Utah Legislature wants to bypass voters.

[BostonGeorge]

Utah Legislature wants to "bypass voters."

link

Utah Lawmakers Defend Bill to Bypass Voters
By Matt Canham
The Salt Lake Tribune



Utah's Republican senators want to lead the charge nationwide to recapture some of the power state legislatures once held before a constitutional amendment allowed people to vote for their U.S. senators directly.
Utah Senate President John Valentine said SB156, which would allow legislators to pick Senate candidates, as long as the political parties agreed, has nothing to do with sitting Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett.
It's an effort to bolster the power of state leaders, who are more equipped to crack down on unfunded programs foisted upon the states by the U.S. Congress, he said.
"We know more than voters do," Valentine said. "They don't get the chance to hear all that we do." The legislation would also allow lawmakers to "direct" senators by making requests
Utah Democratic Party Executive Director Todd Taylor called the legislation "shameful."
"It doesn't respect the Constitution. It doesn't respect the voters and it doesn't respect the history that got us here," he said.
A Senate committee is expected to debate the bill, sponsored by Draper Republican Sen. Howard Stephenson, this morning. SB156 has 19 co-sponsors, all of whom are Republican except for West Valley City Democrat Sen. Ed Mayne

 

[gc70]

I disagree that state selection of Senators is "bypassing the voters." When the US was founded, the two houses of Congress were supposed to represent the interests of the people (the House) and the states (the Senate). The 17th Amendment was adopted during a populist period and stripped the states of their voice in Congress. I am squarely for going back and correcting that mistake.

As a technical point, if the 17th Amendment was repealed, "the voters" would still have a voice in the selection of Senators through their election of state legislators and governors.

BTW, Utah was the only state that did not ratify the 17th Amendment.

 

[Azrael256]

Uh, no. They're not "bypassing voters." The seventeenth amendment is an alteration of the original system and a total screwup. The states having no representation of their own in the federal government removes an enormous amount of control from the states and focuses it in DC which, as we all know, is a Bad Thing(tm). Think federally established speed limits, "drinking age," and the like. All are a result of a legislature, answerable only to federal power, blackmailing the states who then have no recourse against the federal government.

I say repeal the XVII.

 

[MechAg94]

This wouldn't bother me in the least. I get tired of all these elected Senators running around like little dictators. It certainly would put a little more emphasis on State elections. I bet the questions asked of prospective Supreme Court Justices might become a little bit different.

 

[LAR-15]

Sounds good.

 

[fourays2]

while we're at it let's cut their term down to 2 years and term limit them to 2 terms as well.

 

[BostonGeorge]

Maybe I should have put that in quotation marks. The thread title was merely meant as an observation of the article, not an endorsement to it.

 

[Firethorn]

I agree with GC and Azreal. States have been overshadowed way too much by the federal government. It's time to give the states representation in government again.

 

[mwelch8404]

The 17th was enacted to counter a big hunk of the 10th amendment.

 

[tube_ee]

Discussion of the 17th amendment, while relevant, is wide of the point. If the Utah legislature wants the power to select Senators, they're going to have to change the federal Constitution. Passing a law in Utah won't do it, such a law is pretty clearly unconstitutional right now.

--Shannon

OT PS: If we capitalize "Constitution," why don't we write "unConstitutional?"