Debate arises over ex-felons holding office

Intentions to clarify that former felons cannot hold public office may become a clarification that former felons can hold elected office.

Following municipal elections in 2005 that saw two former felons running for mayor, Sen. Brent Goodfellow, D-Salt Lake, filed SB47 at the request of state elections officials to clearly state that anyone convicted of a felony can never hold public office, even if his or her voting rights have been restored. What he characterized as a simple "clean-up" bill, however, quickly became a debate about whether former felons should be able to hold office.

Sen. Parley Hellewell, R-Orem, said that his interpretation of current law is that the a former felon can hold office once his or her voting rights are restored, and he would prefer to reinforce that in law. He said he "would hate to have one of my teenagers do something stupid and never be able to hold office."

The bill eventually passed the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee, 3-1, primarily because committee members preferred for the full Senate to debate whether former felons should be able to hold office.