“Everybody we’ve talked to has been super supportive,” Hatch told the Standard-Examiner. “They kind of understand it — or even just explaining that what we’re trying to do is get signatures to put this in the voters’ hands, right? This doesn’t change anything affirmatively, but it puts it in the voters’ hands.”

Dubbed the “Public Sector Labor Union Amendments,” H.B. 267 was signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox in February amid opposition from labor groups.

“Utah has long been known as a state that can work together to solve difficult issues,” Cox later said in a statement. “I’m disappointed that in this case, the process did not ultimately deliver the compromise that at one point was on the table and that some stakeholders had accepted.”

The petition drive has yielded results for Protect Utah Workers, a coalition of 19 labor unions (including the Professional Firefighters of Utah) seeking H.B. 267’s repeal. The group announced last month that it had gathered nearly 130,000 signatures. However, Utah’s signature requirements for referendums are steep — at least 8% of the state’s registered voters, and 8% in 15 of Utah’s 29 state Senate districts must provide signatures.

That amounts to almost 141,000 signatures gathered in just a 30-day span in order for the referendum to advance to the November 2026 ballot. The deadline for turning in signature packets is Tuesday; the coalition will deliver packets to county clerks the following day.

A coalition spokesperson told the Standard-Examiner that additional updates on the signature count would not be provided “until the end of the referendum.” In the meantime, gathering signatures remains important, as a large number of signatures may be rejected.

“We are noticing many well-intentioned people are signing the petition who are not registered to vote in Utah, or the information they provide, such as their address, does not match the voter records. We are urging everyone to double-check before signing the petition,” the spokesperson said.

For Hatch, and others like him, the bill and referendum aren’t solely about collective bargaining or matters of compensation; the effects of H.B. 267 are far-reaching.

“It’s health. It’s safety. It’s working conditions,” he said, adding that those concerns have an impact on agencies’ ability to hire and keep employees, which, in turn, affects service levels. “Go type in ‘Utah firefighters hiring’ and look at the amount of people that we’re trying to hire right now. It’s only going to get worse, because this is a big deal to public safety employees’ health and safety. We have to be able to bring forth issues and negotiate.”

Utah Education Association President Renée Pinkney agreed, telling the Standard-Examiner that all public employees have concerns.

“One of the main issues that we all share is safety, and that looks different with every industry,” Pinkney said. “Firefighters have different safety concerns from police officers, from teachers in classrooms, from nurses, right? So, the safety issues are huge, and being able to articulate where some issues are, no matter which job you are doing — it’s so important to be able to say, ‘Here are some solutions’ and to be collaborating with your employer.”

Both Hatch and Pinkney stressed that the new law impacts “employee associations” in addition to public unions, and that the labor rights of many workers outside of the teaching and public safety spheres are also impacted.

“It’s every public employee who has an association that they are a member of,” Pinkney said. “We have firefighters, we have law enforcement, we have nurses, we have sanitation workers, we have individuals who work for the state, we have librarians. The range just expands … our food and nutrition workers, our plow drivers, our administrative professionals in schools. It runs the gamut.”

Those interest in more information or in participating in a signing event can go to https://www.protectutahworkers.com/get-involved/.