SALT LAKE CITY — A vote on a congressional map, a controversial bill on redistricting and a new plan to try to help the Great Salt Lake will be part of Monday's special session of the Utah State Legislature.
The congressional map that will be chosen by the legislature's redistricting committee is under court order — and as one senator put it — under protest. A judge sided with the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government, who sued over the legislature's replacement of voter-approved Prop. 4 which created an independent redistricting commission. The legislature has been ordered to draw a new map that complies with the citizen ballot initiative that goes to her for approval. If she rejects that map? The plaintiffs have their own proposal waiting in the wings.
Lawmakers will consider a controversial bill advanced by Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Highland, which would implement a single measure for redistricting — a political science philosophy known as "partisan symmetry" in redistricting, calculating districts by party strength. Critics accuse it of being another form of gerrymandering in an overwhelmingly Republican state like Utah.
"The first thing the legislature does after the court has said 'Hey, we need to re-draw maps' is they’re seeking to redefine Prop 4 again. Let’s not let them do it again," said Elizabeth Rasmussen, the executive director of Better Boundaries, the group that successfully passed Prop. 4 in 2018.
Utah's legislature will have their maps and so will the plaintiffs, just in case:
On Friday, Better Boundaries launched a campaign of TV and digital ads, billboards and social media ads urging Utahns to call their lawmakers and demand they vote down Sen. Brammer's bill. Other groups were mobilizing against it, including the League of Women Voters of Utah.
"Instead of simply passing a map that *complies* with Prop 4, the Legislature is attempting to pass a bill to *change* Prop 4. And they're trying to change it to mandate the use of a biased test that would greenlight a gerrymandered map, which is exactly what Prop. 4 is meant to prohibit," League president Katharine Biele said in a text message to FOX 13 News.
Late Friday, Sen. Brammer announced in a statement issued through the Utah State Senate that he would modify the bill to include three tests.
"We sought feedback, and I appreciate my colleagues, including members of both parties, and members of the public for their input,” he said. “In response, we added two additional tests to ensure the analysis of maps is more robust to identify undue favoring or disfavoring of any party—whether that party be Republicans or Democrats."
Those tests include the partisan bias test, an ensemble analysis that he said "detects purposeful favoring or disfavoring of any party" and a mean difference test "to measure undue favoring or disfavoring of any party."
Rasmussen warned that if the bill passes and is signed by Gov. Cox? A return trip to court may be likely.
"We’ll see what happens on Monday, but we do anticipate seeing this in court again," she told FOX 13 News.
The Great Salt Lake berm bill would give Utah's Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands the ability to make snap decisions on the lake's health by raising and lowering the causeway berm that divides the north and south arms of the lake.
Below are the items on the special session agenda:
- Amendments to H.B. 263, Election Record Amendments, enacted in the 2025 General Session, specifically to clarify definitions and define new terms, address retention requirements for certain election records, and modify reporting requirements related to certain election-related data;
- Consider amendments to H.B. 356, County Governance Amendments, enacted in the 2025 General Session, specifically to modify when a council member in certain counties must represent a single district, and other related provisions;
- Consider changes to the process for selection as well as term of the chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court, as allowed by Article VIII, Section 2, of the Utah Constitution;
- Consider amendments to H.B. 272, Vehicle Assessment Amendments, enacted in the 2025 General Session, specifically to modify vehicle weights required to be tested for emissions compliance;
- Consider amendments to H.B. 337, Property Manager Requirements, enacted in the 2025 General Session, specifically to adjust the effective date and to amend other provisions of the bill;
- Recodify Utah Code Title 17, Counties, and to recodify certain corresponding provisions in Title 10, Utah Municipal Code;
- Recodify Utah Code Title 53B, State System of Higher Education;
- Consider technical amendments to the Utah Code in a bill entitled “Revisor’s Technical Corrections to Utah Code”;
- Consider amendments to Utah Code § 65A-17-201(14) to enable the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands to raise the Great Salt Lake adaptive management berm under certain circumstances;
- Consider amendments comparable to S.B. 67, Local Option Sales Tax Amendments, from the 2025 General Session, to adjust local option sales and usetaxes available for qualifying political subdivisions to fund emergency services within certain counties;
- Consider amendments to Utah Code §20A-19-103 to address redistricting standards, including determining the best available data and scientific and statistical methods to use in evaluating redistricting plans;
- Consider adopting new congressional district boundaries in relation to ongoing redistricting litigation;
- Consider a resolution approving acceptance by the State of Utah of Rural Health Transformation Program funds granted under Public Law 119-21, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
