H.B. 32 Signature Gathering and Verification Amendments

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Every vote

• 8 yes, 0 no, 4 absentHouse Government Operations Committee: vote to change the bill · Feb 3, 2026Who voted how
• 8 yes, 0 no, 4 absentHouse Government Operations Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 3, 2026Who voted how
• 56 yes, 11 no, 8 absentFinal House vote · Feb 12, 2026Who voted how
• 5 yes, 0 no, 2 absentSenate Revenue and Taxation Committee: vote to change the bill · Feb 23, 2026Who voted how
• 4 yes, 1 no, 2 absentSenate Revenue and Taxation Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 23, 2026Who voted how
• 20 yes, 0 no, 9 absentFirst of two Senate votes · Feb 26, 2026Who voted how
• 22 yes, 7 noFinal Senate vote · Mar 4, 2026Who voted how
• 70 yes, 0 no, 5 absentHouse vote to accept the other chamber's changes · Mar 5, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Feb 3, 2026 House Government Operations Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (38 turns)

  1. Committee chair57:38

     we'll move on to the next item. And that's back up to item number three. And so, uh, come on up here, uh, Representative Cutler, and, uh, I'll make, uh, it clear that, uh, you have a substitute we need to adopt. And so are you gonna speak to that?

  2. Rep. Paul A. Cutler58:00

     Yes, I am. Alright, go ahead. Time's yours. Uh,

  3. Rep. Paul A. Cutler58:03

     Thank you. And if it's okay, I'd like, uh, we have a, a great, uh, LRGC information sheet that has been prepared that I'd like my intern to pass out if, if people would like it, if the chair would allow

  4. Committee chair58:18

     That. Yeah, sure. Go ahead.

  5. Rep. Paul A. Cutler58:20

     Representative Stoddard loves extra paper. He, he looks for it every day. We will Collect, we will collect, uh, at the end, uh, extra copies to make sure we were, are not, uh, filling up his. Alright. Thank you. Oh, thank you. And I have a presentation here, if that could be, if we could show that. Alright, got it. It's up.

  6. Rep. Paul A. Cutler58:54

     So the, uh, speaking to the second sub and many of these things, uh, those of you who are here in the interim and paying attention will, will recognize, uh, there, and there's a few new things. Uh, Representative Thurston and, uh, rep, uh, Senator Kwan also had bills in this area, and we worked together to try to take the best out of each of those and put them together, uh, into this. We've had a lot of good feedback from the state elections office, which we really appreciate, uh, from county clerks who have been very helpful, uh, in, in providing input onto this and also from legislators. So we really appreciate that. So we're, we're, there are five main things that this bill does that we'll go over. One at a time. Number one creates an online training course that's actually already being used, but it makes it clear that, that you have to take the training class as opposed to right now it's kind of voluntary, the elections. Uh, the second is notifications, uh, to notify a, uh, a signer of the status of their signature. Right now you have to proactively go to vote Utah dot gov to see if your name is, uh, is there, uh, three, and this is, and this is new that you haven't seen, a new type of packet called a condensed packet for initiatives and referendums. And then we've update, made some updates to improve packet formatting spacing and change the circulator sheet, uh, in some ways that we'll go over. And then it clarifies, uh, some things about spoiling a packet or clarifying, uh, uh, certifying a signature and storage and retention. So first, uh, which I think will make the biggest difference is what we've talked about all along a online training course that, uh, anyone who gathers signatures. And we also heard from Corinne Peterson to hopefully this will we get put into her bill. Any paid removers would also have to take this online training course. It has some, I've taken it, uh, it has some good information. It has a frequently asked question section that, that answers many questions we see in the news media. Lots of complaints right now about, uh, signature gatherers. And, uh, if they have training classes, if they go through this, they would understand the law better and it would make it very clear, um, what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do. So I think we're all, we've all looked at that. Second is the text and an email notification. So here's a sample, uh, of an email that would be generated. And, uh, when we get the new system, uh, I had our, our, our friends in AI just mock up this, uh, email that would say, Hey, Paul, uh, this notice of signature verification has, has been provided to you that the, the clerk has, uh, declared, you know what this is, uh, your, your my signature on a petition was declared valid by the clerk. And, uh, so that helps people know, instead of having to go to the webpage to see if they're, uh, if they're there like they do today, you would be proactively notified if the Elections office has your information. And then in addition, there is, uh, a, an email or a notification that would say, Hey, Paul, you signed a petition for this initiative. It tells you what the initiative is, and would provide a link to a copy of the initiative. So you'd have the full text of the initiative and information about, um, what, what, what this initiative is costing, and if you wanted to remove your, your name. So I think that will help people a lot, uh, and encourage people. People will then understand if, if their, if somebody has signed in their name and their information is known by the elections office, they will get a proactive notification on this. Uh, next I want to talk about packets a little bit. So this mockup is of the, the standard packet today for an initiative, and I'm just using this as an an example. Today, the way with all the information we gather, uh, including the email address and, uh, some date information, there's not room to do more than two signatures per page. So you get these packets, they're very large, and in addition, they also have to have the full text of the packet. So this is just, uh, lots of, lots of printing that has to be done, and it's not very efficient to carry around the, today the packet has something about the fiscal impact, how much an initiative costs, but it doesn't have a summary on the page that you sign. They do have the full text, but no one reads the full text. So here's the alternative condensed packet. And this, I have to give credit to Representative Thurston, who likes to solve things like this, that he came up with a better, uh, a better approach, uh, to this. And so, uh, initiative run, they could have, they could have the option for this condensed packet. And on the top of it, it has the name of the initiative. It has a QR link, so somebody could just scan it and get the full text of that initiatives. Uh, we have removed the email address. The feedback from the clerk is a lot of people weren't putting their actual email address or they were making it illegible and it wasn't really being used. So we got rid of that. Uh, in addition, it adds the language. The current language says that the signer has read and understood. And many people feel, don't feel comfortable saying Yes, I know if they read and understood. And we hear the news media reports of people not understanding what they signed. So this says that the person I've, I have had the opportunity to read and understand, which I think is more defensible language. Then it also includes, uh, a, a short summary de description written by the sponsors of the initiative. So they get to basically write it in, in plain English that says what this initiative seeks to do. So we think that's an improvement, uh, to, and you could always, if you prefer the standard packet, you can use the standard packet. Uh, but this seems to be save, save trees, save time, and, and be a more defensible approach. Uh, we've also made some changes to the standard circulator sheet. This is the sheet at the back that the signature gatherer signs at the end. And, um, so we've clarified some of the language that says, to make it a little bit more, uh, to improve the clarity. Uh, they've had an opportunity to read and understand rather than to attest that they did read and understand. Uh, it also, uh, says that e each signer is or will be registered to vote at the time the petition packet is submitted. That, that, that's the belief. There are some people, there was some concern about, um, they were saying, I'm read, uh, they, some people had signed it and they were intended to vote or tended to register rather than had already registered. Uh, and then the, it, it attest that they have to complete the training. So they've gotta sign that they have completed the training, uh, that we talked about earlier and adds both the name and the signature, the signature. Before, sometimes you couldn't tell who the signature gatherer was, so this way you've got a name associated with it so they can go back and check did they actually do the training? And, and a signature. We think that's an improvement. So you can see here the comparison, uh, the original packets or the traditional packets have the full copy, whereas the condensed packet just has a electronic reference to that. And a QR code includes a description and allows more signatures per sheet. There were, we had some complaints or concerns about, uh, we have a 30 day window for gathering signatures for, um, uh, an initiative. And I believe a referendum too. And some signature gathers had reason or, or were marking out completely blacking out lines in packets, presumably to make sure that they only had signatures within those 30 days. Because the way the law was written, it could be interpreted that if you had a signature outside of those 30 days, then the whole packet was invalid. And I had someone approach me and say, well, I was told I should go and sign the prop four packet, but backdate it. And that way it would spoil all those other signatures. And, and so this also prevents, this change prevents a bad actor from trying to spoil the work of, uh, a signature gatherer who's, who's just trying to support their cause. And it makes it clear that you can strike out a, a line, for example, if you didn't witness, if the signature gather didn't witness them signing or if they back they dated, they had the wrong date or wrong information. That line could be, um, a line could be drawn through it, but you're not going to completely obscure everything on the sheet. And, and the intent would be that you count the signatures that are valid. You don't throw out the whole packet because of one, uh, mistake or one bad actor. That's the intent behind it. And if, if the date is wrong, then the county clerk just doesn't count it. So, uh, lastly about, uh, uh, I think we talked about this before in, in term that, uh, today all the packets have to be collected and then they're, after they're counted and verified, they're taken to the state to be stored. This removes that requirement. They're electronically electronic information, um, and statistics are transmitted to Lieutenant governor, but the actual packet is just kept by the county clerk. Whoever is, is verifying that signature. And they can store those locally for 22 months, um, at least by law. And I think that's, those are the main issues. So, so that concludes my presentation.

