SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Legislature is planning to repeal a controversial bill that bans public employee unions from collective bargaining.
The repeal of the law was included in a call for a special session issued by Governor Spencer Cox on Sunday. Lawmakers are also planning to make changes to the redistricting process including changing candidate filing deadlines for congress; consider a joint resolution of the House of Representatives and the Senate "regarding constitutional authority, including in redistricting, and the redistricting process"; and demand the Utah Supreme Court hear their appeals on it.
In a post on X, Gov. Cox said he supported the agenda items.
On the union bill, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, called for a "reset."
"It’s clear that the heated debate around these issues has created unnecessary division, which was never the intent,” they said in a joint statement Sunday. “Repealing the bill allows us to reset the discussion and move forward to ensure we get this right. We’re committed to continuing conversations with all stakeholders to craft policies that support our public employees, protect public funds, and keep Utah’s government responsive and accountable to the people we serve.”
Lawmakers passed House Bill 267 earlier this year, prohibiting public employee unions from collective bargaining. Unions rallied on Capitol Hill and gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures to force a citizen referendum on the 2026 ballot.
In light of the redistricting ruling, lawmakers may have also been reluctant to see the referendum on a ballot on the same year with a large number of legislators up for election and open congressional seats.
"The expected repeal belongs to the Utahns who stood up and signed the referendum," the Protect Utah Workers Coalition said in a statement to FOX 13 News on Sunday. "More than 320,000 people who signed the petition sent a clear message that public workers deserve a voice on the job. The coalition thanks legislative leadership for respecting the will of the people. This anticipated repeal preserves the rights of firefighters, police, nurses, public educators, transportation workers, airport staff, and all other critical public workers who improve the lives of Utahns every day."
While public employee unions are obviously ecstatic with an end to a heated campaign before it even begins, independent redistricting supporters are gearing up for a lengthy fight. The League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government sued the legislature, accusing it of improperly overriding Proposition 4, the citizen ballot initiative for independent redistricting that voters passed in 2018. They alleged the legislature's map was gerrymandering to favor Republicans.
A judge agreed, tossed that map and ordered a new one. The judge rejected the legislature's new map and chose one by the plaintiffs that she said reflected the tenets of Prop. 4 and neutral redistricting criteria. The Republican supermajority legislature maintains it has the sole constitutional power to draw boundaries and has vowed an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court.
"We’d be thrilled if they would codify the independent redistricting commission, which is what the people voted for in 2018. But of course, that’s not what they will do," Katharine Biele, president of the League of Women Voters of Utah, told FOX 13 News on Sunday.
Ahead of the special session Tuesday evening, the League and other supporters will hold a rally on Utah's Capitol Hill to support independent redistricting.
Meanwhile, a familiar face on another high-profile citizen ballot initiative that passed in 2018 returned to warn voters to hold lawmakers accountable. Christine Stenquist was the founder of Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education and a sponsor of Proposition 2, which legalized medical cannabis.
She said she watched as what voters passed in Prop. 2 was dismantled by the legislature. She also sued the legislature over it, but the lawsuit was ultimately dropped.
"Prop. 2 was really the flare. We were the warning sign, 'Look, they’re coming for the initiatives, all of them,'" she told FOX 13 News on Sunday. "They didn’t like we ran four of them that year, they chopped away at every single one of them. The legislative body doesn’t like the fact that we can co-create legislation in this state through the initiative process."
Stenquist said she supported Prop. 4 plaintiffs' efforts to push back at the legislature and urged medical cannabis supporters to hold lawmakers accountable.
"They’re continuing to hack away at our right to legislate, so I think anybody who cares about the Utah constitution needs to pay attention," she said.
