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SB 79UTAHSession 2026State Billdead
Did Not Advance

Utah Legislature standardizes petition verification forms and signature packets for initiatives and referenda

Original title: Verification Form Amendments

Last action · March 6, 2026: Senate/ filedSponsor: Karen Kwan

Bill progressHistory & official text ↓
Introduced
Committee
Floor Vote
Passed
Law

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Public stanceCommunity reactions are separate from the official record and reporting.

What This Bill Proposed

Petition circulators and sponsors must use revised signature sheets and verification affidavits that establish uniform voter disclosures, accessibility options, and specific warning notices. The legislation sets standardized layout and disclosure standards for manual initiative and s filed with state and local election officers.

Why it matters

Petition circulators, sponsors, and election clerks must adopt the updated formatting requirements for gathering registered voter signatures starting May 6, 2026.

Background
  • Utah law provides manual processes for citizens to propose state and local statutes or constitutional amendments via initiatives, or to challenge enacted legislation via referenda. context
  • Signature packets require standardized verification forms and circulator affidavits under penalty of perjury to ensure the authenticity of voter signatures. context

Who It Would Have Affected

Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.

Directly affected

Petition sponsors and signature collectors

Petition organizers and circulators must use updated signature sheet layouts and adhere to revised verification statement requirements under penalty of perjury.

Directly affected

State and local election officers

County clerks, city recorders, town clerks, and the Lieutenant Governor must process initiative and referendum petitions formatted according to the revised statutory standards.

Directly affected

Registered voters in Utah

Key Facts

You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.

Frequently Asked Questions

What changes does Senate Bill 79 make to petition forms?
The bill updates the technical formatting, signature tables, and verification statements required for manual initiative and s submitted to state and local election officials.
What happens if a petition form contains minor technical errors?
Under the statute, initiative and s remain legally sufficient if they substantially follow the required forms despite clerical or technical errors.

What else do you want to know?

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

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Where This Stands

This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · introduced in the Senate.

Procedural history

11 actions
  1. Mar 6, 2026Senate
    Senate/ filed
  2. Mar 6, 2026Senate
    Senate/ strike enacting clause
  3. Jan 20, 2026SenateIntroduced
    Senate/ 1st reading (Introduced)
  4. Jan 16, 2026Senate
    Senate/ received fiscal note from Fiscal Analyst
  5. Jan 16, 2026Released
    LFA/ fiscal note publicly available for SB0079
  6. Jan 16, 2026Version Sponsor
    LFA/ fiscal note sent to sponsor for SB0079
Show 5 earlier actions
  1. Jan 12, 2026Senate
    Senate/ received bill from Legislative Research
  2. Jan 6, 2026Legislative Fiscal Agency
    LFA/ bill sent to agencies for fiscal input for SB0079
  3. Jan 6, 2026Legislative Fiscal Analyst
    LFA/ bill assigned to staff for fiscal analysis for SB0079
  4. Jan 6, 2026Legislative Research and General Counsel
    Numbered Bill Publicly Distributed
  5. Jan 6, 2026Legislative Research and General Counsel
    Bill Numbered but not Distributed

Version history

Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.

View official text →

Lobbying Activity

No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.

Full breakdown

Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.

Sponsors

Karen KwanSenate · District 12DemocraticPrimary sponsor

Discoveries

1 pattern noticed across the record

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift95% confidence

Standardization of Manual Petition Frameworks

The bill uniformly updates manual initiative and referendum processes across both state and local jurisdictions by amending multiple parallel sections of the Utah Code.

Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst

Connected Entities

Karen Kwan, Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst
PersonKaren Kwan“Chief Sponsor in the Senate”Map →
OrganizationOffice of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst“Prepares initial fiscal impact statements for initiative petitions”Map →

Sources

Open source document

le.utah.gov

Analysis Score

0–100
  • Significance20
    Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 35)
  • Controversy5
    Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
  • Entertainment1
    Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
  • Buzz15
    Current news / social attention level

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