  7. Committee chair1:09:40

     All right. Thanks representative. Uh, appreciate the work on this. I can see you've, uh, spent a lot of time with some intelligent people, um, one of whom you've mentioned, and the other is yourself. Um, I'll open it up to questions from, uh, members of the committee. Any, uh, clarifying questions for Representative Cutler? All right. We got one from, uh, Representative Peterson. Go ahead, sir. Thank you.

  8. Rep. Peterson (surname only; roster match uncertain)1:10:06speaker not certain

     Um, first of all, uh, wow, you've done a lot of work on this representative and, uh, uh, I, I think you've done some, some really good things here. Appreciate the, uh, especially that consolidated packet. Um, a couple of questions for you though. One is, uh, so proof of, so, so the only proof of completion of, well, first of all, that course, did you say that's already been created? It, it, it's already available, uh, to today. Um, but it's not my understanding and I'm looking at ki it's where maybe our friends from the elections office, it's available to today, they're encouraging signature gatherers to, to, to view the training, but they're not required by law to attest that they have done the training. Okay. And then once they do complete it, when once your, once your bill's enacted, they just mark the check box. They're not carrying around something that says, I'm a certified, uh, signature. Correct. There's no like, verifiable credential that says they've completed the course. Okay. And then finally, um, 2021, we passed the, um, representative Johnson had a ballot tracking bill. I can, I don't, I don't think you were here yet at that point, but does this text messaging system use the same system? Is this,

  9. Rep. Peterson (surname only; roster match uncertain)1:11:26speaker not certain

     So I, I'd love to have the elections office answer that. My understanding is that we, we currently use the ballot tracks to say, Hey, you're you, we've received your ballot. We've, we are counted, your ballot's been counted, et cetera. That is a relatively costly system. The, my understanding is Lieutenant Governor's office is moving to a new system in 2027. And as part of that, the new system will have the capability to send those texts about your ballot status or verification status automatically as part of the system for a lower cost than we're paying ballot tracks to do that today.

  10. Rep. Peterson (surname only; roster match uncertain)1:11:59speaker not certain

      But I'd love for the, uh, to phone a friend and have somebody from Lieutenant Governor's office verify that information.

  11. Committee chair1:12:06

      Yeah. If you're, uh, here from the Lieutenant Governor's office and, uh, I want to speak to that. Come on up. You don't want speak to that? I thought I had friends. Nobody wants to help. Okay. Do, do, do you need the question to be asked again?

  12. Rep. Peterson (surname only; roster match uncertain)1:12:23speaker not certain

      Yes, please. Alright, what was the question? I, I'm, I'm, I'm just wondering if this, this signature verification texting program is, this is part of the same program that verifies whether your vote has been received, The ballot track system today.

  13. Unknown speaker1:12:39speaker not certain

      Um, the ballot tracking. I think that we would have to verify that with Ryan Cowley, um, and get back to you. To my understanding, it does go through some process in Vista and it goes from there.

