UTAH

Lawsuit seeks state control over federal land

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s Republican leaders on Aug. 20 made good on a decade-old vow to launch a legal challenge aimed at wresting control from the U.S. government over much of the federal lands that dominate the state.

The state’s attorney general said he asked to file a lawsuit with the U.S. Supreme Court in what is considered a long-shot attempt to assert state powers on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property across about one-third of Utah.

It marks the latest jab in a running feud between states and the U.S. government over who should control huge swaths of the West.

Federal agencies combined have jurisdiction over almost 70% of Utah.

The lawsuit targets about half of that federal land — some 29,000 square miles, or an area nearly as large as South Carolina, in parcels are under land bureau management and used for energy production, grazing, mining, recreation and other purposes.

Utah’s world-famous national parks — and the national monuments managed by the land bureau — would remain in federal hands under the lawsuit.

Committee shows renewed interest in measure to restrict foreign ownership of Colorado agricultural land

Attorney General Sean Reyes said federal dominance prevents the state from making money off of taxes and development projects on those acres.

University of Colorado environmental law professor Mark Squillace said the lawsuit was unlikely to succeed and was “more a political stunt than anything else.”

The Utah Enabling Act of 1894 that governed Utah’s designation as a state included a promise that it wouldn’t make any claim on federal land, Squillace said. The property clause of the Constitution also gives the federal government absolute authority over public lands, he said.

Lawmakers want power to change passed initiatives

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s Republican-controlled Legislature will ask voters in November to relinquish some of their rights to lawmakers who want the ability to change state ballot measures after they’ve passed.

Frustrated by a recent state Supreme Court ruling, lawmakers called a special session on Aug. 21 in which both chambers swiftly approved an amendment to Utah’s constitution that would grant them greater power over citizen initiatives. The Legislature used its broadly worded emergency powers to hold the session.

If a majority of Utah voters approves the amendment this fall, it would give lawmakers constitutional authority to significantly rewrite voter-approved ballot measures or repeal them entirely.

Democrats decried the decision as a “power grab,” while Republicans argued it would be dangerous to have certain laws on the books that cannot be substantially changed. The proposal would let lawmakers apply their new power to initiatives from past election cycles.

Colorado ballot initiative to ban hunting of big cats moves forward, opponents call it 'ballot box biology'

State Sen. Kirk Cullimore, a Draper Republican and a sponsor of the proposal, said during floor debate that a recent state Supreme Court ruling in a redistricting case has effectively turned ballot initiatives into “super laws” that are not subject to the same revisions as laws passed by the Legislature.

Last month, all five Republican-appointed state Supreme Court justices sided with plaintiffs who argued the GOP supermajority had overstepped its authority and undermined voters when it altered the ballot initiative that banned partisan gerrymandering.

Tthe legislature is attempting to circumvent that ruling by expanding its constitutional authority over voters — but voters themselves will have the final say.

NEBRASKA

Competing abortion measures make ballot

LINCOLN — Nebraska voters will choose between two competing abortion measures to either expand abortion rights or limit them to the current 12-week ban — a development likely to drive more voters to the polls in a state that could see one of its five electoral votes up for grabs in the hotly contested presidential race.

Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen announced on Aug. 23 that the rival initiatives each gathered enough signatures to get on the November ballot, making Nebraska the first state to carry competing abortion amendments on the same ballot since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

In Nebraska, organizers of the competing efforts announced in July that they turned in far more signatures than the approximately 123,000 required.

One of the initiatives, like measures on ballots elsewhere in the U.S., would enshrine in the state constitution the right to have an abortion until viability or later to protect the health of the pregnant woman.

Colorado proposition to require violent offenders serve 85% of sentence qualifies for November ballot

The other measure would write into the constitution the current 12-week ban, with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the pregnant woman.

Evnen said his office validated more than 136,000 signatures for both proposals.

It’s possible voters could end up approving both measures, but because they’re competing and therefore cannot both be enshrined in the constitution, the one that gets the most “for” votes will be the one adopted, Evnen said.

KANSAS

Judge rules machine guns OK under 2nd Amendment

A federal judge in Kansas has tossed out a machine gun possession charge and questioned if bans on the weapons violate the Second Amendment.

If upheld on appeal, the ruling by U.S. District Judge John W. Broomes in Wichita could have a sweeping impact on the regulation of machine guns, including homemade automatic weapons that many police and prosecutors blame for fueling gun violence.

Broomes, an appointee of President Donald Trump, on Aug. 21 dismissed two machine gun possession counts against Tamori Morgan, who was indicted last year. Morgan was accused of possessing a model AM-15 .300-caliber machine gun and a machine gun conversion device known as a “Glock switch” that can make a semi-automatic weapon fire like a machine gun.

“The court finds that the Second Amendment applies to the weapons charged because they are ‘bearable arms’ within the original meaning of the amendment,” Broomes wrote.

Colorado legislators launch Second Amendment Caucus

Federal prosecutors in the case said in earlier court filings that the “Supreme Court has made clear that regulations of machine guns fall outside the Second Amendment.”

A June 2022 Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen was seen as a major expansion of gun rights. The ruling said Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.

Eric Ruben, a fellow at the Brennan Center and an associate law professor of Southern Methodist University, said it appeared to be the first time a machine gun ban had been found unconstitutional.

Arizona puts abortion rights on the ballot as record number of signatures verified | OUT WEST ROUNDUP

Arizona governor negotiates pause in hauling of uranium ore across Navajo Nation | OUT WEST ROUNDUP

Wandering wolf confined through 2025 breeding season in hopes of producing pups | OUT WEST ROUNDUP