Lawmaker cites flaws in Utah's petition process

Concerns over petition signatures for an open-space initiative on Tuesday's ballot prompted Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, to unveil a plan Friday in a news conference to disclose more information about the petition process.

"If citizens are going to function as legislators, we have certain things that are required to be disclosed," Bramble said. He will incorporate his plan into a bill for the 2005 session.

Initiative 1 proponents gathered nearly 130,000 signatures this year from people who wanted more open space and were, apparently, willing to boost their own taxes to get it.

But in an informal survey of 300 petition signers, Farm Bureau President Randy Parker said only about 3 percent of them realized they had signed up for a .05-cent sales tax hike and a $150 million bond to clean water, build parks, construct city buildings and preserve open space.

"The signatures were collected in a deceptive way. There's more to this issue than the pretty picture that's being painted of clean air and clean water," he said.

Bramble's plan aims to rectify that problem in the future by requiring that the tax repercussions of any initiative to be displayed in large, bold letters at the top of the petition and atop the signature page. The tax information would also have to be included in the title of the petition.

On the Initiative 1 petition, for example, the headline would have added the words "Utah $195 Million Sales Tax Increase and $150 Million in New State Debt" to the original title of "Clean Water, Quality Growth and Open Space Initiative."

Without the wording change, Bramble said most petition signers had to read through several pages to discover the initiative equates to an increase in state debt.

"These are all feel-good proposals, but when you pull back the layers, you see the meat of the issue," he said.

While Initiative 1 was the catalyst for the petition change, Bramble said he was not attacking that specific bond. Rather, he said it was just an opportune time to fix the disclosure problem that has always accompanied initiatives.

Maura Carabello, vice president for the Initiative 1 campaign, said petition signers had ample access to details of the initiative because the signature sheet was attached to a copy of the full legislation.

"We've always encouraged people to read the actual initiative. The details strengthen our position," she said.

The change in the petition process comes amidst a debate inspired by Initiative 1 about the role of initiatives in making tax policy. Several groups, including the Tax Review Commission and the Utah Farm Bureau, have spoken against the use of initiatives in tax matters.

Creating tax policy without the deliberation of the Legislature puts Utah in dangerous territory, said former U.S. Rep. Jim Hansen. Without weighing open space against other budget items, Hansen said, Utah voters could find themselves falling short on education and transportation funding in the future. The initiative gives the lands issues priority over any other budget concerns.

"If you want to go to heck in a basket, start putting initiatives all over the ballot," Hansen said. "The problem with initiatives is that the big print gives it to you and the small print takes it away."

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com

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