Utah Amendment B to set 60% bar for ballot initiatives that increase taxes fails

Preliminary election night results show Utahns rejecting the Utah Legislature’s proposed constitutional amendment that would have made it harder for ballot initiatives that come with tax increases to pass into law. 

Amendment B — which would require certain citizen-proposed laws to be approved by at least 60% of voters instead of a simple majority as currently required in the Utah Constitution — had only 38% approval after polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday night. About 62% voted to reject it.

If approved, Amendment B’s 60% threshold requirement would apply to ballot initiatives that increase taxes, either by creating a new tax, expanding an existing tax, hiking an existing tax rate, or changing a property tax rate in a way that results in a smaller decrease in the property tax rate than would occur under existing law. 

The Associated Press declared that Amendment B had failed before 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Another proposed constitutional amendment lawmakers put on this year’s ballot was Amendment A, which would strip out the explicit requirement for all other future proposed constitutional amendments to be published in newspapers before an election, instead replacing it with a more flexible rule that would be set by lawmakers. 

Amendment A was on track to pass, with about 60% voting in favor.

What’s up with amendments A & B? Lawmakers are asking voters to change the Utah Constitution (again)

Election results aren’t final until county and state canvasses are completed in two weeks. 

Of the two amendments, Amendment B stirred the most controversy — and attracted more than $3 million in spending in an effort to shoot it down.  

Critics launched a political issues committee, Utahns Protecting Our Constitution, to finance a multimillion-dollar campaign urging Utah voters to vote down Amendment B. 

Groups that joined that effort included Better Boundaries, which successfully sponsored an anti-gerrymandering ballot initiative in 2018 that created an independent redistricting process. 

In a statement issued after results posted Tuesday night, Elizabeth Rasmussen, executive director of Better Boundaries and spokesperson for Utahns Protecting our Constitution, said she was “encouraged” by the vote tallies so far.

“Clearly Utahns across the state are voting no on government overreach,” Rasmussen said. “However, we recognize votes are still being counted and will reserve any additional statements until the outcome is determined.”

Utah Republican Party Chair Rob Axson, in an interview with Utah News Dispatch, acknowledged Amendment B would likely fail, calling the outcome “unfortunate.”

“That was always going to be an uphill battle” when faced with millions of spending aimed at sinking the effort, Axson said. “So when you have that amount of money being spent on an issue, it definitely puts the thumb on the scale.”

Axson argued “it would have been good for Amendment B to pass to put guardrails on tax increases.”

“Tax increases should only happen when there’s broadly supported consensus in doing that, and we should be very judicious in taking money out of people’s pockets,“ he said. “But if the people of Utah didn’t want that this go around … they get to make that decision, and we have to abide by that.”

Leading up to the election, Utahns Protecting our Constitution argued Amendment B would be an “unnecessary and permanent rewrite of Utah’s founding document that would weaken one of the most important tools citizens have to hold government accountable.” Democrats also opposed it, arguing it would allow legislators to have more power by requiring voters to face stricter rules than the Legislature itself. 

Under Amendment B’s increased approval threshold, Utahns’ 2018 ballot initiatives expanding Medicaid and legalizing medicinal cannabis would have failed.

Amendment B’s supporters, including the Utah Republican Party, GOP legislators and the Utah Taxpayers Association, argued the change would help protect taxpayer money, and it should be harder for ballot initiatives that raise taxes to pass at the ballot box. 

Jason Perry, director of the University of Utah’s Hinkley Institute of Politics, told KUER that Amendment B’s fate hinges on how Utah voters feel about the balance of power between themselves and their Legislature — and if the Legislature should have more power over certain issues, like tax increases, than the people.

“It’s about our elected officials and the amount of power the people are willing to give them,” he said. “When it comes to raising taxes, should there be a higher threshold or not? Keep in mind our constitution is very clear that the powers … are co-equal between the people and the Legislature. And this amendment kind of gets to what kind of power the people would like our Legislature to have. And also, for the people themselves, for certain issues relating to taxes, whether or not there should be a higher threshold for things like that. That’s really what’s at the heart of this.” 

If Amendment B fails, Perry said “it’s a reminder that the voters can make distinctions” about how far they want their Legislature’s power to go.

“They can trust their elected representatives to make policy decisions, but they will intervene at some point if they get to a position where they don’t like the direction,” Perry said. “It’s not one that can just be taken for granted. They can trust their elected officials. They can even like them, but it doesn’t mean they’re not interested in preserving their own ability to make change on their own.”

Ahead of Election Day, a poll conducted by Noble Predictive Insights indicated Amendment B was headed for trouble. It showed 56% opposed it, 34% would vote in favor, and 10% were undecided. 

That survey was conducted Oct. 26 and 27 of 527 likely general election voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.27 percentage points. 

In response to those poll results, Utah GOP Chair Rob Axson issued a statement saying “Utah public opinion has consistently shown that Utahns oppose higher taxes,” and that the survey comes “after efforts by special interests with hidden liberal agendas to confuse and complicate the discussion” over Amendment B. 

Utahns Protecting our Constitution spent more than $3.1 million on the campaign opposing Amendment B, which included radio and TV ads, mailers and social media efforts, according to the group’s campaign finance disclosures.

Of the more than $3.1 million contributed to Utahns Protecting Our Constitution, the Fairness Project, based in Washington, D.C., contributed about $1.6 million toward the effort.

That group has launched ballot measure campaigns in states across the country, including efforts to oppose abortion restrictions, raise the minimum wage, expand Medicaid, reform redistricting and “protect the ballot measure process against attempts to diminish voters’ rights to use direct democracy,” the Fairness Project’s website says. 

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Axson argued those out-of-state donations thumbed the scale toward “liberal” special interests rather than Utahns’ best interests.

“Amendment B puts families first by requiring broad public support before new taxes can be imposed,” Axson said. “Utah’s future should be decided by Utah voters, not deep-pocketed national interest groups.”

A spokesperson for Utahns Protecting our Constitution said in a statement in response to the poll results and Axson’s comments that “Utahns are recognizing Amendment B for what it is, another attempt by the Legislature to usurp their power as citizens. We continue to encourage Utahns to vote and reject this power grab.”

“This campaign has been led by Utahns, for Utahns,” Utahns Protecting or Constitution said. “More than 80% of our donors are from within the state, and that doesn’t even account for the countless hours Utahns have spent knocking doors, spreading the word online, and talking with friends and family. Time and time again, Utahns are showing up to protect their power and preserve their ability to keep politicians in check.”