Statewide Initiative
One Utah. One Flag.
Briefly, This is How We Got Here:
2023 Legislative Session
During the 2023 General Session, the State Flag Amendment bill (Senate Bill 31) was passed, which changed our state flag. Many voters reached out to their representatives and asked them to vote no; unfortunately, the bill was passed and signed by the governor on March 21, 2023, and the new flag will become effective next year on March 9, 2024.
Statewide Referendum
Because so many citizens reached out and asked their representatives to vote against the state changing the state flag, a group of voters sponsored a referendum to petition that the new law, to change the Utah flag, be presented to the voters for their approval or rejection at the next general election. A referendum process requires 134,298 signatures from registered voters to be collected within approximately 40 days. Through record snowstorms and extreme weather conditions, these mighty Utah citizens were able to collect approximately 50,000 signatures within 30 days. That’s no small task.
Statewide Initiative
Now HERE WE ARE! A group of citizens who want to save Utah’s flag has grown and the desire and energy to complete a statewide initiative has intensified. A statewide initiative has been filed and volunteers are gathering signatures to petition their proposed new state law to a vote in November 2024. The RESTORING THE UTAH STATE FLAG initiative repeals Senate Bill 31 and restores the Utah state flag as Utah’s only state flag. Once passed by the voters of Utah, the initiative further requires the state legislature to put any future changes to the state flag to a ballot. If you signed the Statewide Referendum during the March and April 2023, you must sign the Statewide Initiative in order for your signature to count.
A List of Who Voted for a New Flag:
(Without giving Utahns a chance to vote!)
Please contact your Utah state Senators and Representatives to ask them if they are yet listening (about our beloved flag)!
But Here is a Deeper Dive:
Who Does the New Flag Actually Serve?
Doing Away with Utah's State Flag, authored by Otto Krauss, brings to light the few who pushed to change Utah's flag—and Krauss brings the receipts in an extensive bibliography.
The article highlights how this new flag was pushed onto the state without a fair opportunity for Utahns, themselves, to vote for our own state flag. Instead, an exceptionally small special interest group was prioritized and enabled to achieve their personal objectives to replace Utah's flag.
Krauss rightly asks, "It’s true that (they are) entitled to (their) opinion, but (do they) speak for the rest of Utah?"
"This is another indication that some Utah 'legislators' are not creating these bills but are lending themselves to loud special interest groups whose interest neither represents the people nor the politicians who they use as their promoters."