It’s on.
Labor groups have met the requirements to put a measure on the 2026 ballot to repeal a law banning police, firefighters and teachers unions from representing their members in contract negotiations.
As of Monday morning, the referendum backers had reached their target in the required 15 senate districts, in addition to the 146,480 verified signatures statewide, according to the lieutenant governor’s office.
To qualify for the ballot, the Protect Utah Workers coalition, made up of 19 different labor groups, had to gather 140,748 signatures from voters — a number that represents 8% of the registered voters in the state — as well as meet the same 8% mark in more than half of the state’s 29 senate districts.
“Today, Utahns made history,” the coalition said in a statement.
“The message is clear: Utahns still believe in checks and balances, accountability, and the power of the people to lead,” the group said. “Many of the qualified districts are represented by the very politicians who actively pushed — and sponsored [the anti-union legislation]. Now, their own neighborhoods are standing up for public workers’ rights."
Opponents will still have an opportunity to try to convince voters to rescind their signatures, but barring a major shift against the repeal effort, the law will be put on hold until the 2026 election.
The road to repeal has not been easy. Utah is one of 23 states that allow voters to gather signatures and attempt to repeal a law passed by the Legislature, but the barriers in the Beehive State are among the most challenging.
They did that by submitting more than 320,000 signatures to county clerks earlier this month, the most gathered for any single initiative or referendum effort.
In the days since, clerks have had staff manually verifying each signature to make sure the petitions were signed by registered voters and that the signatures match those on file in a state database.
Assuming the numbers hold, voters will get to decide in 2026 whether or not to repeal HB267, a law enacted that prevents state and local government entities, including school districts, from negotiating contracts with representatives of their employee unions.
Backers of the bill argued that when public employee unions gain concessions in contract negotiations, it comes at the expense of taxpayers and excluding unions from negotiations brings more voices to the discussion because most employees are not part of a union.
The bill passed with near-unanimous support from the Republican supermajority in the Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox — even though Cox has since said he did not like the bill and had hoped a compromise could be worked out.
Labor unions argued that the new law would deprive them of their ability to represent workers during contract negotiations. Teachers unions, in particular, saw it as a punitive measure after the Utah Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, opposed efforts by Republican legislators to amend the state’s Constitution to weaken provisions that earmark much of the income tax revenue for public schools and challenged in court a law creating a school voucher program.
That voucher program, despite having grown rapidly since its creation, was found to be unconstitutional by a state judge earlier this month.
Labor groups have poured roughly $3 million into their efforts to repeal HB267, most of it coming from national teachers’ unions.
Barring some unforeseen setback, the stage is now set for a major showdown between labor unions and national small-government groups that have championed the anti-union legislation.
Groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council and Americans For Prosperity have heralded Utah’s law as a model for other states to follow. An organization calling itself Utahns for Worker Freedom will run the campaign against the union referendum.
With the likelihood that Protect Utah Workers appears headed to meet its requirements by comfortable margins, rather than organizing an effort to get voters to remove signatures, Cole Kelley, spokesman for Utahns for Worker Freedom, said “We’re focused on securing a ballot victory to enhance classroom education and safeguard Utah’s workers and taxpayers through practical reforms.”
“As voters learn more about HB267,” he said, “they’ll see why our Legislature passed it and the governor signed it into law. We’re confident the voters will vote HB267 into law.”
The labor coalition is not letting down its guard, however, urging voters to keep their names on the petition. “The fight isn’t over,” they said in a statement. “Together, we will protect the rights of public workers and the rights of every Utahn to be heard.”
The opposition has yet to report raising any money, but millions of dollars are expected to pour into groups both supporting and opposing repeal of the law.
Proponents of the repeal have raised about $3 million so far, with most of it coming from the national teachers’ union.
The last time Utah had a repeal referendum on the ballot was 2007, when voters overwhelmingly chose to rescind a law creating the state’s first school voucher program. In 2020, after the Republican Legislature passed a tax package that would have raised the food tax, groups gathered more than enough signatures to repeal the law, but lawmakers relented and repealed the law before it went before voters.
