Utah Law And Government

Utah government, like most U.S. states, is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The current governor of Utah is Jon Huntsman, Jr. The governor is elected for a four year term. The Utah State Legislature consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. State senators serve four year terms and representatives two year terms. The Utah Legislature meets each year in January for an annual forty-five day session. The Utah Supreme Court is the court of last resort in Utah. It consists of five justices, who are appointed by the governor, and then subject to retention election. The Utah Court of Appeals [21] handles cases from the trial courts. Trial level courts are the district courts and justice courts. All justices and judges, like those on the Utah Supreme Court, are subject to retention election after appointment.

Utah granted full voting rights to women in 1870, 26 years before becoming a state. Among all U.S. states, only Wyoming granted suffrage to women earlier. [22] However, in 1887 the Edmunds-Tucker Act was passed by Congress in an effort to curtail excessive Mormon influence in the territorial government. One of the provisions of the Act was the repeal of suffrage; full suffrage was not returned until Utah was admitted to the Union in 1896.

The constitution of Utah was enacted in 1895. Notably, the constitution outlawed polygamy and reestablished the territorial practice of women's suffrage. Utah's Constitution has been amended many times since its inception.[18]

Utah is also one of only two states in the United States to outlaw all forms of gambling; the other is Hawaii. Utah is an alcoholic beverage control state. The Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control regulates the sale of alcohol; wine and spiritous liquors may only be purchased at state liquor stores, and local laws may prohibit the sale of beer and other alcoholic beverages on Sundays.

Historically, politics in Utah have been controversial, such as the Federal government versus the LDS Church on the issue of polygamy. The LDS Church renounced polygamy in 1890, and in 1896, Utah gained admission to the Union. Many new people settled the area soon after the Mormon pioneers. Relations have often been strained between the LDS population and the non-LDS population. [23] These tensions played a large part in Utah's historical (Liberal Party vs. People's Party).

The current governor of Utah is Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.,[19] a member of the Republican Party. He is a proponent of a flat tax,[20] an opponent to same-sex marriage, while supporting the creation of a reciprocal beneficiary status for same-sex couples,[21] and an opponent to intelligent design being taught in the classroom.[22] He also receives high approval ratings from across the Utah political spectrum.[23]

Both of Utah's U.S. Senators, Orrin Hatch and Robert Foster Bennett, are Republican. Two more Republicans, Rob Bishop and Chris Cannon, as well as one member of the Democratic Party, Jim Matheson, represent Utah in the United States House of Representatives.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the religion of the majority of Utahns, and the majority of politicians in Utah from both political parties are LDS.[citation needed] While the Church maintains an official policy of neutrality in regards to political parties and candidates,[24] Utah votes predominately Republican. Self-identified Latter-day Saints are more likely to vote for Republican ticket than non-Mormons, and Utah is one of the most Republican states in the nation.[25] The connection between the LDS Church and the Republican Party of Utah is controversial.

In the 1970s, then-Apostle Ezra Taft Benson was quoted by the Associated Press that it would be difficult for a faithful Latter-day Saint to be a liberal Democrat.[26] Although the LDS Church has officially repudiated such statements on many occasions, Democratic candidates—including LDS Democrats—believe that Republicans capitalize on the perception that the Republican Party is doctrinally superior.[27] Political scientist and pollster Dan Jones explains this disparity by noting that the national Democratic Party is associated with progressive positions on gay rights and abortion that make Latter-day Saints uncomfortable.[28] The Republican Party in heavily Mormon Utah County presents itself as the superior choice for Latter-day Saints. Even though Democratic candidate are predominantly LDS, socially conservative, and pro-life, no Democrat has won in Utah county since 1994.[29] David Magleby, dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Brigham Young University, a lifelong Democrat and a political analyst, asserts that the Republican Party actually has more conservative positions than the LDS Church. Magleby argues that the locally conservative Democrats are in better accord with LDS doctrine.[30] For example, the Republican Party of Utah opposes all abortions while the LDS Church and Utah Democrats allow exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother. Similarly, the state GOP has been at odds with the LDS Church position opposing concealed firearms in places of worship.

