Lt. Gov Deidre Henderson issued an order Tuesday blocking a new anti-union law from taking effect on Wednesday.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Union supporters gather during a protest against HB267 at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025.
Lt. Gov Deidre Henderson issued an order Tuesday blocking a new anti-union law from taking effect as county clerks finish counting signatures supporting a referendum to repeal the law that seems certain to qualify for the 2026 ballot.
Utah law requires the lieutenant governor to issue an injunction on the law taking effect when a referendum has met the criteria to qualify for the ballot — in this case 140,748 valid signatures, as well as specific signature thresholds in at least 15 of the state’s 29 senate districts.
The Protect Utah Workers referendum drive had racked up 245,513 verified signatures according to the figures posted by the lieutenant governor Tuesday morning and had met its target in 23 senate districts.
Clerks will continue verifying signatures, a process that is required by law to be completed by Wednesday.
“This deeply unpopular bill would have stripped public workers of our rights,” the Protect Utah Workers coalition said in a statement, praising Henderson for her action. “We are one step closer to letting voters, not politicians, decide the future of collective bargaining in Utah.”
Technically, the lieutenant governor is just pressing pause.
Opponents have until June 21 to try to convince voters to remove their signatures from the referendum petitions, but the volume of signatures submitted by labor groups has been so overwhelming that opponents have said it would be pointless to mount such a campaign, conceding labor groups have more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot and setting their sites on persuading Utahns to vote against repealing HB267.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Union supporters gather during a protest against HB267 at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025.
The law, passed earlier this year by the Legislature, prohibits government entities from negotiating contracts with representatives from public employee unions. Sponsors of the bill argued that concessions made to labor unions come at taxpayers’ expense and that, because labor unions only represent a fraction of public employees, the law would give more workers a voice in contract negotiations.
While teacher unions are the most directly impacted, it would also have affected unions representing police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, health care workers, librarians and others.
“Union members across Utah stood shoulder to shoulder to accomplish what many thought was impossible,” the labor coalition said. “We could not have come this far without thousands of volunteers and voters who made their voices heard. This is proof that when workers unite, we win.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jessica Stauffer speaks after labor leaders turned signatures in their attempt to qualify a referendum repealing an anti-union bill, at the Salt Lake County Clerk’s office on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
Assuming the referendum qualifies for the ballot — which appears certain — the law will remain on ice until the results of the 2026 election are certified. If Utahns vote to repeal the law, Gov. Spencer Cox will issue an order voiding it from the books.
The last time that happened in the state was 2007, when voters backed a referendum to repeal Utah’s first-ever school voucher law.
Correction • May 6, 10:08 p.m.: The story has been updated to remove an incorrect effective date for the law.