Gov. Cox expected to call Utah lawmakers into a special session. Here’s what they might do.

After the Utah Legislature wrapped up its annual session in March, Gov. Spencer Cox told lawmakers he would sign a handful of bills he didn’t like if they agreed to fix them in a special session.

That session is expected to come next month. And while lawmakers have plans to accommodate the governor’s request and work on other pressing issues, the Legislature is using the time together to do more.

Interim committees this week publicly discussed several draft bills, but in closed-door caucus meetings, lawmakers weighed taking on more controversial matters.

Just over three months after opponents to a recently passed law barring public employee unions from negotiating contracts with their government employers gathered a record-breaking 251,590 signatures to put a referendum on the ballot, lawmakers could take action to adjust the law.

According to Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, discussions about what lawmakers might do, if anything, are ongoing. House Republicans deliberated in a lengthy private meeting Wednesday, but House Majority Leader Casey Snider, R-Paradise, said the caucus hadn’t landed on a position and had more work to do exploring the possibilities.

Options reportedly on the table include doing nothing, repealing the law altogether or replacing it with something else. Replacing the law could help lawmakers avoid a referendum next year, when many are up for reelection.

Cox has previously said he’s open to legislators revisiting it.

Lawmakers could also take on another hot topic among Republican officials: requiring Utahns to prove citizenship when registering to vote — an effort including such a measure died earlier this year.

Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, told KSL.com that she hopes a proposal she’s been working on aimed at stopping noncitizens from voting, which is already illegal, will get attention during the September special session.

In a news conference Thursday, Cox said he was unsure whether that bill might be included in a special session, noting that “conversations about the special session are just starting to happen.”

But, he said, noncitizens should be prosecuted if they are voting illegally, and, “We’re constantly looking to update our voting laws to make sure that we’re protecting people and protecting the safety of those voter rolls.”

Elections

Two other election-related bills appear to have guaranteed spots on a special session agenda. Cox requested both in a March end-of-session letter, and lawmakers presented drafts of both in legislative meetings Wednesday.

One bill that Cox signed, while asking for adjustments, is Rep. Norm Thurston’s, R-Provo, HB263. The new law expands which election records county clerks have to make available to the public.

County clerks throughout the state asked the governor to reject it, arguing the bill was too expensive and burdensome.

Brian McKenzie, Davis County clerk, told the Government Operations Interim Committee on Wednesday that clerks in the state largely still do not support the updated legislation, but, “We are getting very close with this bill.”

The county election officials’ concerns remain centered on the proposal making clerks’ jobs increasingly onerous.

Citing “unintended consequences,” Cox also asked that lawmakers revise another bill from Teuscher, HB356, that required Wasatch and Summit counties to draw districts for county council members, rather than electing them at-large.

A new version of the bill exempts Wasatch County from the mandate.

Courts

The Legislature will likely reexamine a measure Cox vetoed earlier this year — giving the governor the power to appoint the chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court.

A rejected version of the bill would have allowed the governor to nominate a chief justice for confirmation by the Legislature every four years, which Cox said would have given the executive and legislative branches too much influence over the courts.

The initial bill was part of a broader effort to rein in the judiciary after multiple rulings against the Legislature.

Cox told reporters Thursday that he started negotiations with lawmakers asking for a 10-year term for chief justices, but they ultimately agreed to a term of eight years.

“I had already signaled to them that I could support [the bill] if there were changes made, and they’ve been willing to make those changes,” Cox said.

Great Salt Lake

The Legislature could also move next month to give state officials more direction in how they manage the Great Salt Lake causeway berm separating the northern and southern portions of the lake. Adjusting the height of the berm helps control salinity levels.

“There are some temporary engineering measures that we can do to preserve life around the Great Salt Lake,” Cox said.

Most of the life in the lake is in the less salty south side, which supports an ecosystem of insects, brine shrimp and millions of migrating birds — the causeway has likely saved habitats there multiple times.

Higher education

Lawmakers this week also discussed a 606-page bill to reorganize and condense the statutes governing public higher education in Utah.

Passing the bill in a special session, said Rep. Val Peterson, an Orem Republican and administrator at Utah Valley University, will simplify the process of considering higher-education-related laws in the upcoming general session.

Clean ups

Other likely proposals would correct a mistake in a vehicle registration-related bill, clean up technical issues — like grammar or spacing — in state code, and add back a bill amendment approved by lawmakers and accidentally omitted from an enrolled version of the law.

Salt Lake Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke contributed to this story.