Tough to dump a new law — a good thing

Now that the state's lawmakers have finished their annual session, the state's other lawmaking body is gearing up for a session of its own.

Since you are a member of this other body — otherwise known as the public — it's only fair to ask, how do you feel about this?

It also might be fair to ask, who elected you? And how well do you know the subjects at hand?

The Legislature had barely moved to adjourn when two groups emerged with petition drives to overturn two of the more controversial items that were passed and signed into law by the governor. One would nullify the school vouchers bill, another — a group of five co-workers — would reverse the decision to publicly fund a professional soccer stadium.

I'm admittedly divided over these. The vouchers bill was a bold move that may finally give low-income and otherwise disadvantaged Utahns the same kind of education choices wealthy people already enjoy. The soccer stadium funding was a gross misuse of public funds and a bad investment to boot.

So obviously, I wish one of the efforts luck and the other one no luck at all. But frankly, neither one has much chance of getting on the ballot.

And, equally frankly, that's a good thing.

In Utah, people who want to overturn a recently passed law must gather signatures from a number equal to 10 percent of the people who voted in the last election for governor, and they must do this in at least 15 of the 29 counties. These have to be turned in by April 9.

If you want to write a law, the hurdles are even higher. You would have to gather signatures from 10 percent of voters in 26 of the state's 29 Senate districts, then hold hearings in seven regions of the state.

These aren't impossible requirements, but they're on the outskirts of impossible.

I can give two reasons why this is good. One involves my wife, who years ago was approached in a parking lot by a man gathering signatures for a petition to pass a law. He was overbearing, relentless and just short of harassing. He also didn't tell the whole truth about the issue. In addition, he was getting paid for each signature by a special-interest group that desperately wanted the law.

The other comes from Colorado. People there can easily amend their state constitution through an initiative process. As a result, they successively passed measures to limit residential property taxes, cap the state budget and require automatic increases in funding for public schools.