2006 Utah Code - 20A-7-508 — Ballot title -- Duties of local clerk and local attorney.

     20A-7-508.   Ballot title -- Duties of local clerk and local attorney.
     (1) Whenever an initiative petition is declared sufficient for submission to a vote of the people, the local clerk shall deliver a copy of the petition and the proposed law to the local attorney.
     (2) (a) The local attorney shall:
     (i) entitle each county initiative that has qualified for the ballot "Citizen's County Initiative Number __" and give it a number;
     (ii) entitle each municipal initiative that has qualified for the ballot "Citizen's City (or Town) Initiative Number __ " and give it a number;
     (iii) prepare a ballot title for the initiative; and
     (iv) return the petition and the ballot title to the local clerk within 15 days after its receipt.
     (b) The ballot title may be distinct from the title of the proposed law attached to the initiative petition, and shall express, in not exceeding 100 words, the purpose of the measure.
     (c) The ballot title and the number of the measure as determined by the local attorney shall be printed on the official ballot.
     (d) In preparing ballot titles, the local attorney shall, to the best of his ability, give a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure.
     (e) The ballot title may not intentionally be an argument, or likely to create prejudice, for or against the measure.
     (3) Immediately after the local attorney files a copy of the ballot title with the local clerk, the local clerk shall serve a copy of the ballot title by mail upon any of the sponsors of the petition.
     (4) (a) If the ballot title furnished by the local attorney is unsatisfactory or does not comply with the requirements of this section, at least three of the sponsors of the petition may, by motion, appeal the decision of the local attorney to the Supreme Court.
     (b) The Supreme Court shall examine the measures and hear arguments, and, in its decision, shall certify to the local clerk a ballot title for the measure that fulfills the intent of this section.
     (c) The local clerk shall print the title verified to him by the Supreme Court on the official ballot.

Amended by Chapter 57, 2001 General Session