Utah

AMENDMENT LANGUAGE

State Constitutional Provision

·       Utah Const. art. I, § IV: “The rights of conscience shall never be infringed. The State shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office of public trust or for any vote at any election; nor shall any person be incompetent as a witness or juror on account of religious belief or the absence thereof. There shall be no union of Church and State, nor shall any church dominate the State or interfere with its functions. No public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise or instruction, or for the support of any ecclesiastical establishment.”

·       Utah Const. art. III, Ord. 4: “The Legislature shall make laws for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public schools, which shall be open to all the children of the State and be free from sectarian control.”

·       Utah Const. art. X, § 9: "Neither the state of Utah nor its political subdivisions may make any appropriation for the direct support of any school or educational institution controlled by any religious organization." (The state constitution ratified in 1895 set out this prohibition in Utah Const. art. X, § 13. A 1986 amendment renumbered and reworded the provision.)

RELEVANT CASES

State Courts

Gubler v. Utah State Teachers' Retirement Board, 192 P.2d 580 (Utah 1948) (Law creating retirement accounts for public school teachers did not violate state constitution even though it based computation in part on services rendered prior to statute's enactment, including prior employment in parochial schools).

REPEAL EFFORTS

See the Heritage Foundation website for a list of state contacts.