Some believe it is the nature and disposition of almost all men that as soon as they get a little authority, they will immediately try to gain more. Power seeking is a natural human impulse, and it is currently on display by the Utah Legislature.

As a registered Republican, moderate conservative and advocate for ethical government, I am concerned about the Republican supermajority’s successful pursuit of power previously belonging to the public, nonpartisan legal staff and other branches of government. The Amendment D story is illustrative.

Thanks to a district court ruling protecting Utahns’ right to a truthful ballot (subsequently confirmed by the Supreme Court), votes will not be counted on Amendment D. But the events surrounding the ballot measure expose the Legislature’s penchant for power and should give Utah voters pause about the Republican supermajority’s potential damage to our system’s critical checks and balances.

This particular power grab began in 2018 when citizens passed Proposition 4, which created an independent redistricting commission and put constraints on partisan gerrymandering. In response, the Legislature disregarded the people’s will, passed Senate Bill 200, ignored the commission and adopted gerrymandered maps which advantage Republicans.

Citizen groups filed suit against the Legislature, and in July, the Utah Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Legislature’s power to amend and refine laws made by citizen initiative is not completely unfettered when the initiative is a government reform.

Having heretofore presumed that their power to simply undo every kind of citizen initiative was absolute, legislative leaders were shocked, calling it “one of the worst outcomes we have ever seen from the Utah Supreme Court.” They mischaracterized the court’s very narrow ruling as a sweeping change that would prevent them from amending any public initiative. Then they quickly used another recently seized power, calling themselves into special session, to try to amend away the court’s constitutional ruling.

Historically, only the governor had the power to call the Legislature into special session; but the Legislature’s 2018 Amendment C convinced the public to weaken Executive Branch oversight and give legislators the power to call themselves into special session “to deal with matters such as a fiscal crisis, war, natural disaster, or other emergency.” Apparently, a disappointing Supreme Court decision constitutes such an “emergency.” With only a few perfunctory moments of public input and a mere scattering of gutsy nay votes, Republican legislators passed Senate Joint Resolution 401 and S.B. 4003, rushing Constitutional Amendment D onto the November ballot.

Using another newly acquired power (seized from nonpartisan legal staff via this year’s House Bill 37), majority leaders wrote the ballot language themselves. A seeming attempt at gaslighting, it disguises the amendment’s true intent. The ballot title of Amendment D indicates that passage would “strengthen the initiative process.” It would, in fact, render the process impotent.

A clever half-truth in the ballot language is that Amendment D would “clarify the voters’ and legislative bodies’ ability to amend laws.” But what it fails to explain is that the Legislature would gain exclusive lawmaking power, and voters’ right to reform their government through initiative, already an arduous and rarely achieved process, would be effectively nullified.

Legislators included two red herrings in the measure: prohibiting foreign influence in initiative campaigns and increasing the number of days allowed to gather signatures for a referendum. Neither of these changes requires a constitutional amendment; they seem to be there to distract voters from the primary impact of the amendment and fool them into yielding to the Legislature their constitutional right to reform their government.

Gratefully, Amendment D has been voided by the courts, but the appetite of the supermajority in the Legislature to continually expand their power, even by deceptive means, is undeniable. The constitutional checks and balances in our democratic republic are vital. They are wisely designed to mitigate the natural disposition of individuals and factions to expand and abuse their power. Even if Republican voters are generally satisfied with the lawmaking work of our elected legislators, all citizens of all parties should be concerned about the proclivity of this unrestrained supermajority, many of whom are unopposed in their races and disinclined to listen to citizen input, to grab power from voters, nonpartisan staff and other branches of government.

Diane Wanamaker is a previous state and Utah County Republican delegate and current member of the Utah Advocacy Committee of Mormon Women for Ethical Government.