Opinion: Utah GOP leaders must refocus on serving the public, not themselves

For many years, I have supported the work of our Republican-run state Legislature. Utah’s Republican supermajority has served us well with strong economic policy, fiscal discipline and individual liberty. Many members of the Legislature prioritize limited government and respect for our tax dollars. But in recent years, some Republicans have begun to legislate secrecy and self-preservation. I am concerned by the distrust, and, in some cases, disdain our leaders are showing for the voting public. Why all the effort to increase power and decrease accountability?
During the 2022 legislative session, Republican leaders passed SB170. This bill quietly moved Utah’s candidate filing period to the first five business days of the year. The filing period had previously commenced three days after our 45-day legislative session. Moving the filing date up two months allowed legislators to protect their jobs and create a two-year buffer for any challenges. If you are unhappy with the actions or votes of your representative during this year’s legislative session (which took place Jan. 13 to March 1), your first opportunity to run against them or support any other candidate will not be until 2026! This change was about protecting incumbent lawmakers, not about good governance.
On Feb. 28, Utah legislators passed SB240, which was immediately signed into law. This legislation made the official calendars of elected officials private. It came in response to the repeated information requests from Utah media outlets to state Attorney General Sean Reyes since 2022. The attorney general refused to release his official calendar and continues to do so even after the 3rd District Court and State Records Committee each ruled that he is required to do so. He has used taxpayer dollars to appeal these decisions for two years. Rather than defend the public’s right to information granted in Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act, the state Legislature privatized public officials’ calendars to protect themselves and their friends. Why the strong opposition to voters seeing and evaluating how our politicians spend their official time?
And now there is Amendment D. In July 2024, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that the state Legislature didn’t have the power to significantly alter a 2018 statewide citizen initiative. In response, Republican leaders called an emergency session and quickly passed a proposed constitutional amendment (Amendment D) to grant themselves greater power over initiatives that voters pass. Because some states have struggled to implement citizen initiatives and deal with their respective costs, I understand the importance of this conversation. I agree that it may warrant a place on our ballots. However, instead of a neutral description of the amendment, Republican leaders wrote a description for our November ballots that stated they were “strengthening” and “clarifying” the initiative process, without mentioning that the constitutional amendment would allow the state Legislature to amend or completely repeal laws passed through the initiative process.
Utah’s 3rd District Court ruled that the description language was “counterfactual” and when Republican leaders appealed to the Utah Supreme Court, they lost again. According to last Wednesday’s unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court, “The description does not submit the amendment to voters ‘with such clarity as to enable the voters to express their will.’” Our Senate president and House speaker called this an effort to prevent Utah voters from having the chance to vote on the issue, when in fact they wrote the misleading description to which the courts object.
When did the most important job in politics become protecting one’s power and reelection? In Utah’s most recent statewide elections (2022), House of Representative incumbents were reelected in 62 of the 68 House seats they sought (seven Representatives did not seek reelection). Ninety-one percent of incumbent Utah legislators who sought reelection won. Republicans currently hold 61 of the 75 total seats. As a believer in limited government and low taxes, I have appreciated this Republican supermajority. But I see less respect for my tax dollars and more effort to remove transparency. The self-interest we decry in Washington, D.C., is certainly present in Utah. It is time for Republican leaders to stand up those in the party who are more concerned with increasing their power than in honest government. It’s time for our elected officials to get back to representing the ideals of our great state.
Kathryn W. Dahlin is a longtime Republican state delegate, mother of four, community advocate and former Republican candidate to represent Utah’s 3rd Congressional District.