Two proposed constitutional amendments on the Utah November ballot remain, two are void
Oct 3, 2024, 5:00 AM | Updated: Oct 10, 2024, 9:37 am
FILE: The Capitol is pictured in Salt Lake City on Monday, Jan. 29, 2024. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Editors’s note: This story has been revised to more fully explain how each public school in Utah determines spending distributions from the State School Fund. It has also been revised to reflect that the Third Judicial District Court voided Utah Constitutional Amendment A.
SALT LAKE CITY—Four proposed constitutional amendments are included on the Utah 2024 general election ballot. However, the Utah Supreme Court and the Third Judicial District Court have declared two of the amendments void.
The Third Judicial District Court voided Amendment A on Oct. 9. The court agreed with plaintiffs, including the Utah Education Association, that the proposed amendment’s wording was unclear. The plaintiffs also argued that lawmakers hadn’t followed the Utah Constitution’s publishing guidelines for proposed constitutional amendments.
The Utah Supreme Court voided Amendment D on Sept. 25. Similarly, the court ruled lawmakers did not publish the amendment text in newspapers across the state for two months before the general election. That violates the Utah Constitution.
According to Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman, her office will treat votes for voided amendments like votes for a candidate who drops out of an election after ballots are sent out.
Here’s what the remaining amendments would do if passed by Utah voters.
Utah Constitutional Amendments: ‘B’ changes State School Fund limit
Utah Constitutional Amendment B, the “raise the cap” amendment, addresses limits on annual distributions from the State School Fund. The official text reads as follows:
Shall the Utah Constitution be amended to increase the limit on the annual distributions from the State School Fund to public schools from 4% to 5% of the fund?
Effectively, Congress created the Utah State School Fund in January 1896, when Utah became a state. At that time, “Congress granted lands with the requirement that any revenue generated from the leases or land sales associated with the grant would go into a permanent endowment to support public schools,” according to the Utah Land Trusts Protection & Advocacy Office.
According to the advocacy office, the trust system consists of four self-funded agencies. A council in each public school determines how to spend its distributions from the State School Fund.
If voters approve Amendment B, they will approve increasing the annual distribution from the State School Fund from 4% to 5%.
Utah Constitutional Amendments: ‘C’ codifies election of county sheriffs
Utah Constitutional Amendment C asks the following:
Shall the Utah Constitution be amended to have the office of county sheriff be elected by voters?
Voters in Utah already elect county sheriffs. Approving Amendment C makes their election a constitutional requirement.
“[The amendment] is very simple,” said former Utah State House Speaker Brad Wilson, as cited by Ballotpedia. “It creates an opportunity for the voters of the state of Utah to determine through amending our state constitution whether or not that’s something they want to protect in perpetuity.”
