Utah Legislature: Affirmative action resolution rewritten

SALT LAKE CITY — As an anti-affirmative action, anti-discrimination resolution languishes in the House, its sponsor has written a new version that would call for a series of public hearings on the issue during the summer.

Uploaded to Legislature Web site Friday night, the substitute measure has yet to be approved, but if it gets the nod, it would still go on the November ballot as a constitutional amendment.

Although it initially flew through the legislative process, HJR24 (le.utah.gov/~2010/htmdoc/hbillhtm/hjr024.htm), sponsored by Clearfield Republican Rep. Curtis Oda, has met resistance from Republicans and Democrats.

As a proposed constitutional amendment, the measure needs a two-thirds vote to pass.

Republican critics in the House have said the bill leaves too many questions with too little time left in the session to answer them.

This latest version may be an attempt to win over some Republican holdouts and resurrect the bill.

Under the newly drafted, unapproved proposal, a series of four public hearings would take place at the Capitol. Regardless of the outcome of the hearings, the proposed amendment would still make it on the ballot.

— Josh Smith