Lawmakers propose at least 5 changes to Utah’s Constitution — What to know

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — There are at least five public proposals to change Utah’s constitution being run by state lawmakers this year, and at least a total of 10 that could eventually come forward.

A constitutional amendment can be proposed by either chamber and is run via a joint resolution. The resolution must be approved by two-thirds of each body. If it is, then the question gets placed on the ballot for voters in the next general election.

The next general election is in 2026 and it’s likely Utahns will see several of these questions on their ballot. But which ones exactly, remains to be seen.

Senate President Stuart Adams (R- Kaysville) told reporters last week that the legislature will continue to “prioritize” which ones move forward.

“I really doubt you’ll see 10 constitutional amendments, or seven. But we’ll see what happens,” he said.

When asked about how many is too many to be on the ballot, Adams responded that it would depend on how complicated each proposal was.

Adams was also asked whether they could wait a year to run these since they would still have time to be placed on the 2026 November ballot. Adams cited previous amendments that were put out early so the idea could be vetted and the public had time to digest it.

“Getting the word out early may not be a bad idea and trying to prioritize it,” Adams said, but didn’t specify which amendments would be prioritized.

Complicating decision-making, Utah’s constitution currently requires each amendment to be published statewide in newspapers two months prior to the election. Fiscal analysts have determined that will cost about $1.4 million, but whether that cost is per ballot measure or the total cost of several on a single page is still unclear.

One of the proposals — H.J.R. 10 — seeks to change the newspaper requirement thereby removing the cost, but the changes wouldn’t take effect before any of these other proposals can be run. That means the newspaper publication requirement — and whatever cost is associated with it — would still apply to any ballot measures on the 2026 ballot.

10 Proposals

Here are the five proposals lawmakers are considering:

• S.J.R. 2 Statewide Initiatives (Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R – South Jordan) — Asks voters whether any statewide initiative that would change taxes should get 60% support from voters instead of 50%.
• H.J.R 5 Electoral Votes (Rep. Jason Kyle, R – Huntsville) — Asks voters whether Utah’s electoral votes should be prohibited from being awarded to the national popular vote.
• H.J.R – 7 Property tax (Rep. Jill Koford, R- Ogden) — Asks voters if they want to increase the exemption of their property taxes from 45% to 55% of the fair market value of residential property.
• H.J.R. 8 Right to Work (Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R – South Jordan) — Asks voters if they want to make it illegal for a public employer to deny employment based on the prospective employee’s membership status in a labor union.
• H.J.R 10 Publication Amendments (Rep. Anthony Loubet, R – Kearns) — Asks voters if they want to remove the requirement that constitutional amendments be published in newspapers statewide two months prior to the election and instead have state law determine where they should be published for 60 days.

The following constitutional proposals have titles but have not been made public:

• Property Taxes – Sen. Dan McCay (R – Salt Lake)
• Constitutional Amendment Procedural Requirements – Sen. Dan McCay (R – Salt Lake)
• Capacity to Vote – Sen. Kathlene Riebe (D – Cottonwood Heights)
• Initiatives – Sen. Brady Brammer (R – Pleasant Grove)
• Nonprofit Raffles – Rep. Candace Pierucci (R – Herriman)