Referendum update: Nearly 80,000 signatures verified in attempt to repeal union bill

The effort to overturn a controversial bill that bans public sector unions from collective bargaining is moving forward, having met the signature threshold in four of 15 Utah Senate districts, and clearing the halfway mark for the statewide requirement. 

Utah has one of the more difficult referendum processes in the country, advocates say, with a high bar to qualify. The Protect Utah Workers coalition had 30 days to gather signatures from at least 8% of the state’s registered voters, roughly 141,000 people. 

Last week, the coalition announced it was submitting about 320,000 signatures, going well above the minimum requirement and, if accurate, making the effort to overturn HB267 one of the most successful in state history. If the county clerks and the lieutenant governor’s office validate enough signatures, voters will decide whether the law should be repealed during the 2026 General Election. 

As of Wednesday, data from the lieutenant governor’s office showed county clerks have verified at least 79,145 signatures, more than halfway toward one of the two requirements outlined in state code. 

The coalition must also gather signatures from 8% of registered voters in at least 15 of Utah’s 29 state Senate districts. Data analyzed by political consulting and public affairs firm Morgan & May showed the coalition has met that threshold in four districts: 

• Sen. Todd Weiler’s District 8, which encompasses North Salt Lake, Woods Cross, Bountiful and parts of Salt Lake City
• Sen. Jen Plumb’s District 9 in Salt Lake City
• Sen. Nate Blouin’s District 13, which includes parts of Salt Lake City, Millcreek, South Salt Lake and Murray
• Sen. Stephanie Pitcher’s District 14, in Salt Lake City, Millcreek, Holladay and Murray. 

Weiler’s district in Davis County is the only GOP-held district so far where the county clerk has verified enough signatures to meet the 8% threshold. 

Labor coalition shatters threshold to qualify for referendum in effort to repeal union bill

According to Morgan & May, 10 other districts are at least 50% complete, with District 11 (much of Tooele County, and parts of West Valley City down to Eagle Mountain) at 49%. Democratic Sen. Kathleen Reibe’s District 15 (parts of Sandy, West Jordan and Cottonwood Heights) is the closest to meeting the requirement, at 82%. 

On Tuesday, the lieutenant governor’s office reported that at least 11,547 signatures have been rejected so far — that’s to be expected, the coalition said. It’s inevitable that some people may sign despite not being registered to vote in Utah, while others might sign twice, have illegible handwriting, or give incorrect voter information. 

That’s why the coalition sought to go above and beyond the minimum requirement of 141,000 votes. According to the figures from Tuesday, about 84% of the signatures submitted are being verified. 

Signed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox in February, HB267 prohibits public sector unions from collective bargaining, the process where, for instance, a teachers union negotiates an employment contract with a school district. The bill takes effect July 1, 2025. 

Lawmakers say HB267 will protect taxpayer dollars while giving all public employees a voice, not just union members. If a teachers union only represents one third of the employees in a school district, it shouldn’t be able to negotiate employment contracts on behalf of everyone, said the bill sponsors, Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, and Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy. 

Salt Lake City’s police and fire departments, and a handful of the state’s school districts, are the only public unions that engage in collective bargaining, and supporters of the bill say the ban would only impact a small number of Utah’s labor organizations. 

But labor groups and members of the public protested the bill at every step, concerned that it would erode their rights and eliminate leverage unions have when meeting with their employers. 

Once Cox signed the bill, the opposition morphed into the Protect Utah Workers coalition — among them are the Utah State Fraternal Order of Police, the Utah Education Association, Professional Firefighters of Utah, Teamsters Local 222, the Salt Lake Valley Law Enforcement Association, United Mine Workers and more.

Cox last week reiterated that despite signing it, he didn’t like the bill and was hoping lawmakers and unions would find a compromise to still allow them to collectively bargain. Now that it’s escalated to a referendum attempt, the governor said he’s impressed by the coalition’s work. 

“I want to congratulate them for their signatures,” Cox said during his monthly PBS news conference. “To get 300,000 signatures is very impressive. People ask if I was surprised and I said I’m actually not surprised. It’s called organized labor for a reason.” 

Still, the governor was hesitant to say whether the number of signatures translates to support to repeal the bill. 

“I don’t know what that means,” he said. “I don’t know if you can extrapolate the number of signatures to broad public support over the course of a year and a half, which is when the vote will take place.”