  14. Rep. Peterson (surname only; roster match uncertain)1:12:50speaker not certain

      Is it possible while we continue this, could, could you just call him and find that out information? I appreciate that. My, my understanding is this would replace that, the, the new system in 2027, we'll replace that with new capabilities. But let's get Ryan to verify that. And I'm hopeful that's what you're gonna say is that we're not, we're not buying a whole nother system to do this. That you're, it's

  15. Unknown speaker1:13:07speaker not certain

      Correct. This, and maybe, yeah. Shelly will help

  16. Shelly Jackson, Lieutenant Governor's Office1:13:11

      Shelly Jackson, Lieutenant Governor's office. Yes. Um, in 2027, our new system total votes. Um, we'll do that. We won't be using to my knowledge ballot tracks anymore. We'll be doing it straight from our, we call it Vista 2.0, but it's, it'll be called Total Vote.

  17. Committee chair1:13:27

      Great. Thank you. Alright. Thank you for that. Um, any further clarifying questions from the committee? Do not, uh, see any, so we'll go to the public and open this up for some, uh, questions. Raise your hand if you wanna speak to this. Alright, come on up. Mr. Ricky Hatch. Um, on behalf of the county clerks, I'm assuming, go ahead.

  18. Ricky Hatch, Weber County Auditor, Clerks Legislative Committee1:13:50

      Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, county clerks have not met since the substitute has come out. We took a position of support of the original version of this bill. Uh, a couple of us have read through the, the substitute, which made, uh, has quite a few additions, many of which we worked with Representative Cutler about. And, uh, we haven't seen, just based off of our analysis, we don't see anything that causes us, would cause us to remove our support for this bill. So I can't officially say that the clerks support the bill 'cause we haven't voted on that yet. But, um, we don't see any problems. We support the original and we don't see any problems with the substitute. Is that vague enough? Well, I think we, we understand where you stand.

  19. Committee chair1:14:34

      Um, you've already signed in though, right? Okay. From the last time. Okay. Thank you, uh, Ricky. Appreciate it. Uh, any other public in the audience? Yeah, come on, ma'am. Tell us who you are again and, uh, who you represent.

  20. Kenna Stringham, Lieutenant Governor's Office1:14:49

      Um, my name is Kenneth Stringham. I'm with the Lieutenant Governor's Elections Office. Um, we did wanna thank Representative Cutler for working with us so much on this bill. Um, as Representative Cutler already already mentioned, this bill reflects a lot of the concerns and issues that we brought up to this committee in interim. Um, one of our main goals was to find a better way to standardize requirements across all petition types. Um, we really hoped, especially to standardize circulator requirements and circulator training. Um, as was discussed earlier, the training has already been created and it has been used by, I think, over a thousand gatherers that are gathering currently for candidate nomination petitions. Um, I've also taken the training and it is really helpful and I think it'll clear up a lot of the issues that we currently have. Um, we believe that it'll help the circulators understand their responsibilities and the rules of the petition process better. Um, additionally, we think that the idea of being able to send texts and email notifications to voters who signed petitions will be helpful and it adds more transparency for voters. Um, other concerns that we had included clarifying the definition of what constitutes a petition packet, how it should be bound, and when it can be taken apart or marked. Um, the standards have been clarified a little more. Um, and we hope that this will help reduce confusion for circulators sponsors and election officials alike. Um, Lieutenant Governor's office is very supportive of this bill, and we believe that these changes will make the petition process more secure and transparent. Thank you.

  21. Committee chair1:16:29

      Alright, thank you. Uh, seeing no more here in the, uh, chamber will go online. Seth Stewart. Marilyn. Okay. So Seth will go to you for Seth Stewart. Um, please turn your camera on and, uh, tell us, uh, where you are, what city you're in, and you've got, uh, 120 seconds.

  22. Seth Stewart, American Fork, resident1:16:51

      Awesome. Yeah. So I'm Seth Stewart, representing myself from American Fork. And, uh, my primary issue with, uh, this kind of bill right here is, is that we're essentially, if you look at signature gathering, uh, processes, you're, you're essentially replacing a direct competitive vote in many instances. Uh, there are other bills that have addressed some of the initiative and referendum type of process, and it's been apparent that these processes exist in the first place to remedy defects in our lawmaking process. The fact that legislators aren't, uh, accessible enough to their constituents. And so those are some of the core underlying problems. And if you go back to the early days that the American Republic, the way that voters were credentialed and the way that votes were cast and counted, it was managed at the local level. Uh, if you've ever attended one of the Republican party, uh, precinct caucuses, that is a, I think a phenomenally good example actually. At least the way we did it historically. Traditionally, without, uh, needing all the technology, you'd be credentialed by your neighbors and your peers. And this is a fabulous way of doing it because it solves the transparency issue of over disclosure of voter information, which, if you have public lists of, uh, signatures and who, who, uh, voted for what, then that becomes a problem with, uh, out state and potentially even foreign influence in your elections. And also, if you centralize the power of who gets to issue instructions around the elections and who administers them, uh, that also, uh, creates lots of conflicts of interest. So, uh, it, it may be that this is perfecting a process, but it's not an American or a Republican process. It may be that it's perfecting, uh, administration of more of an imperial type of election system where that administration is centralized. And the, uh, this, this bill does, uh, intervene between the petition sponsor and cuts off that communication between the sponsor and the voters and replaces it with government channel to communication. So I object to it on all of those terms and would urge us to, uh, rather than trying to perfect a system that is, uh, empirically broken, uh, actually move in the direction of reviving the American Constitutional Republican system. Thank you for your time. Urge you to oppose this bill. Alright,

  23. Committee chair1:19:14

      Seth, thank you for being with us today and for your comments, uh, we'll go to Marilyn Momani, uh, Marilyn, turn on your camera as well. And, and again, tell us what city you're in and you'll have, uh, two minutes as well.

