The House Government Operations Committee Wednesday unanimously passed Senate Bill 28, which would change the process of submitting initiatives to the Legislature.

The initiative amendment, sponsored by Sen. John Hickman, R-St. George, modifies the state election code and requires both public meetings and petitions before an initiative will be considered.

The substitution voted on by the committee requires petitioning in 26 senate districts and requires public meetings to be held in seven counties before the initiative is filed. It also places a two-year moratorium on rejected initiatives.

Cassie Dippo, of Utah Common Cause, called the bill "more burdensome than past initiative laws."

"There is a considerably larger number of signatures required," she said.

"We don't think it's overly burdensome," Hickman said, adding that the initiative will "make the voting public as informed as possible."

Current election code requires initiative petitions to be gathered from 15 senatorial districts. The new requirement of 26 was seen as too low by some and too high by others.

Sterling Brown, representing the Utah Farm Bureau, said petitioners would ignore rural areas in favor of more populated districts if they only needed to petition in 26 districts.

Brown argued that the number should be increased to the 29 districts required in the original version of the bill.

"This would give more power to the rural districts," he said. "Rurals don't want to be overlooked with a 26 of 29 rule."

Dippo, however, said she thinks the 26-district requirement will hinder voters who want to bring initiatives to the Legislature.

She said she disagreed with the committee, which decided that the requirement was necessary to ensure involvement around the state.

"Anyone who really believes in an initiative is already trying to educate people," Dippo said.