Hundreds of teachers gather at the Utah State Capitol to protest a bill that strips public unions of their ability to collectively bargain on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (Kyle Dunphey/Utah News Dispatch)
An effort to overturn a controversial bill that strips Utah’s public unions of the right to collectively bargain got the initial green light on Monday.
According to the Utah Lt. Governor’s Office, a coalition of union advocates called Protect Utah Workers finalized their documents Monday morning, the first step in putting together a referendum on HB267, which was signed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox in February.
On March 15, the coalition will begin the daunting task of collecting enough signatures to meet the threshold for a referendum, where voters can choose whether to overturn the law during a general election. Per Utah Code, once the first signature is collected, organizers have 30 days to gather signatures from 8% of the state’s total active voters, and in 15 of Utah’s 29 Senate districts.
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The coalition is shooting to gather about 200,000 signatures, which is above the minimum threshold, but leaves room for error if some of the signatures are deemed invalid by the lieutenant governor’s office. They plan on submitting the signature packets by April 16. By late June, the coalition says it will know whether the effort was successful.
Collecting 200,000 signatures by April 16 averages out to more than 6,000 signatures each day, a monumental task. But on Monday, members of the coalition said they already have 1,200 volunteers ready to get to work, the latest example of the large-scale opposition to HB267, arguably the most controversial bill to pass this legislative session.
If they are successful, the coalition says a question asking whether HB267 should be overturned will appear on the November ballot.
The Utah Education Association, which represents about 18,000 teachers in the state and was one of the most vocal opponents to the bill, says the effort is a result of lawmakers not listening to constituents.
“Our legislators and the governor did not listen to the huge public outcry against HB267 and we believe that we the people should be able to weigh in and have our voice heard,” said Renee Pinkney, president of the association, last week.
The bill restricts public unions, which represent teachers, police officers, firefighters, municipal workers and other public employees, from negotiating terms of employment. For instance, a teachers union would no longer be able to negotiate with a school district.
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Legislative leaders were behind the bill — which prohibits collective bargaining for public employees including teachers, firefighters, police officers, municipal workers and others — despite it receiving broad bipartisan pushback, narrowly clearing the Senate with a 16-13 vote on final approval. Even Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said he didn’t like the bill, despite signing it late on Valentines Day.
“Didn’t love the bill, thought we had a compromise, thought that was done, and then it fell apart at the last minute,” Cox told Utah News Dispatch on Friday. “Just because I don’t love a bill doesn’t mean I veto it. I’m going to sign 100 bills that I don’t love.”
And although he voted and advocated for the bill, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, welcomed the challenge.
“They’re pushing back on us. That’s part of the process,” Adams said. “We welcome that, even though we may not like it, we actually welcome it as part of the process. We’ll see how successful it is.”
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