  24. Marilyn Momeny, American Fork, resident1:19:37

      Hi, Marilyn Momani. I live in American Fork and I am a citizen representing myself. I just wanna thank, uh, Representative Cutler. He's done a, I thought the one in the interim was a great job just because it had the training and the certification on the back that the gave more information to the signature gatherers so they would really take the responsibility seriously. Um, seven signatures on a page. I've been out gathering signatures, two signatures on a page. You're, you're walking around with this huge packet. So that alone would make the bill fantastic. I think this makes some really significant improvements in the process and allows, um, things to move forward with our current processes in a much more efficient and, uh, a way that would address some of the issues that we've had in the past with signature gatherers who maybe didn't take their responsibilities seriously. So I didn't realize the training was available. I'm gonna go take the training too. So thank you for, uh, Representative Cutler. I know he worked a lot on this bill and appreciate all the hard work and the improvements. Alright, Marilyn, thank you so much for being with us today and for your comments.

  25. Committee chair1:20:55

      Uh, with that, I think we'll close public comment and, uh, bring back the committee for further questions. Interaction on this bill? We just need to adopt the first sub. We just need to adopt the first sub. Yeah. And I'll, I'll remind, uh, the committee as we did at the beginning. Uh, we have a, a first substitute to adopt. So looking for a motion.

  26. Committee chair1:21:18

      Well, Representative Stoddard is the gun slinger today, so we'll, uh, repre recognize Representative Stoddard Go ahead.

  27. Rep. Andrew Stoddard1:21:26

      I would like to move to adopt the first substitute.

  28. Committee chair1:21:30

      All right. Thank you with for that. The motion is to adopt, uh, first substitute. I don't know where my page went. First substitute to found two, first substitute to house bill 32 signature gathering and verification amendments. Would you like to speak to that?

  29. Rep. Andrew Stoddard1:21:48

      Yes, I would. I, I'd like to thank the sponsor 'cause the first version of the bill was garbage, but I can get behind this first substitute, so,

  30. Committee chair1:21:54

      Okay. Well we thank you. We listen to opinions around here all the time. Thank you representative, um, uh, to the, uh, sponsor.

  31. Rep. Paul A. Cutler1:22:04

      I, I appreciate that the, the good maker of the motion voted for the first version of the vil and, uh, we've made this one even better.

  32. Committee chair1:22:11

      Excellent. Okay. Any further discussion to the motion to adopt for substitute? Seeing none, uh, we'll just take a voice vote on that. Uh, the motion suit up. First substitute house bill 32 signature gathering verification amendments. All in favor say aye. A Aye. Any opposed? All right. Uh, good. Uh, I'm gonna go back to you. Light's still on. I didn't turn you off.

  33. Rep. Andrew Stoddard1:22:38

      Go ahead, Representative Stoddard, I would move that we favorably recommend for substitute house bill 32.

  34. Committee chair1:22:44

      Alright, that's an order you wanna speak to that.

  35. Rep. Andrew Stoddard1:22:46

      I would like to, um, in all seriousness, I think this is a great bill and I appreciate the work that the sponsor has put into it. Um, you know, aside from the lengthy list of people he collaborated with, you can tell there's been a lot of thought that's gone into this. I think this solves a lot of our signature related issues and, uh, I, I like the training, the consistency, the standardization. I think it's the right direction for signatures in the state.

  36. Committee chair1:23:14

      Alright, thank you for the motion, um, to the bill sponsor.

  37. Rep. Paul A. Cutler1:23:18

      I appreciate that. And, uh, if, if you're, if you're allowing me to sum, uh, this improves a number of processes related to gathering signatures, I also wanted to point out that we have the technology today to allow people to understand if they've signed a petition or signed a ballot initiative or signed these things without publicly putting their names on the internet. In this age of concerns about data privacy, and I have lots of concerns about data privacy. I believe that it's better to have this proactive pointed one-to-one communication than to post large lists of Utah Private Utahans information on the internet where it can be correlated with other information, uh, and and, and add to, uh, what people know about us. So I, I think that's an improvement. I appreciate the, uh, clerks for their engagement across all, uh, a number of clerks and, uh, the Lieutenant Governor's office as well and, and kirsi for helping me with, uh, some of these graphics.

  38. Committee chair1:24:23

      Alright, very good. Thank you. Uh, representative Keller. Um, so the motion before us is to, well, any further discussion to the motion and I don't see any, so the motion before us is to favorably pass out first substitute house bill 32. Um, then we'll just do a voice vote on this as well. All in favor of that motion? Uh, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Congratulations representative. That's unanimous. Thank You. Okay. Alright. Um, you folks were very efficient.

• Feb 12, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (17 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)1:18:06

     First substitute house bill 32 signature gathering and verification amendments by Representative Cutler. This bill was heard in government operations with the vote of 8 0 4. Back to you, Dr. Sam Cutler. Thank

