As many of you may know, I am the Director of Operations for the Fair Boundaries Imitative, and I want to be very clear that the views I express in this blog (or any blog, for that matter) are my own and do not represent the views of any organization I work for.

That being said, Representative Brad Dee’s (R – Ogden – District 11) HB 112 – Supreme Court Review of an Initiative or Referendum is, I feel, a direct attack on the peoples right to circulate petitions.

You see, the bill, if passed, would delete various time requirements for the Supreme Court to review initiatives and referendums and would allow the Supreme Court of Utah to differ fiscal impact estimate issues related to these matters. In other words, if the people are sending a petition around, the Supreme Court is no longer required to act within a set time period to ensure that the people can sign said petition – they could sit on it and, effectively, kill any chance of reform from the people. Furthermore, the Supreme Court could tell an agency under attack to “honestly” investigate the cost associated with implementing a new law – and I am sure these agencies will be unbiased in their assessments.

It should be obvious that this bill is trying to kill future attempts from the people to reform our government.  By removing time restrictions we are removing the requirement for government to certify petitions and, therefore, potentially removing the right of the people to speak on various issues.

Well, I have one simple question for Representative Dee – why are you so afraid of the people to speak? Are you afraid to hear what they have to say about how you and your colleagues govern?

This bill is an attack on your right to speak and should die the most horrific of deaths.

Click here to tell Representative Dee that you demand the right to participate in our democracy.

P.S. Even though this post does not reflect the views of Fair Boundaries, I still encourage you to sign by clicking here.