Utah Legislature in talks to hold special session after Supreme Court ruling on initiatives

Aug 19, 2024, 7:30 AM | Updated: 10:00 am

The Capitol is pictured in Salt Lake City, the governor hascalled a special session...

The Capitol is pictured in Salt Lake City on Monday, Jan. 29, 2024. Utah's population is facing changes. (Kristin Murphy/Deseret News)

(Kristin Murphy/Deseret News)

BY LINDSAY AERTS, KSL TV

KSLNewsRadio

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Legislature is seriously considering calling a special legislative session to address a recent Supreme Court ruling that curtailed its ability to change voter-led ballot initiatives, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

Two members of the House confirmed that their chamber held closed caucus meetings Thursday where the issue of calling the session was discussed. One of the members said the discussion is around whether to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this November.

Those members weren’t willing to be named publicly to protect their roles within the body.

A spokesperson for the Senate confirmed the discussions but wouldn’t elaborate on the plans. “There are a lot of discussions about the possibility of a special session. They are reviewing all the requests, but no decisions have been made,” said Aundrea Peterson.

A spokesperson for the House also confirmed the discussions and ruled out the possibility that a special session would make changes to abortion laws, but would not confirm if the session would be in order to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this November.

A spokesperson for the Governor responded that they would check with the Governor on these details later responding that they had no update to share.

It’s still unclear whether there’s enough support for lawmakers to call themselves into special session — for that to happen it would need to be considered an “emergency in the affairs of the state.”

The Governor can call the legislature into session for any reason, but by law would have to do so 48 hours in advance. That would mean by Monday morning he would need to issue a call if they are to meet on the same day as interim meetings Wednesday, August 21.

Read the full story at KSLTV.com.