  2. Rep. Paul A. Cutler1:18:18

     You, Mr. Speaker. Uh, during the interim se uh, session, the government ops committee worked on, uh, some of the issues that we've heard regarding signature gathering, and we, uh, spent some time talking about ways to improve the signature gathering process. Uh, I was assigned to, uh, run the bill with the recommendations from the committee. Uh, in addition, there were two other members, uh, uh, that had bills open on this issue. We met together and consolidated all those improvements into one bill, which you see as as house bill 32. There are five things that are important in this bill that this bill does. First, uh, this bill requires training for anyone that provides, that does signature gathering. The Lieutenant Governor's office has already developed that training as we ask them to in the, in the summer. Some of the signature gatherers are starting to use that training. It provides helpful insight into what is allowed, what a signature gatherer can say, what they can't say, uh, what they're attesting to by law. And I, it's a short training. Everyone who's taken it has given positive feedback that it was very helpful. Second, this provides a mechanism to notify, uh, signers of the status of their signature verification. So starting next year in 2027, when we have a new, uh, we're going to get a new system of voter records. And if the state system has an email address or a mobile phone for the voter, then after the clerk verifies your signature, you will receive an email or a text message that says your signature was verified. And if it's an initiative or a petition, it will also have a link to the, uh, text of that initiative or petition and with instructions on if, if you don't agree with what you signed. So we think that is a good way to notify people. So, so that they don't know if their signature was counted. They'll know if someone fraudulently tried to use their name or, or signature on their behalf, and it provides a lot of clarity. Next, this, uh, bill creates a updates the packet formatting and creates a new packet, alternative packet called a condensed packet. Currently, the initiative and referenda packets only allow two signatures per page. So, and if you include the text of the initiative, these packets can be very thick. You're printing hundreds of pages of paper between the text and the signatures. This alternative packet that my good colleague from Provost suggested, uh, adds a QR code to the top of the packet so you can scan it and look at what you're signing. So it will remove any ambiguity about what you're signing. It also reduces the amount of information that's gathered so that you can fit seven signatures on a page. It adds a clear text or a in plain language, a description of what the initiative is, so you don't have to read the, the whole law and, uh, makes a couple of other formatting changes. One of the important ones is that currently the, the signature gatherer has to attest by writing. Uh, by that they, that everyone who signed the packet read and understood the law. The reality is many people are not reading and understanding the law before they, they sign it. So it changes the language to say that the each sign signer had an opportunity to read and understand the pro the, the law proposed or the referenda proposed. Uh, and we, we believe that, uh, it makes a couple of other, uh, changes, including one that creates, uh, eliminates spoiling a ballot. Currently in our law, someone could put the wrong date on a packet, and depending on how the clerk interprets it, it would spoil the whole packet, negating all of the other signatures in the packet. And we have some reports of somebody who was trying to disrupt the signature gathering process by putting the wrong information on one line and trying to spoil the packet for everyone else. And we think that's inappropriate. So it changes to say if a clerk finds an incorrect date or there's a problem with a signature, they eliminate that line. But the rest of the packet that's valid still gets counted. And, uh, that concludes my, uh, presentation.

  3. Speaker (presiding)1:23:15

     Thank you, Representative Cutler. Further discussion, or let's go to discussion on the bill. Representative Shelley.

  4. Rep. Lisa Shelley1:23:24

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to move to move substitute number two in my name.

  5. Speaker (presiding)1:23:30

     Thank you, Representative Shelley. That motion is in order. Would you like to speak to it?

  6. Rep. Troy Shelley1:23:35

     I would, colleagues here is, here is the mantra that I hear over and over and so many of us has done as well, is that the legislature is not listening to the voice of the people. What this pa or what this does is add one line on the ballot initiative that says, have you personally contacted your representative? Yes or no? And if yes, who, that's all it does, it does not disqualify the signature. It does not invalidate the packet in any way. If they mark yes or no, it doesn't matter if they fill in who the representative is. But it does give somebody pause to step back and say, have I actually participated in the political process, or is someone telling me what I should and shouldn't think? It gives a person an opportunity to step back and say, uh, you know, have, have I personally engaged? And, uh, and, and maybe the, they'll feel like this is a reporting mechanism if somebody's not being responsive, but it, it's, uh, it bears no weight. It's, it's just a chance for people to step back and say, am I personally responsible for making this decision?

  7. Speaker (presiding)1:24:53

     Thank you, Representative Shelley, uh, Representative Cutler on the motion, uh, to adopt second substitute under Representative Shelley's name.

  8. Rep. Paul A. Cutler1:25:01

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the good, uh, representative from from Central Utah. And, and the idea on, on encouraging people to, um, speak to their representative and get involved. Uh, however, this introduces some problems, uh, that I'd like the body to be aware of. Uh, and, and I, I believe his intent is good, and I support the intent and would be happy to work with him to figure out if there's a way to include this. Currently, this would, um, cause problems with our efforts to get more signatures on a page because of the way it was formatted instead of seven signatures on a page. This would only allow four signatures on a page. Is, is my understanding and would change the formatting that the, the, uh, the group has worked to try to improve. So I, I just want the body to be aware of that, that this changes the, or, or reduces the effectiveness that, that, uh, uh, we've been working toward. But I support, I think his goals are Laudable. Thank you, Representative Cutler.

  9. Speaker (presiding)1:26:09

     Okay, we're gonna go to discussion on the Motion to adopt admin, or, uh, a second substitute under Representative Shelley's name. So if your light is on, it is to speak to that, uh, uh, motion to adopt second substitute Representative Thurston.

  10. Rep. Norman K Thurston1:26:28

      Ms. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, I'm going to oppose this motion, the alternate packet. It would definitely negatively impact our vision and goal for the alternative packet. The alternative packet idea came out of, um, some interim committee work that happened in rules review and general government oversight committee. And, um, this is the moment where we sort of eat a little bit of crow. I've never been involved in these things before, but in talking to people who have, it's amazing what happens when you are on the other side of the issue when all of a sudden, when, when it's someone else's issue that you don't like, you wanna make it as hard as possible. But in all, all of a sudden when it's your issue and you find out how hard it is, you want it to be fair. So, so, um, the, the, the whole idea of having the seven lines per signature came out of recognizing that at two lines per sign, per page, coupled with the fact that every packet has to have the full text of whatever it is that you're having initiative on makes, makes it very expensive. So if you think, if you're doing a statewide initiative, you've gotta create all of these packets and you're only getting two signatures per page, and you're limit as to how many pages you can have, it gets very expensive very fast. The multiplier effect comes into play. The issue that we ran into in our committee was because it was so expensive, um, there was a particular effort, I believe it was a referendum effort that wanted to shortcut that and did some things that were kind of not according to the law, but it was because it was, they were trying to save on cost. So, as a committee, we looked at this and decided, you know, really, if we can keep this back to where it used to be, seven signatures per page, that's fair. It's fair to people, regardless of what issue you're on, having the QR code on the page actually makes it even easier because now the, the person who's signing it has easy access. Everybody these days seems to have a phone that can read our QR code, and that's right there. And so you don't have to have this, if you've seen these packets, there's a bunch of printed stuff up front and everybody just folds it over and says, Hey, sign this. You don't even really know that that stuff is there for you to read, but you'll see that QR code. So going from seven to four, which the second sub would do, I think is contrary to the intent of our committee work this summer. And I would encourage you to just stick with the first sub. Thank you, Mr. Speaker Pro. Tim,

  11. Speaker (presiding)1:28:41

      Thank you, Representative Thurston. In no further lies Representative Shelley for summation.

