20A-7-502.5. Initial fiscal and legal impact statement — Preparation of statement.
(1)
Within three business days after the day on which the local clerk receives an initiative application, the local clerk shall submit a copy of the initiative application to the county, city, or town‘s budget officer.
Terms Used In Utah Code 20A-7-502.5
Budget officer: means :
(a)
for a county, the person designated as finance officer as defined in Section 17-36-3;
(b)
for a city, the person designated as budget officer in Subsection 10-6-106(4);
(c)
for a town, the town council; or
(d)
for a metro township, the person described in Subsection (2)(a) for the county in which the metro township is located. See Utah Code 20A-7-101
City: includes , depending on population, a metro township as defined in Section 10-3c-102. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
Initial fiscal impact and legal statement: means a financial and legal statement prepared under Section 20A-7-502. See Utah Code 20A-7-101
Initiative: means a new law proposed for adoption by the public as provided in this chapter. See Utah Code 20A-7-101
Initiative application: means :
(a)
for a statewide initiative, an application described in Subsection 20A-7-202(2) that includes all the information, statements, documents, and notarized signatures required under Subsection 20A-7-202(2); or
(b)
for a local initiative, an application described in Subsection 20A-7-502(2) that includes all the information, statements, documents, and notarized signatures required under Subsection 20A-7-502(2). See Utah Code 20A-7-101
Local clerk: means the county clerk, city recorder, or town clerk in whose jurisdiction a local initiative or referendum petition is circulated. See Utah Code 20A-7-101
Public debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
Sponsors: means the legal voters who support the initiative or referendum and who sign the initiative application or referendum application. See Utah Code 20A-7-101
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
Tax percentage difference: means the difference between the tax rate proposed by an initiative or an initiative petition and the current tax rate. See Utah Code 20A-7-101
Tax percentage increase: means a number calculated by dividing the tax percentage difference by the current tax rate and rounding the result to the nearest thousandth. See Utah Code 20A-7-101
Town: includes , depending on population, a metro township as defined in Section 10-3c-102. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
The budget officer, together with legal counsel, shall prepare an unbiased, good faith initial fiscal and legal impact statement for the proposed law that contains:
(i)
a dollar amount representing the total estimated fiscal impact of the proposed law;
(ii)
if the proposed law would increase or decrease taxes, a dollar amount representing the total estimated increase or decrease for each type of tax affected under the proposed law and a dollar amount representing the total estimated increase or decrease in taxes under the proposed law;
(iii)
if the proposed law would increase taxes, the tax percentage difference and the tax percentage increase;
(iv)
if the proposed law would result in the issuance or a change in the status of bonds, notes, or other debt instruments, a dollar amount representing the total estimated increase or decrease in public debt under the proposed law;
(v)
a listing of all sources of funding for the estimated costs associated with the proposed law showing each source of funding and the percentage of total funding provided from each source;
(vi)
a dollar amount representing the estimated costs or savings, if any, to state and local government entities under the proposed law;
(vii)
the proposed law’s legal impact, including:
(A)
any significant effects on a person‘s vested property rights;
(B)
any significant effects on other laws or ordinances;
(C)
any significant legal liability the city, county, or town may incur; and
(D)
any other significant legal impact as determined by the budget officer and the legal counsel; and
(viii)
a concise explanation, not exceeding 100 words, of the information described in this Subsection (2)(a) and of the estimated fiscal impact, if any, under the proposed law.
(b)
(i)
If the proposed law is estimated to have no fiscal impact, the local budget officer shall include a summary statement in the initial fiscal impact and legal statement in substantially the following form: “The (title of the local budget officer) estimates that the law proposed by this initiative would have no significant fiscal impact and would not result in either an increase or decrease in taxes or debt.”
(ii)
If the proposed law is estimated to have a fiscal impact, the local budget officer shall include a summary statement in the initial fiscal impact and legal statement in substantially the following form: “The (title of the local budget officer) estimates that the law proposed by this initiative would result in a total fiscal expense/savings of $______, which includes a (type of tax or taxes) tax increase/decrease of $______ and a $______ increase/decrease in public debt.”
(iii)
If the estimated fiscal impact of the proposed law is highly variable or is otherwise difficult to reasonably express in a summary statement, the local budget officer may include in the summary statement a brief explanation that identifies those factors affecting the variability or difficulty of the estimate.
(iv)
If the proposed law would increase taxes, the local budget officer shall include a summary statement in the initial fiscal impact and legal statement in substantially the following form: “This initiative seeks to increase the current (insert name of tax) rate by (insert the tax percentage difference) percent, resulting in a(n) (insert the tax percentage increase) percent increase in the current tax rate.”
(3)
The budget officer shall prepare an unbiased, good faith estimate of the cost of printing and distributing information related to the initiative petition in the voter information pamphlet as required by Section 20A-7-402.
(4)
Within 20 calendar days after the day on which the local clerk submits a copy of the proposed law under Subsection (1), the budget officer shall:
(a)
deliver a copy of the initial fiscal impact and legal statement to the local clerk’s office; and
(b)
mail a copy of the initial fiscal impact and legal statement to the first three sponsors named in the initiative application.