The LDS Church itself has been troubled by the perception of political bias in the wake of Massachusetts Republican Mitt Romney's prospective presidential run.[31] In 1998 the Church expressed concern that Utahns perceived the Republican Party as an LDS institution and authorized lifelong Democrat and Seventy Marlin Jensen to promote LDS bipartisanship.[26]

The state's leadership is run by the Republican Party. State governors are usually centrist on social issues and favor free trade on economic policies, while the state senate and house are much more polarized with Republican members passing very socially conservative policies on party-line and partisan votes. Many of these bills have been subsequently vetoed by the governors.[citation needed]

While the people of the state are generally more tolerant of gay rights and polls indicate that a majority of residents support some form of legal recognition for same-sex couples, the state legislature is markedly more hostile.[citation needed] About 80% of Utah's Legislature are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,[32] while they account for 62% of the population.[4]

In 2006, the legislature passed legislation aimed at banning joint-custody for a non-biological parent of a child. The custody measure passed the legislature and was vetoed by the governor, a reciprocal benefits supporter.

Prayers are commonplace in Utah politics, and lawmakers of both parties, whether liberal or conservative, speak of their relationship with God or their religious beliefs in ordinary conversation.[original research?]

Utah's liberal areas include Carbon County, Grand County, Salt Lake County, and Summit County. Currently, both Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County have Democratic Party mayors and are home to about one million of the state's two and a half million residents. Salt Lake City's Mayor Rocky Anderson is supports same-sex marriage and the Kyoto Treaty, while the county mayor Peter Corroon is a relative of Howard Dean and shares similar views.[citation needed] Salt Lake City has not voted for a Republican mayor since the 1970s. Salt Lake County's Democrats tend to favor the economic policies of free trade while being socially liberal, particularly with gay rights and less so with abortion.[citation needed]

Carbon County's Democrats are generally made up of members of the large Greek, Italian,and Southeastern European communities, whose ancestors migrated in the early 1900s to work in the extensive mining industry. The views common amongst this group are heavily influenced by labor politics, particularly of the New Deal Era.[33]

Grand County's politics are heavy on environmentalism and being socially liberal. The county has a large hippie community situated in the popular tourist destination, Moab,[citation needed] in red rock country between Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.

The Democrats of Summit County are the by-product of the migration of wealthy families from California in the 1990s to the ski resort town of Park City; their views are generally supportive of the economic policies favored by unions and the social policies favored by the liberals.

The state's most Republican areas tend to be Utah County, which is the home to Brigham Young University and Provo, and nearly all the rural counties. [24] [25] These areas generally hold socially conservative views in line with that of the national Religious Right.

The state has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964. Historically, Republican presidential nominees score one of their best margins of victory here. Utah was the Republicans' best state in the 1976,[34] 1980,[35] 1984,[36] 1988,[37] 1996,[38] 2000[39] and 2004[40] elections. In 1992, Utah was the only state in the nation where Democratic candidate Bill Clinton finished behind both Republican candidate George H. W. Bush and Independent candidate Ross Perot.[41] In 2004, Republican George W. Bush won every county in the state and Utah gave him his largest margin of victory of any state. He won the state's 5 electoral votes by a margin of 46 percentage points with 71.5% of the vote. In the 1996 Presidential elections the Republican candidate received a smaller 54% of the vote while the Democrat earned 34%.[42]

Utah's population is concentrated in two areas, the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, with a population of approximately 2 million; and southwestern Utah, locally known as "Dixie", with nearly 150,000 residents.

According the 2000 Census, Utah was the fourth fastest growing state (at 29.6%) in the United States between 1990 and 2000. St. George, in the southwest, is the second-fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States, trailing Greeley, Colorado.

The state's two fastest growing counties are: Summit (at 91.6%; ranking it 8th in the country) and Washington (at 86.1%; ranking it 12th). The cities (defined as having at least 9,000 residents in 2000) that saw the greatest increases between 1990 and 2000 were: Draper (248%), South Jordan (141%), Lehi (125%), Riverton (122%), and Syracuse (102%). Between 1990 and 2000 the five fastest-growing cities of any size were Cedar Hills (302%), Draper (248%), Woodland Hills (213%), Ivins (173%), and South Jordan (141%). According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the five fastest-growing cities of any size between 2000 and 2005 were Herriman (637%), Saratoga Springs (548%), Eagle Mountain (380%), Cedar Hills (152%), and Syracuse (91%).

• Until 2003, the Salt Lake City and Ogden-Clearfield metropolitan areas were considered as a single metropolitan area.[43]

The Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City.

The Scott Matheson Courthouse is the seat of the Utah Supreme Court

Salt Lake City

Provo

Sandy

Park City

St. George