  12. Rep. Troy Shelley1:28:48

      Yeah. Uh, so this does reduce the line, probably two. So there's still four signature lines on the packet. I think it's important that the general public realize that they should be involved in the political process. A lot of times I think what happens is somebody sticks a ballot in front of 'em and says, the legislator's not listening to the voice of the people. And, uh, and so what this does is just give them a chance to pause and look back and say, have I personally contacted my representative? See entire intent of the substitution. Thank you.

  13. Speaker (presiding)1:29:24

      Thank you, Representative Shelley. The motion is to adopt second substitute house Bill 32.

  14. Speaker (presiding)1:29:28

      I'll place the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say no. No. Motion fails.

  15. Speaker (presiding)1:29:36

      Further discussion to the bill. Seeing none, Representative Cutler for summation.

  16. Rep. Paul A. Cutler1:29:42

      Thank you. Uh, the, uh, committees and legislators involved in this have done a lot of work on this. It's, we've come to consensus on ways to improve the signature gathering and verification process working with the clerks and election offices. Uh, we, we would appreciate your support and I'm, I'm happy to work with those, uh, who want to make improvements in the future. Thank you.

  17. Speaker (presiding)1:30:21

      Thank you. Voting is open on first substitute House Bill 32 signature gathering verification amendments being all present, having voted voting to be closed. First substitute house bill 32, having received 56 yay votes and 11 nay votes passes the house and will be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration matter. Meeting Clerk

• Feb 12, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (7 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)1:26:14

     or, uh, a second substitute under Representative Shelley's name. So if your light is on, it is to speak to that, uh, uh, motion to adopt second substitute Representative Thurston.

  2. Rep. Norman K Thurston1:26:28

     Ms. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, I'm going to oppose this motion, the alternate packet. It would definitely negatively impact our vision and goal for the alternative packet. The alternative packet idea came out of, um, some interim committee work that happened in rules review and general government oversight committee. And, um, this is the moment where we sort of eat a little bit of crow. I've never been involved in these things before, but in talking to people who have, it's amazing what happens when you are on the other side of the issue when all of a sudden, when, when it's someone else's issue that you don't like, you wanna make it as hard as possible. But in all, all of a sudden when it's your issue and you find out how hard it is, you want it to be fair. So, so, um, the, the, the whole idea of having the seven lines per signature came out of recognizing that at two lines per sign, per page, coupled with the fact that every packet has to have the full text of whatever it is that you're having initiative on makes, makes it very expensive. So if you think, if you're doing a statewide initiative, you've gotta create all of these packets and you're only getting two signatures per page, and you're limit as to how many pages you can have, it gets very expensive very fast. The multiplier effect comes into play. The issue that we ran into in our committee was because it was so expensive, um, there was a particular effort, I believe it was a referendum effort that wanted to shortcut that and did some things that were kind of not according to the law, but it was because it was, they were trying to save on cost. So, as a committee, we looked at this and decided, you know, really, if we can keep this back to where it used to be, seven signatures per page, that's fair. It's fair to people, regardless of what issue you're on, having the QR code on the page actually makes it even easier because now the, the person who's signing it has easy access. Everybody these days seems to have a phone that can read our QR code, and that's right there. And so you don't have to have this, if you've seen these packets, there's a bunch of printed stuff up front and everybody just folds it over and says, Hey, sign this. You don't even really know that that stuff is there for you to read, but you'll see that QR code. So going from seven to four, which the second sub would do, I think is contrary to the intent of our committee work this summer. And I would encourage you to just stick with the first sub. Thank you, Mr. Speaker Pro. Tim,

  3. Speaker (presiding)1:28:41

     Thank you, Representative Thurston. In no further lies Representative Shelley for summation.

  4. Rep. Troy Shelley1:28:48

     Yeah. Uh, so this does reduce the line, probably two. So there's still four signature lines on the packet. I think it's important that the general public realize that they should be involved in the political process. A lot of times I think what happens is somebody sticks a ballot in front of 'em and says, the legislator's not listening to the voice of the people. And, uh, and so what this does is just give them a chance to pause and look back and say, have I personally contacted my representative? See entire intent of the substitution. Thank you.

  5. Speaker (presiding)1:29:24

     Thank you, Representative Shelley. The motion is to adopt second substitute house Bill 32. I'll place the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say no. No. Motion fails. Further discussion to the bill. Seeing none, Representative Cutler for summation.

  6. Rep. Paul A. Cutler1:29:42

     Thank you. Uh, the, uh, committees and legislators involved in this have done a lot of work on this. It's, we've come to consensus on ways to improve the signature gathering and verification process working with the clerks and election offices. Uh, we, we would appreciate your support and I'm, I'm happy to work with those, uh, who want to make improvements in the future. Thank you.

  7. Speaker (presiding)1:30:21

     Thank you. Voting is open on first substitute House Bill 32 signature gathering verification amendments being all present, having voted voting to be closed. First substitute house bill 32, having received 56 yay votes and 11 nay votes passes the house and will be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration matter. Meeting Clerk

• Feb 12, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (4 turns)

  1. Rep. Troy Shelley1:29:21

     See entire intent of the substitution. Thank you.

  2. Speaker (presiding)1:29:24

     Thank you, Representative Shelley. The motion is to adopt second substitute house Bill 32. I'll place the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say no. No. Motion fails. Further discussion to the bill. Seeing none, Representative Cutler for summation.

  3. Rep. Paul A. Cutler1:29:42

     Thank you. Uh, the, uh, committees and legislators involved in this have done a lot of work on this. It's, we've come to consensus on ways to improve the signature gathering and verification process working with the clerks and election offices. Uh, we, we would appreciate your support and I'm, I'm happy to work with those, uh, who want to make improvements in the future. Thank you.

