poll, conducted for the Deseret News and Hinckley Institute by the HarrisX on April 9-12, had a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.

Though the margin between those who support the law and don’t was close, Britt Miller, president of Local Teamsters 222, said the numbers did not surprise him because of the number of Utahns who don’t understand what is going on and lack of education around unions in Utah.

“My thought is that some people just don’t follow politics totally. So that would be a third of those people, a third of the people are informed, and a third are against and I call it the rule of thirds. I think that’s very common numbers. And I hope that we can get to a more majority number and more support for local unions and for workers in general within the state,” said Stauffer.

As the coalition has encouraged residents to sign, there have been groups in favor of the law, such as Utah Parents United, who have been campaigning against the referendum.

Not all public employees are against the law. One of these people is Cole Kelley, who has been a teacher in Utah for 28 years and is a member of the Utah State Board of Education.

“As Utahns learn more about this law, they’ll see it protects all of us by ensuring fair governance. Despite unions spending over $3 million to push their narrative, only 38% oppose the law — a strong sign that Utah supports this commonsense reform," Kelley wrote in a text message to the Deseret News.

The answers also varied vastly across political party affiliation, as 48% of self-identified Republicans were in support of the law with 27% against. When it came those who identify as Democrats, only 15% were in favor of HB267 and 69% were against it.

Out of male respondents, 43% were for HB267 with 37% against, compared to female respondents who were in favor of the law 25% of the time and against it 39% of the time.

What is next?

Now that the signatures have been submitted, the verification process will begin. The signatures will be verified within 21 calendar days of when they were submitted.

After signatures are verified, the county clerk will post the name and voter identification number of each signer on the lieutenant governor’s website. The names will remain on the website for at least 45 days.

The referendum doesn’t just need 140,748 signatures to get on the ballot. The number of signatures collected has to represent 8% of registered voters in 15 of Utah’s 29 Senate districts.

Not only do all signatures have to be certified, but people can also have their signatures removed. Those against the referendum will also have the opportunity to encourage people to remove their signatures.

“We also want voters to know: If you were misled by a signature gatherer about what HB267 really does, you can remove your name from the petition. Just contact your county clerk to start the process,” wrote Corinne Johnson, founder and president of Utah Parents United, in a text message to the Deseret News.

Stauffer said that those against the referendum have 40 days to convince people to remove their signatures. Signers can remove their signature by submitting a statement to the county clerk.

“There are people out there already trying to scare supporters, trying to confuse them, trying to convince them to remove their names. Don’t fall for it. If you signed the petition, keep your name. If you believe in nurses, teachers, first responders and public workers, stand with us,” Stauffer said.

What else does HB267 do?

The most controversial part of HB267 is the ban on public sector collective bargaining, but it does more than just that.

Along with the ban on collective bargaining, the law will provide an option of professional liability insurance for teachers to opt into, without having to go through a union or other organization.

The liability insurance program would be offered through the Department of Risk Management, with five levels of policies teachers can choose from, ranging from $75 to $170 a year.

The law also requires more transparency from public sector unions, requiring them to report their finances and membership numbers annually to the labor commission.

The law only applies to public labor unions and does not include private sector labor unions.