Utah Republican Party starts hearings for initiative to repeal anti-gerrymandering law

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Utah Republican Party has announced the schedule for public hearings required by state law in Utah’s initiative process, part of its effort to repeal Proposition 4, Utah’s anti-gerrymandering law passed by voters in 2018.

It comes the same week as a final hearing in the

legal challenge over a redistricted map passed by the Utah legislature, and in anticipation of a ruling by a Third District judge on which map will move forward for the 2026 midterm elections.

Seven hearings will be held on Monday, Nov. 3, and seven more on Monday, Nov. 10. Each meeting will start at 6:00 pm and last at least one hour. The locations span from Box Elder to Washington County. Only Monday’s first seven hearings must follow Utah’s initiative laws.

As per the law, the locations are divided into regions: the Wasatch Front, Central, Southeast, Southwest, Mountain, Bear River, and Uintah.

There are no hearings scheduled in Salt Lake County on either date. Party chair, Rob Axson, says that’s because Utah’s initiative law is specific about where those hearings can be held.

“Complying with the law means that you can only do Davis or Salt Lake if you have Utah County,” Axson said. “And seven cities didn’t have availability in Salt Lake County when Davis got back to us.”

The law says that, “Of the seven public hearings, the sponsors of the initiative shall hold at least two of the public hearings in a first or second class county, but not in the same county.”

Salt Lake is Utah’s only first-class county; Davis, Utah, Washington, and Weber counties are second-class counties.

The two hearings closest to Salt Lake are on Nov. 10, one at the Kaysville City Hall and one at Alpine City Hall.

There are also several more requirements in law for these public hearings, for example, the party must record or take detailed minutes of the meetings and get them to the Lt. Governor to be posted.

They must also “place at least 50 copies of the initial fiscal impact statement, for distribution to public hearing attendees, in a conspicuous location at the entrance to the room where the sponsors hold the public hearing.”

Failure to follow any of the specifics could invalidate the initiative.

The party also says they are going “above and beyond” the hearing schedule that is required by law by scheduling the seven additional hearings on Nov. 10.

“We’re doing this because we value the voices of Utahns and believe in genuine representative government. Our goal is to ensure that every Utahn has the opportunity to be heard and to help preserve the integrity of our state’s constitutional process.”

What happens if the initiative is successful?

The hearings are just the first step in Utah’s initiative process, one that critics claim makes passing initiatives in Utah difficult on purpose. The party must also gather over 140,000 signatures of registered voters in Utah by Feb. 15 in 26 of 29 counties.

If the map passed by the legislature, known as Map C, is approved by the judge and it moves forward, and the party meets all those requirements, that would put Proposition 4 on hold and ask the voters in Nov. of 2026 whether they want to repeal it.

Putting Prop 4 on hold also invalidates map C because of the clause in the bill that says that the map “establishes new United States Congressional district boundaries for Utah while the 2021 boundaries are enjoined and Title20A, Chapter 19, is in effect.”

In short, Title 20A Chapter 19 is Proposition 4, so if it’s not in effect, neither is map C.

Presumably, that would mean Utah would need another new map for the 2028 elections, and the legislature would be able to draw it without the anti-gerrymandering criteria of Proposition 4.