Utah senators tease sponsor of campus free-speech resolution

Non-binding Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 would encourage Utah’s higher education institutions to protect students’ constitutional rights.

Utah’s senators had a little fun with one of their minority-party colleagues on Friday, voting against a bipartisan resolution on student free-speech rights before switching their votes en masse to pass the bill unanimously.

Staged votes in opposition are common in the Legislature, typically a way of welcoming new lawmakers into the House or Senate. But Friday’s joke vote was aimed at Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, first elected in 2014.

After it became clear senators were mock voting against his bill, Dabakis joked that he, too, would switch to a “no” vote.

Dabakis is one of the most liberal members of the Utah Senate and is known for running bills with a low likelihood of passage. Last year, he jokingly referred to his proposal to create a graduated income tax as his “soak the rich” bill.

Dabakis is co-sponsoring SCR3 with Rep. Kim Coleman, R-West Jordan. The non-binding resolution urges Utah’s college and university administrators to establish policies that protects student’s civil liberties, such as free speech and other First Amendment rights.

The resolution now moves to the House for consideration.

A bipartisan resolution urging colleges and universities to defend the First Amendment and civil rights of students met little resistance on its way to a 6-0 vote of the Utah Legislature’s Senate Education Committee on Tuesday.

But the wording of the resolution prompted a question of definitions from one senior legislator, Logan Republican Sen. Lyle Hillyard.

Hillyard asked for clarification on the legal meaning of “civil liberties,” before acknowledging that as a non-binding resolution, the bill has no effect on state law.

“If this were a statute I'd be much more concerned about it,” Hillyard said. “It’s a resolution, I guess higher [education] can figure out what it means.”

The resolution, SCR3, is sponsored by Sen. James Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, and Rep. Kim Coleman, R-West Jordan, who individually are among the most liberal and most conservative members of the Utah Legislature, respectively.

Dabakis said lawmakers had met with campus representatives and while civil rights policies already exist, he felt there is a need for lawmakers to be adamant in their expectation of First Amendment protections.

“We don’t want campuses full of people that are only hearing rebounds of their own philosophical ideas,” Dabakis said.

While the resolution is non-binding, Coleman — chairwoman of the House Education Committee — said she plans to run several students’ rights bills this year. Those proposals are not yet public, but are listed under titles related to freedom of association, neutrality in higher education and free speech.

“I hope to bring some other bills before this committee when they move through the House that do some more hard and tangible things in the area of First Amendment rights,” Coleman said.