The Senate Site: The Voluntary Contributions Act is now the law in Utah

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Saturday, April 25, 2009

The Voluntary Contributions Act is now the law in Utah

A quiet tectonic shift occurred this week. Given the hullabaloo on this issue back in the day, media attention to the latest episode seems surprisingly scant.

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated its earlier adverse decision and reversed the district court in light of the SCOTUS decision in Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association.

Bottom line: the 2001 Voluntary Contributions Act is now the law in Utah.

From the Utah Taxpayers Association website (sharp new site, BTW):

As the Justices saw the issue . . . the legal issue is really pretty simple. A state does not have to subsidize the collection of political donations. The question was, “Does the Constitution require local governments, like school districts, to subsidize the collection of political donations, or can a state prohibit local governments from providing this subsidy?

The Supremes held that a ban on government-administered political payroll deductions does not infringe a union's First Amendment rights.

Here's Ysursa. Worth a read.

Here's the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals document (PDF).

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