Brad Swedlund's grass-roots group, Get Real Utah, gathered 12,343 of the 92,000 signatures needed statewide to force a public vote on a bill directing $35 million of Salt Lake County hotel taxes toward land, parking and infrastructure for the $110 million stadium.

In a letter Thursday, Swedlund questioned whether the geographic requirement - 10 percent of voters in 15 counties - was constitutional. A similar rule for initiatives was deemed illegal in court, he argued.

And asking for statewide participation in a referendum on a Salt Lake County issue is "patently unfair," Swedlund wrote.

Herbert's chief of staff, Joseph Demma, said Friday that the office, to his knowledge, had not received the letter yet. But he said referendum reform was a legislative issue, outside of the lieutenant governor's control.

- Rosemary Winters