Utah Legislature may start day after King Day

State Democratic and Republican leadership came together Thursday to back a proposal to amend the Utah Constitution to delay the start of the Legislature each year until after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

"This is one of the issues the community has asked for, for quite some time," said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem.

Jeanetta Williams, president of the Salt Lake Branch of the NAACP, couldn't think of a better way to kick off Black History Month in February "with a tremendous joy and pride."

"It is rewarding to have them come out ahead of time and say that we are all together — we need to support it," said Williams, who remembers the contentious struggle to establish a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in Utah.

Because the start date of the session is set by the state Constitution as the third Monday in January, the resolution to change the start date would need the votes of two-thirds of both the House and Senate to place it on the 2008 general election ballot.

A similar resolution failed in 2000, the same year lawmakers established the state's Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, by renaming Human Rights Day.

Like Williams, the Rev. France Davis of Calvary Baptist Church remembers the lengthy struggle to establish the state holiday.

"I'm excited," Davis said. "My position was, and still is, if they are going to meet on that day, they need to do some substantial business on behalf of the people to reflect the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."

Valentine and other lawmakers have said meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day drew more attention to the holiday.

"This is a great tribute for Martin Luther King, to have the time we spend on the opening day of the session," Valentine said. "But the community has asked for the change. I think it's past time we actually listen to the request."

The change is not expected to affect the cost of the legislative session since the holiday taken during the session falls on a Monday, meaning those who travel to Salt Lake would simply delay their trip by a day.

The resolution would be amended so that lawmakers would also recess during Presidents Day and any future federal holidays that would fall during what will remain a 45-day session.

The new Senate resolution, SJR12, began has a House bill, HJR8, sponsored by House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake.

Becker said the Senate version is not a compromise.

"I think it makes great sense to recognize our federal holidays and our state holidays," Becker said. "Having a day off toward the end of the session may be healthy for all of us, having another day away and come back with a fresh perspective."

Williams agreed, saying the suggestion of taking off Presidents Day came from the NAACP.