The Utah State Legislature referred a constitutional amendment on March 7, 2025, regarding constitutional amendment publication requirements to the ballot for Nov. 3, 2026. In Utah, the existing publication requirement for a constitutional amendment requires each measure to be published for two months in at least one newspaper in every county in the state. The proposed amendment would remove the requirement that a constitutional amendment be published in newspapers in each county, and instead leave the specifics of where and how the information is published up to the legislature. Additionally, the amendment would revise the constitution’s wording to require publication for the 60 days leading up to the general election, rather than for two months.
State Rep. Anthony Loubet (R-27) introduced the constitutional amendment as House Joint Resolution 10 (HJR 10) in the Government Operations Committee of the Utah House of Representatives.
While presenting the bill to the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee, Rep. Loubet said that the constitutional amendment is meant to update state laws and improve legislative communication with the public, as newspapers are no longer the primary source of news consumption. He also said that the amendment’s wording, particularly the provision defining the manner of publication by statute, is intended to align with the publishing requirements of other states.
Elizabeth Hutchings, spokesperson for the Alliance for a Better Utah, testified at the bill’s hearing before the Revenue and Taxation Committee. She said the organization was neutral on the bill and recognized the need to update the publication requirements for constitutional amendments. She also said that the constitution is “supposed to be hard to change” and when introducing language such as “in a manner provided by statute,” the legislature should be cautious not to undermine the integrity of the state constitution.
Utah is one of 32 other states with a publication requirement for proposed constitutional amendments. Eighteen of those states specifically require publication in a newspaper.
The map below highlights which states have publication requirements for constitutional amendments.
In 2024, Utah’s newspaper publication requirement led to the invalidation of two constitutional amendments that had been certified for the ballot. The Utah State Supreme Court voided Amendment A and Amendment D, determining that election officials in both cases failed to comply with the newspaper publication requirement. Regarding Amendment D, the court’s opinion stated, “The submission and publication requirements are not mere boxes to be checked before votes can be tallied; they are constitutional safeguards designed to ensure that voters have the information and time necessary to cast an informed vote on a matter as weighty as a constitutional amendment. If those requirements are unfulfilled, it would be unconstitutional to allow a proposed amendment to go into effect. … Because Amendment D was not submitted to the voters in the way our constitution requires, it is void.”
As such, the proposed amendments were invalidated, and any votes cast for the ballot measures in the 2024 election were not tallied. Rep. Loubet referenced these rulings in his presentation to both the State House and the State Senate.
Utah voters will also decide on another constitutional amendment in 2026 that changes the approval process for citizen-initiated ballot measures. That constitutional amendment would change the voter approval threshold for an initiative if it would impose a new tax, expand an existing tax, or reduce a property tax rate. Currently, a simple majority is required to pass initiatives. If voters approve the amendment, certain tax-related initiatives would require 60% voter approval to pass. The amendment would apply retroactively to November 1, 2026, meaning that if it is approved, any tax-related initiatives on the ballot in 2026 that fall under the tax provisions in the amendment would need 60% voter approval.
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