In just over a week, Sevier County's Right to Vote Committee managed to gather more than enough signatures, pending verification, to put a power-plant proposal on November's ballot.
    The group's haste was motivated by a state law that took effect Monday, banning land-use initiatives and referendums.
    "It was fast and furious. People pulled their cars over and lined up," Elaine Bonavita said Monday of the signature-gathering effort that took place in Richfield last week.
    Bonavita organized the right-to-vote effort to give county residents the final say on a coal-fired power plant planned for 299 acres of agricultural land between Interstate 70 and Sigurd.
    A total of 1,177 valid voter signatures were needed, and the group gathered 1,536 by Friday to allow a cushion during the county clerk's verification process, which should be completed during the next two to four weeks.
    However, the grass-roots effort could still be for naught, pending legal interpretation of SB53 and whether it can withstand a legal challenge.
    The state Attorney General's Office has given its opinion on the matter in a letter sent to Sevier County Attorney Dale Eyre, but declined to release it publicly Monday, claiming attorney-client privilege.
    Eyre had sought legal advice on whether the new law could withstand a constitutional challenge.
   
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Jeff Owens, a land-use attorney representing the Right to Vote group, acknowledged ''SB53 could potentially affect [the initiative] but we hope we got under the wire.''
    He also questions the new law's validity.
    "I don't think it's constitutional . . . It violates Article 6, Section 1, which states that the legal voters may initiate any desired legislation," Owens said. "SB53 curtails that right."
    Assistant Attorney General Thom Roberts would not reveal which direction his advice leaned, saying protocol required that he get Eyre's permission before releasing any information.
    Eyre could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.
    State law includes such correspondence in its list of records deemed public.
    "I have no other objections to giving you the letter but we have to follow protocol," said Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, adding that his office is trying to fill The Tribune's request for information.
    In mid-March, Shurtleff's office released the Open Book, a government-records guide he said was aimed at "making sure the public's business is conducted in public."
    cmckitrick@sltrib.com