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The Utah Supreme Court ruled Friday that changes to signature-gathering requirements to put an initiative on the ballot do not unreasonably burden the measure's proponents.

In addition, the high court said the changes — which increased the number of signatures needed and shortened the time to gather them — are not a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech.

"Numerous cases adjudicated by this court and federal courts have repeatedly distinguished between regulation of the initiative process and discouraging or preventing speech regarding the subject of the initiative," Justice Christine Durham wrote.

She was joined in the opinion by Chief Justice Matthew Durrant, Associate Justice Ronald Nehring and Justice Jill Parrish. In a separate opinion, Justice Thomas Rex Lee said he concurred that the initiative amendments are constitutional.

The decision was a defeat for former Republican Congressman Merrill Cook and other supporters of a Lawful Employment Ordinance initiative that would have required Salt Lake County employers to adopt an E-Verify law designed to halt the hiring of undocumented workers.

Cook said Friday that the changes make it difficult to put an initiative on the ballot without using paid professionals to circulate petitions.

"I believe in the initiative process and I believe it should be reasonable," Cook said, adding that Utah's rules are too restrictive.

However, Bridget Romano, the state's solicitor general, said the ruling clarifies the rules and does not violate the right to put an initiative on the ballot.

Gov. Gary Herbert signed Senate Bill 165, the law changing the initiative procedures, in March 2011, a few months before the Lawful Employment Ordinance supporters began gathering signatures. Under the law, signatures for a local initiative must be gathered within 316 days or by April 15 of the election year, whichever occurs first, and their number must equal at least 10 percent of the votes cast for president in the last election in the county or city.

Previously, proponents of local initiatives had an unlimited time to gather signatures as long as they were submitted by the April 15 immediately before the next regular general election. (The time limit for statewide initiatives had been one year; the changes also apply for statewide initiatives now).

Cook said he began gathering signatures in June 2011, with plans to put his initiative on the November 2012 ballot. The procedure changes increased the number of required signatures in Salt Lake County from approximately 23,000 to 39,000, he said, and "eliminated the temperate months" — when it's easier to gather signatures — from the time volunteers had to work.

The group fell short of the signature's needed and the initiative did not go on the ballot.

Cook and two other initiative sponsors, Paul Brugger and Mara Brenenstall, challenged the changes in 3rd District Court. Judge Randall Skanchy ruled in August 2012 that the requirements did not infringe on free-speech rights.

The trio then appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld Skanchy's decision. Durham wrote that the initiative supporters were free to campaign for the measure "before, during and after the statutory 316-day period."

The First Amendment "does not guarantee unlimited participation in political activity, nor does it establish a right to political success," she said. "Rather, it protects individuals from regulations that directly discourage or prohibit political expression."

In addition, the opinion said "that on its face, we cannot say that requiring signatures equal to 10 percent of the votes cast in the previous presidential election rather than 10 percent of the votes in the prior gubernatorial election amounts to a per se unreasonable restriction on the right to initiative."

Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC