Three days before a court-ordered deadline to pick new boundaries for Utah’s four congressional districts, Gov. Spencer Cox has issued an official proclamation for lawmakers to convene Monday.
Under the order signed Friday morning, the Legislature will also consider a proposal to “address redistricting standards, including determining the best available data and scientific and statistical methods to use in evaluating redistricting plans.”
That Republican-pitched plan, unveiled Sunday, could make it easier for the GOP supermajority body to implement new congressional maps that retain four solid red districts.
Judge Dianna Gibson set a Monday target after striking down the existing House boundaries, which quartered Salt Lake County, the bluest part of the state.
In the August ruling, the 3rd District judge said that the maps could not be used in the 2026 election because the Legislature should have complied with Proposition 4 — the 2018 citizen-passed Better Boundaries initiative — that sought to prohibit partisan gerrymandering.
Better Boundaries has launched a campaign opposing the bill — sponsored by Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove —that would codify a test to determine partisan fairness.
In a news release Friday afternoon, Better Boundaries said it will send text messages and mailers, and buy billboards and digital ads in legislative districts where voters passed Proposition 4.
“The proposed legislation would gut Proposition 4, once again undermining the will of the people by weakening the protections Utahns voted for and allowing partisan gerrymandering to continue,” the release says. “The Legislature is trying to trick the voters once again, claiming they are following the court order, when the court does not require codification of tests.”
Lawmakers are accepting public comments on six proposed maps through the weekend. The Legislative Redistricting Committee — made up predominantly of Republicans — is scheduled to meet Monday at 8 a.m. to recommend its preferred map.
The entire Legislature is then slated to come together to vote on it, and other bills already considered by legislative committees, at 9 a.m.
Those bills include one that has been criticized by members of the judiciary as a threat to the power balance between its branch and the two others. If passed, it would give the governor the power to appoint the chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court every eight years.
The governor vetoed an earlier version of the bill, which would have required the chief justice to be picked more frequently. That was introduced during this year’s general session as one of a wave of proposed measures to rein in the judicial branch after multiple rulings against the Legislature, including in the 3-year-old redistricting case.
Cox also asked the Legislature to weigh two changes to elections laws. The governor initially requested lawmakers make both adjustments in a March end-of-session letter.
One bill that Cox signed, while still requesting tweaks, 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 the bill, arguing it was too expensive and burdensome.
Brian McKenzie, Davis County clerk, told the Government Operations Interim Committee in August that clerks in the state largely still do not support an updated version of the legislation, but, “We are getting very close with this bill.”
Citing “unintended consequences,” Cox also asked in the spring letter that lawmakers revise HB356 from Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, that requires Wasatch and Summit counties to draw districts for county council members, rather than electing them at-large.
A new version of the bill would exempt Wasatch County from the mandate.
Lawmakers will also vote to accept federal Rural Health Transformation Program funds passed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a core piece of President Donald Trump’s agenda.
That money will go toward rural hospitals and clinics, but Utah hospital representatives have referred to it as “a Band-Aid on a dismembered arm” after that same bill slashed Medicaid funding, stripping an estimated 77,000 Utahns of health insurance.
Salt Lake Tribune reporter Addy Baird contributed to this story.
Update: Oct. 3, 2:00 p.m. • The story has been updated to include information on opposition efforts announced Friday afternoon by Better Boundaries.