2025 Legislative Session Week 4

What this episode covers

The Utah Legislature is considering a potentially historic number of constitutional amendments this year. One appears to be in direct response to decisions made by the Utah Supreme Court in the Fall of 2024 regarding a requirement that proposed amendments be published in newspapers. Another would change the percentage of "yes" votes needed to approve some voter ballot measures. Our expert panel examines the proposals and discusses why we are seeing so many. We are now officially past the halfway point of the 2025 Utah Legislative Session. Lawmakers have drafted nearly 1,000 bills but have, so far, passed fewer than 100 of them. We discuss what bills could still be coming, and what the legislature is likely to prioritize in the session's final weeks. Finally, there are a number of bills that would modify the judicial branch of government in the Beehive State. One would increase the number of justices on the Utah Supreme Court. Another would increase the threshold for judges to be retained in retention elections from 50% support to 67%. We evaluate how these proposals could reshape the judiciary, and discuss what is the likely motivating factor behind the bills. Host Jason Perry is joined by Senator Chris Wilson, a Republican from Cache and Rich Counties and Majority Whip in the State Senate — Representative Sahara Hayes, a Democrat from Millcreek and Minority Assistant Whip in the Utah House — and Holly Richardson, editor of Utah Policy. Funding for The Hinckley Report is made possible in part by Merit Medical and by the financial contributions of PBS Utah members. If you would like to support the work we do, please visit https://pbsutah.org/supporthinckley

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