Bill comes amid focus on Sen. Mitt Romney and impeachment, but lawmaker says it isn’t to target him.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah lawmaker has filed a bill to allow Utahns to recall an elected United States senator.
The lawmaker, Rep. Tim Quinn, R-Heber City, told the Deseret News in an interview Wednesday shortly after the bill was made public that it’s not meant to target any specific sitting Utah senator — but it comes amid heightened national attention on Sen. Mitt Romney, who has been among the few Republican senators publicly critical of President Donald Trump.
Romney in recent days has ignited simmering controversy over whether to bring additional witnesses and documents into the impeachment trial against Trump. Yet Quinn said his bill isn’t aimed at Romney or any specific senator — though he acknowledged his bill comes at a time that people will likely construe it that way.
“I know that’s what’s going to be the narrative,” Quinn said. “If it were, then it might make sense to have a sunset on it. That would not be the case.”
House Dem slammed for ‘sick’ defense of colleague caught texting Epstein during 2019 hearing
DHS launching massive immigration operation in Louisiana, Mississippi: ‘Swamp Sweep’
Illegal immigrant accused of grabbing ICE officer’s taser while shouting ‘Allahu akbar’ during arrest
Trump fetes Saudi crown prince with pseudo-state dinner attended by Cristiano Ronaldo
Thune fields Senate GOP backlash over ‘Arctic Frost’ surveillance provision
Federal prosecutors charge suspect who allegedly vandalized US Attorney Alina Habba’s office
Letitia James and Lisa Cook lawyer pushes back on mortgage fraud allegations
Trump calls for federal AI standards, end to state ‘patchwork’ regulations ‘threatening’ economic growth
Mother and Son Hospitalized After Being Viciously Attacked by a Mob of Elementary School Students
Six Democrats urge military members to ‘refuse illegal orders’ in viral video; Hegseth responds
The Weaponry of Words: What Israel vs. Hamas Taught Us About the Fight for Truth
Trump Seeks to Take ‘Fat, Rich Insurance Companies’ Out of the Equation as He Lays Out ‘the Only’ Healthcare Plan He Will ‘Approve’
House Democrats in Turmoil as Allegations of Lying and ‘Election Subversion’ Fly: Report
Senate unanimously votes to send bill demanding Epstein file release to Trump’s desk
Former Obama staffer, ex-congressman among candidates in crowded Democrat primary for Mikie Sherrill’s seat
Rather, Quinn said he started drafting the bill “weeks and weeks ago” after some constituents came to him raising ideas of how Utah could return to a “pre-17th Amendment” time, or when U.S. senators were appointed rather than elected.
To Quinn, a six-year term for a senator is a lengthy term, and his bill would be a “good mechanism in place to make any senator, current or future, a little more accountable to those who elected him or her.”
“Six years is a long time,” he said.
Pressed on the timing of the bill coinciding with heightened attention on Romney, Quinn said he started drafting the bill long ago, and it just happened to be ready Wednesday.
“Obviously I didn’t open this bill file after he made some of that news with impeachment, it would have never been drafted this quickly,” Quinn said. “So I can understand why people might think that, but if they understood the legislative process, this was well before that.”
The bill, HB217, would establish a process for legal voters to petition through signature gathering to place a question on the ballot to recall a U.S. senator.
It would require signatures equal to 25% of the number of active voters in the state on Jan. 1 immediately following the last regular general election. If that threshold is met, the lieutenant governor would place the recall question on the ballot of the next election that occurs at least 90 days after the question is certified.
House Dem slammed for ‘sick’ defense of colleague caught texting Epstein during 2019 hearing
DHS launching massive immigration operation in Louisiana, Mississippi: ‘Swamp Sweep’
Illegal immigrant accused of grabbing ICE officer’s taser while shouting ‘Allahu akbar’ during arrest
Trump fetes Saudi crown prince with pseudo-state dinner attended by Cristiano Ronaldo
Thune fields Senate GOP backlash over ‘Arctic Frost’ surveillance provision
Federal prosecutors charge suspect who allegedly vandalized US Attorney Alina Habba’s office
Letitia James and Lisa Cook lawyer pushes back on mortgage fraud allegations
Trump calls for federal AI standards, end to state ‘patchwork’ regulations ‘threatening’ economic growth
Mother and Son Hospitalized After Being Viciously Attacked by a Mob of Elementary School Students
Six Democrats urge military members to ‘refuse illegal orders’ in viral video; Hegseth responds
The Weaponry of Words: What Israel vs. Hamas Taught Us About the Fight for Truth
Trump Seeks to Take ‘Fat, Rich Insurance Companies’ Out of the Equation as He Lays Out ‘the Only’ Healthcare Plan He Will ‘Approve’
House Democrats in Turmoil as Allegations of Lying and ‘Election Subversion’ Fly: Report
Senate unanimously votes to send bill demanding Epstein file release to Trump’s desk
Former Obama staffer, ex-congressman among candidates in crowded Democrat primary for Mikie Sherrill’s seat
Under the bill, an incumbent senator would not be subject to recall if the senator has not been in office for at least one year of his or her current term.
Quinn said he sees the bill as a “good compromise between pre- and post-17th Amendment” that contains a fitting standards to meet for a recall.
“I think it’s a fairly large hurdle,” Quinn said. “That’s a lot of signature gathering. So it’s not something that people would take lightly if someone ever did want to recall a sitting senator.”
However, it’s unclear whether Quinn’s bill is even constitutional.
The U.S. Constitution does not provide for recall of any federally elected officials. While some states have statutes to allow voters to recall members of Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet ruled on whether that’s constitutionally legal at the federal level.
However, a close legal precedent may be a 1995 Supreme Court ruling that decided states did not have the right to impose new term limits on federal officials, noted Adam Brown, a BYU political science professor.
House Dem slammed for ‘sick’ defense of colleague caught texting Epstein during 2019 hearing
DHS launching massive immigration operation in Louisiana, Mississippi: ‘Swamp Sweep’
Illegal immigrant accused of grabbing ICE officer’s taser while shouting ‘Allahu akbar’ during arrest
Trump fetes Saudi crown prince with pseudo-state dinner attended by Cristiano Ronaldo
Thune fields Senate GOP backlash over ‘Arctic Frost’ surveillance provision
Federal prosecutors charge suspect who allegedly vandalized US Attorney Alina Habba’s office
Letitia James and Lisa Cook lawyer pushes back on mortgage fraud allegations
Trump calls for federal AI standards, end to state ‘patchwork’ regulations ‘threatening’ economic growth
Mother and Son Hospitalized After Being Viciously Attacked by a Mob of Elementary School Students
Six Democrats urge military members to ‘refuse illegal orders’ in viral video; Hegseth responds
The Weaponry of Words: What Israel vs. Hamas Taught Us About the Fight for Truth
Trump Seeks to Take ‘Fat, Rich Insurance Companies’ Out of the Equation as He Lays Out ‘the Only’ Healthcare Plan He Will ‘Approve’
House Democrats in Turmoil as Allegations of Lying and ‘Election Subversion’ Fly: Report
Senate unanimously votes to send bill demanding Epstein file release to Trump’s desk
Former Obama staffer, ex-congressman among candidates in crowded Democrat primary for Mikie Sherrill’s seat
“Applying that logic, it’s questionable whether a state law could allow early removal of a federal official,” Brown said. “If states can’t apply term limits to federal officials, it would be a stretch to think they could end a federal official’s service early.”
Neither Romney nor Sen. Mike Lee — both sitting in on impeachment proceedings — were available for comment Wednesday, according to their staff.
Story cited here.
