By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Following a dropped plan to overturn voter-approved Proposition 4 – Utah’s anti-gerrymandering law – through an indirect initiative, the Utah GOP Political Issue Committee (PIC) Utahns for Representative Government, is instead launching a direct initiative to overturn the measure.
Beginning Monday night, the PIC will host 14 public hearings across the state to discuss the matter, including two stops in the Castle Country. On Monday, Nov. 3, the proposed initiative will be presented in Price at the Jennifer Leavitt Student Center on the campus of Utah State University Eastern, beginning at 6 p.m. A week later, on Nov. 10, UFRG will present at the Emery County Administration building in Castle Dale at 6 p.m.
The PIC has described the second wave of hearing as “going above and beyond what is legally required.”
“We’re doing this because we value the voices of Utahns and believe in genuine representative government,” said the state GOP in a statement. “Our goal is to ensure every Utahn has the opportunity to be heard and to help preserve the integrity of our state’s constitutional process.”
A key difference between the two dates is that the Nov. 3 series of events is legally required to have a public comment period, while the Nov. 10 events do not.
This effort is backed by several heavy-hitters of the Utah GOP, including Utah Republican Party Chair Robert Axson, U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, Former U.S. Congressman Rob Bishop and Republican National Committeeman Brad Bonham.
The party first tried to repeal Prop. 4 through an indirect initiative, an effort which was dropped after Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson informed sponsors that using an indirect initiative to overturn a voter-approved direct ballot initiative would likely be unconstitutional. In a statement released following the stoppage of the initial effort, the Utah Democratic party shared,” Utahns will continue to see through the corruption, abuse of power, and overall disrespect. We will be there to support everyday Utahns when it is time for that particular fight.”
Running concurrently to this direct initiative is a referendum to block the placement of the congressional maps approved by lawmakers last month. Due to Utah’s strict referendum laws, the group would need to gather approximately 140,000 signatures by Nov. 15, in addition to meeting distribution targets in 15 of 29 senate districts, to pause the map and place it before voters in 2026.
