HB366 (District Court Amendments Judicial Modifications)

HB366 is deeply intertwined with HB392. HB366 makes several changes to the transfer process in HB392 and adds a fallback option in case the Utah Supreme Court rules the transfer to a three-judge panel unconstitutional.

• After a lawsuit challenging the creation of HB392’s panel and the subsequent reassignment of cases, the Legislature passed an additional law, HB366, providing that if the courts find HB392’s new three-judge panel unconstitutional, the Constitutional Court outlined in the original version of HB392 will be created instead. Unlike the randomly assigned judges on the three-judge panel, the Constitutional Court would consist of three judges appointed by the Governor and approved by the Senate. If the Constitutional Court system takes effect, that Court will have exclusive jurisdiction over state constitutional challenges seeking declaratory or injunctive relief.
• In addition, HB366 allows either party to request that a case involving a constitutional challenge and seeking declaratory or injunctive relief be moved to a panel of three judges rather than a single judge.