Senate Bill 0054S01
March 25, 2008Initiative and Referendum Petition Amendments, sponsored by Brent H. Goodfellow.Maybe I am missing something, but why would the legislature want to make it more difficult for citizens to hold a referendum? That is exactly what happened when this bill passed by a substantial 69-1-5 (1 nay and 5 absent or no vote). They changed the deadline for the signature packets from June 1 to April 15. The last day that the governor can sign a bill is March 25. So if there is a bill, say if vouchers were passed again, and if it were signed into law on March 25, citizens would only have 21 days to get a signature packet ready for submittal.Why is the legislature making it more difficult for citizens to correct their mistakes? This doesn’t make any sense. Citizens need to come together and take back control of the government. Kyle
Kyle Roberts for House District 20 
They didn’t make the changes apply to state referndums for fear of bad press. They just made it harder for county and municipal referendums (So the current situation in I think Weber County where the vote of 2 county commisioners to privatize their garbage service is being challenged by referendum would be almost impossible under the new rules.) and state, county, and municipal initiatives. They changed every form of redress except state referendums and probably have an ominbus bill including state referendum change for the sake of “uniformity” planned for ’09.
You’re absolutely right that making it more difficult for citizens to affect the actions of politicians is an unneeded protection of their power. The saddest thing is that it passed with an almost unanimous vote of both parties.