  4. Speaker (presiding)1:30:21

     Thank you. Voting is open on first substitute House Bill 32 signature gathering verification amendments being all present, having voted voting to be closed. First substitute house bill 32, having received 56 yay votes and 11 nay votes passes the house and will be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration matter. Meeting Clerk

• Feb 23, 2026 Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (11 turns)

  1. Chair McCay (presiding)2:27:46

     House Bill 32, is that right? Yep. House bill 32. You have a substitute. Do you wanna adopt that substitute? Yes, please. Kay. I'm gonna take a motion from Senator Brammer to adopt that substitute. Okay. All in favor of adopting third substitute house Bill 32, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That is adopted. We're on the third sub to you, Representative Cutler for some or to, for presentation.

  2. Rep. Paul A. Cutler2:28:13

     This, uh, this bill came from the interims government ops, uh, or excuse me, yes. Gov ops committee where we looked at all the things, uh, that we'd heard about signature gathering. We made five recommendations. Number one, put in statute the training course, which has already been created by the Lieutenant Governor for signature gatherers. So they know what the rules are when they go out and, uh, gather signatures. Number two, when your signature is verified, when we get to the new in 2027, we get to the new voter registration system. A text or an email will be sent saying, uh, your name was, uh, was captured, uh, your signature was verified. It may also include, if it's an initiative of a referendum, a link to the information on what that was. So, you know what it is in the, it makes an improvement to the standard. The standard packet only allowed for referendums initiatives only allowed two lines per page. This meant the packets were very big. They also had to include the full law. And it said you have read and understood the law, the whole initiative, the alternate or condensed packet has a QR code on the top that links to the law so they can read the initiative. It allows seven signatures per paved and changes the verbiage to say you had an opportunity to read and understand versus, uh, read and understand also includes, uh, summaries and, and, uh, fiscal. And a summary of, uh, the long plain English clarifies the language. It, it makes you, it has the signature gather. Print their name and sign it. So there's, uh, currently they, it's unclear whether they sign or put their name. And so sometimes you couldn't tell who the signature gatherer was. Does

  3. Chair McCay (presiding)2:29:47

     That conclude your presentation? That

  4. Rep. Paul A. Cutler2:29:49

     Concludes my presentation. Thank You very much. We'll bring it back to

  5. Chair McCay (presiding)2:29:51

     committee for questions on the bill. Seeing no questions, go to the public for public comment. Seeing one public commenter please. You have 15 seconds.

  6. Kenna Stringam, Elections Coordinator, Utah Lieutenant Governor's office2:29:59

     Hi. I'll be very brief. I'm just from the Lieutenant Governor's office and wanted to say that we support this bill and think will be very helpful in the petition process for the future. Thank

  7. Chair McCay (presiding)2:30:07

     You. Give us your name.

  8. Kenna Stringam, Elections Coordinator, Utah Lieutenant Governor's office2:30:08

     Oh, Canice. Stringham. Thank

  9. Chair McCay (presiding)2:30:09

     You Candace. Appreciate you. Okay. With that, that concludes public comment. We'll bring it back to committee for questions on the bill. Senator Harper,

  10. Sen. Keith Harper2:30:18

      Thank you. Move that we had passed up favorably.

  11. Chair McCay (presiding)2:30:20

      Third substitute house Bill 30 32, third Sub. Okay. Motion before us is to pass third substitute house bill 32. Senator, uh, Representative Cutler for summation waive. Okay. The motion before us is to pass favorably third substitute house bill 32. Before I place that, one thing you may want to consider is the email requirement that, uh, organizations send out an email when somebody puts on the email. That's out, right out. Yep, that's what I thought. Okay. With that, I'll place the motion. Third, substitute house bill 32. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes, uh, that passes four to one with Senator Brammer being a no vote. Thank you very much. With that, I'll take one more motion to adjourn from Senator Harper. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. We are adjourned. Okay. I have to run over to another meeting.

• Feb 26, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (13 turns)

  1. Sen. Ronald M. Winterton1:33:25

     Hey, this Bill, uh, was on the interim study list and, uh, the good representative that ended up taking it found out that it was a lot of work. And the bill addresses our, our voting sys, uh, the voting system, the, um, signature gathering. So it's 92 pages long. What was policy is now gonna be law. So it addresses the State Elections Office, uh, orders them to maintain the Lieutenant Governor's online training course. And, uh, the training course will be required to all individuals before they are allowed to gather signatures. Talks about the packets and, um, if they're rejected have, it'll be because the people were not trained to gather the signatures. That's one of the main things in here. Uh, election officers will then, uh, send, uh, email or a text to the signer, which gives a status that they have signed or that the val or their signature was invalidated. And other than that, just the policies to incorporate 'em into law.

  2. Speaker (presiding)1:34:39

     Thank you for that presentation. Do we have discussion to this bill? Seeing none. Senator Winterton back to you for motion or summation.

  3. Sen. Ronald M. Winterton1:34:46

     A motion is, is a third house, uh, third substitute house Bill 32. Be read a third time. The question is, shall third substitute house bill 32. Be read for

  4. Unknown speaker (roll call)1:34:59speaker not certain

     Senator Vickers Baldy Lewin Brammer Bus Cullimore Escamia Fillmore Fillmore Grover Harper Hankins Sson Johnson Aye. K Juab McKay Mikel Milner Musselman Owens Pitcher I Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Bickers er aye. Wilson. Aye. Winterton

  5. Speaker (presiding)1:35:57speaker not certain

     President Adams Third substitute house Bill 32. Having received 20 yay votes, zero na votes. Nine being absent will be read for a third time.

  6. Sen. Chris H. Wilson1:36:09

     Senator Wilson? Uh, Thank you Mr. President Pro temp. A motion to table on third, third substitute house bill 32 for physical impact.

  7. Speaker (presiding)1:36:17

     Discussion. The motion. Seeing none. All in favor of tabling. On third, this house bill say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? I'll rule that passes. The bill is tabled.

