Hillyard says he could be forced out

A leading Utah state senator with nearly 30 years in the Legislature says he will be forced out of office if a citizen initiative on legislative ethics passes.

In a debate before the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, an attorney, said his law partners have examined the Utahns for Ethical Government initiative and have told him: "You are out of the Senate" if the initiative becomes law.

Hillyard and Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, spoke against the initiative in the debate, while former GOP House members Kim Burningham and David Irvine spoke in favor of the 21-page initiative.

Opponents of the initiative, mostly GOP state legislators, have said before that if Utahns adopt the far-reaching law, some current legislators may retire rather than undergo the new code of conduct, which they say violates the privacy of legislators, especially in business dealings.

But Hillyard is the first incumbent to say that he would be out of office if the initiative passes. "My law partners would not allow our books to be opened up like this" initiative would require, said Hillyard, who was first elected to the House in 1980.

The Logan attorney has served in various important positions in both the House and Senate, including a brief stint as Senate president. He currently is the Senate budget chairman.

Irvine reminded Hillyard that should voters approve the initiative, it would only be a law, and the Legislature could amend it like it would any other state statute.

"This (initiative) is not written in stone, and it can be improved," Irvine said. And initiative supporters are willing to "work with people of good faith" to make needed changes.

But Hillyard said once voters have adopted an initiative, it is "very difficult politically" to change it.

He gave as an example a citizen initiative concerning forfeiture of property seized in the process of a criminal conviction. Citizens who backed the original initiative — Hillyard calls them "killer bees" — descended on the Legislature when it tried to amend the initiative law to keep prison inmates from shielding their illegally gained profits.

"The killer bees said this was a vote of the people," Hillyard said. To change it at all "means you are now against the people."

The Utahns for Ethical Government initiative is "way too complex" to pass in one great swath, and even if lawmakers could amend it to make it sensible, "remember the killer bees — they'll say any amendment is weakening" the ethics law, said Hillyard.