Opinion: The Utah Legislature overstepped. Utahns deserve better

Most special legislative sessions in Utah are called by the governor after conferring with the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House. But in August, the Utah Legislature called itself into a special session, which is constitutionally allowed only if they and two-thirds of the members of the House and Senate determine that the state is in an emergency situation. In this case, the stated “emergency” was a need to quickly overrule a unanimous Utah Supreme Court decision regarding the balance of power between citizen ballot initiatives and the Legislature.
Changing our constitution should be a careful and thoughtful process, but this proposed amendment (which is listed on the ballot as Amendment D) compromised important safeguards at many steps along the way.
Here are some examples of the legislative overreach I witnessed over the last few weeks:
Denying the public a chance to know what changes a law is going to make before legislators are asked to commit to how they are going to vote is a bad procedure for any law, but this proposed change is not just “any law.” Amendment D is a change to the Utah Constitution that would permanently decrease the power of citizens’ ballot initiatives by giving power to the Legislature to immediately repeal them — no matter what public feedback suggests. Choosing how to vote on important legislation isn’t easy, and there are many different considerations that each individual lawmaker might weigh with an important vote. All lawmakers have a responsibility to listen to their constituents on important issues, and they cannot do that if the commitment to vote a certain way happens before their constituents are even allowed to know what changes are being suggested.
Amendment D is on the ballot for November, but a 3rd District Court Judge has ruled that the ballot language crafted by leadership was misleading and that a constitutionally required notice was not met; therefore, the ballot question is void and votes for or against will not be counted. However, with appeals, this might change, and it is important for voters to be aware of how this amendment rolled out.
This is not the right way to propose changes to our constitution. I believe process matters, and Utahns deserve better.
Marsha Judkins is a member of the Utah House of Representatives. She represents District 61.