CHAIR To: Governor Spencer Cox

ERIC CLARKE
CHAIR-ELECT From: The Undersigned Members of the Utah County and District
JAYMON THOMAS Attorneys Association (24 of 28 Elected County Attorneys)
IMMEDIATE PAST-CHAIR
Date: March 12, 2024
SCOTT BROADHEAD
Re: Concerns with SB 273 and Unnecessarily Regulating Elected
VON CHRISTIANSEN, BEAVER Prosecutors
STEPHEN HADFIELD, BOX ELDER
TAYLOR SORENSEN, CACHE We write to encourage you to veto Senate Bill 273 Amendments Relating
CHRISTIAN BRYNER, CARBON to District Attorney in the County of the First Class. This bill was
KENT SNIDER, DAGGETT introduced seven days before the end of the session with no prosecutor
TROY RAWLINGS, DAVIS input and was passed without ever receiving public comment. It requires
STEPHEN FOOTE, DUCHESNE the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office to track information that
MIKE OLSEN, EMERY likely will not be helpful in informing criminal justice reform decisions. We
BARRY HUNTINGTON, GARFIELD also have significant constitutional and separation of powers concerns
STEVEN STOCKS, GRAND with the bill’s short process for replacing an elected official without a
CHAD DOTSON, IRON formal impeachment proceeding.
PERRY DAVIS, JUAB
Process matters in adopting legislation, and this bill skipped the normal
ROB VAN DYKE , KANE
process. It only had one committee hearing and the public was not
PATRICK FINLINSON, MILLARD
permitted to speak to the bill in that hearing. Furthermore, we are not
GARRETT SMITH, MORGAN
aware of any stakeholder input being sought or incorporated.
SCOTT BURNS, PIUTE
BEN WILLOUGHBY, RICH Gathering good information is important to inform decision making. But
SIM GILL, SALT LAKE governments all too often waste taxpayer resources by gathering
KEVIN DANIELS, SAN PETE unhelpful information. This bill requires case specific tracking of cases by
BRITTANY IVINS, SAN JUAN attorneys and staff in 15-minute increments. But employees in
CASEY JEWKES, SEVIER prosecution offices deal with a huge volume of cases and frequently work
MARGARET OLSON, SUMMIT on several, and even dozens, of cases in a single work hour. Because of
SCOTT BROADHEAD, TOOELE this, the required tracking will not produce accurate or useful
JAYMON THOMAS, UINTAH information. For example, if a calendaring assistant spends four hours on
JEFF GRAY, UTAH a criminal calendar with 60 cases, that is an average of four minutes a
SCOTT SWEAT, WASATCH case. The required tracking would result in the assistant either rounding
ERIC CLARKE, WASHINGTON each case down to zero or up to fifteen minutes. So the assistant would
MICHAEL WINN, WAYNE report having worked zero hours or fifteen.
CHRIS ALLRED, WEBER

express significant concern with the proposal described in H.J.R.1 to move

all class B and C misdemeanors from local justice courts into state district
 March 12, 2024
SB 273 Concerns
p. 2 of 2

The worst thing about SB 273 is the process for effectively removing an elected district attorney upon
recommendation of a single legislative committee or the governor and a Utah Supreme Court decision.
There is no provision for an impeachment trial or any due process provision. Furthermore, the elected
official would be removed for discretionary decisions and not for committing a crime or malfeasance in
office. Holding elected officials accountable for discretionary decisions is a power best wielded by voters
at the ballot box. Furthermore, elected officials must feel primarily accountable to their voters and not
other elected leaders. That independence is why we have elected, and not appointed prosecutors and
other local officials.

In closing, we are committed as an organization to work with the legislature, judiciary, and various
executive offices and boards to improve our state’s criminal justice system. We share the legislature’s
concerns about crime rates, habitual offenders, and how long the legal process takes at times. But this
bill does not address any of these issues. Instead it usurps the separation of powers and would waste
government resources by gathering potentially meaningless data. It should be vetoed so that
stakeholders can work with the legislature on a better way to gather useful information.

Thank you for your time, and any of us are happy to talk through this issue more in depth.

Sincerely, Elected County Attorneys of Utah (24 of the 28):

VON CHRISTIANSEN, BEAVER GARRETT SMITH, MORGAN

STEPHEN HADFIELD, BOX ELDER BEN WILLOUGHBY, RICH
TAYLOR SORENSEN, CACHE SIM GILL, SALT LAKE
CHRISTIAN BRYNER, CARBON BRITTANY IVINS, SAN JUAN
KENT SNIDER, DAGGETT KEVIN DANIELS, SAN PETE
TROY RAWLINGS, DAVIS CASEY JEWKES, SEVIER
STEPHEN FOOTE , DUCHESNE MARGARET OLSON, SUMMIT
MIKE OLSEN, EMERY SCOTT BROADHEAD, TOOELE
BARRY HUNTINGTON, GARFIELD JAYMON THOMAS, UINTAH
CHAD DOTSON, IRON JEFF GRAY, UTAH
PERRY DAVIS, JUAB ERIC CLARKE, WASHINGTON
ROB VAN DYKE, KANE CHRIS ALLRED, WEBER