  8. Speaker (presiding)1:36:28

     Anybody else wishing to encircle on second? Seeing none. Next bill up is for substitute house bill 3 0 6 For substitute house bill 3 0 6 reinvestment fee amendments. Senator Con Moore.

  9. Sen. Chris H. Wilson1:36:41

     Senator Wilson. Motion To circle sponsors off the floor.

  10. Speaker (presiding)1:36:45

      All in favor? The motion to circle say aye. Aye. Any opposed? I'll rule that passes. The bill is circled.

  11. Unknown speaker1:36:52speaker not certain

      Bill? Yeah, I've got the amendment. So Thank you. Uh,

  12. Speaker (presiding)1:36:58

      I'm gonna go to Senator Harper for a motion.

  13. Sen. Wayne A. Harper1:37:07speaker not certain

      Uh, we, we need to go to third calendar.

• Mar 4, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (13 turns)

  1. Sen. Ronald M. Winterton3:56:11

     President, uh, this, uh, substitute bill on on three. We, we studied this item last year in, in interim, and then the good representative took it on his assignment and he's refined it and worked with them. And it addresses, uh, the state elections office and it, it orders 'em to maintain an online course for signature gathers, notifies the signers and of the signature status by email or text. It creates a condensed petitioner packet with clear summarizations of initiatives and referendums that clarifies the certification, the spoiling, the retentions of signatures. Um, it goes down, one of the refinements of the bill is that the bill refines the current code and specifies how signature gathers are to be paid. We retained what we had before. There was quite a bit of talk about how to do that. And so he's done a, a great job on it. We passed it and then it sat on the third table, um, or on the, yeah, it was tabled on the third for a while. And, uh, the house has prioritized this one. And, and so I'm open for questions if you'd like to know about this 92 page bill. Thank you. Senator Sandall to the, to the bill?

  2. Sen. Andrew Sandall3:57:39

     Yes. Thank you. Um, I'm looking at nine. Uh, line nine six. Oh Mr. President, will the sponsor yield? Senator Winterton? Will you yield? Yes. Senator Sandall.

  3. Sen. Scott D. Sandall3:57:50

     Thank you, Mr. President. I'm looking at line nine 16. The changes there, uh, only allow payment to be made based on an hourly rate. I would like to know if that is just for initiative and referendum collecting or if that's all collections.

  4. Sen. Ronald M. Winterton3:58:12

     No, that's just for them. It does talk about, uh, the other ones for signatures for candidates so they could be paid otherwise and hourly.

  5. Sen. Scott D. Sandall3:58:26

     So if I might follow up. Go ahead. Did I hear the sponsor say that the other signatures could be gathered on a piecemeal basis?

  6. Sen. Ronald M. Winterton3:58:39

     Yes. We left that the same, but we did address. Okay.

  7. Sen. Scott D. Sandall3:58:43

     Thank you Mr. President.

  8. Senate President (presiding)3:58:45

     Thank you. Looking for further discussion of this bill. Senator Cullimore, are you up? Senator Plumb? Not. I'm gonna go to Senator Winterton summation And a motion,

  9. Unknown speaker3:58:59speaker not certain

     Uh, I'd call the question then.

  10. Senate President (presiding)3:59:01

      Thank you. And the question is, under suspension of the role shall third substitute House bill? 32 pass. Roll call vote. Senator Baldy Lewin Bramer. Bus. Bus Comore, ESCA Fillmore Grover, Harper Kins, IPSON Johnson, Quan McKay, Mikel Milner Musselman Owens Picture Thumb Rebe. Senator Rebe.

  11. Sen. Kathleen A. Riebe4:00:05

      Thank you Mr. President. I, I support this bill. But you know, as I'm gathering signatures and I have those packets, this body is very, uh, cautious of our PII. We all have had conversations about personal identify identifiable information. When you sign that petition, you have your birth date on there, your name, your address, and your signature. And these packets are carried around and sometimes left where other people can see them. I, I just think in this day and age, we shouldn't be carrying around other people's personal identifiable information and leaving it around for other people to see. So I think that we need to start looking at something different because if I as a teacher left that information on my desk, I would be in trouble by exposing those students to information that would cause them harm. So I appreciate the work we're doing in this, but we really need to start thinking of a different way that doesn't put people in harm's way. Thank you. Aye.

  12. Senate President (presiding)4:01:11

      Senator Sandall Stevenson Stevenson. Senator Stevenson Stratton Aye. Pickers. Byler Aye. Wilson. Aye. Winterton. Aye. President, president Adams, No.

  13. Senate President (presiding)4:01:44

      Third substitute house Bill 32. Having received 23 yay votes, six nay votes, zero being absent, passes this body and will be returned to the house for further consideration.

• Mar 5, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (6 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)1:09:24

     Substitute House Bill 32. Signature gathering and verification amendments by Representative Cutler. Representative Cutler. Motion to Concur.

  2. Speaker (presiding)1:09:33

     Thank you. Representative, would you like to speak to that motion?

  3. Rep. Paul A. Cutler1:09:35

     Yes. These are actually the house's ideas, uh, which are the best ideas that go to the Senate. Uh, but we use the Senate to update them. This restores, uh, clarity the way signature gatherers are paid. Our good real rules chair pointed out that the bill had inadvertently changed the way, uh, initiative gatherers, uh, initiative and referendum gathers could be paid. This restores the original policy that they can only be paid hourly.

  4. Speaker (presiding)1:10:05

     Thank you Representative Cutler Discussion to the motion to concur with the Senate amendments representative Tesser.

  5. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher1:10:13

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that change and, uh, originally voted against this bill will now be voting in favor.

  6. Speaker (presiding)1:10:21

     Thank you Representative Teuscher. Just further discussion to the motion to concur with the Senate amendments on third substitute HB 32. Seeing none will go ahead and place the motion. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Will that motion passes? Voting will now be open for final passage on 30, substitute HB 32. Seeing all president having voting. Voting is now closed. Third substitute HB 32 passed this body with 70 yes votes zero no votes will be sent to the Senate for the signature of the President.