The new proposed design of the Utah state flag is now opposed by the members of the Central Committee of the Weber County Republican Party. The proposal has already passed the Utah Senate and awaits action in the Utah House during the final week of the Legislature.
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah is half-way to having a new flag, but some folks are already having second thoughts about the whole deal.
The members of central committee of the Weber County Republicans voted on Feb. 23 to oppose the new flag design and called on all state lawmakers to support retaining Utah’s original historic state flag.
In 2021, the Legislature voted to establish a state flag task force to design a new flag that would unify the state and be a reminder of Utah’s rich history, according to Sen. Chris Wilson (R-Logan).
“After reviewing thousands of suggestions from Utahns and spending countless hours devoted to the project,” Wilson adds, “the State Flag Task Force released the proposed design for a new state flag to be considered by the Legislature.”
The new flag design originally included symbols representing Utah as the Beehive State, representations of the state’s famous mountains and an eight-pointed star which supposed honored the state’s indigenous peoples.
Even after Senate Bill 31 was introduced, the flag design still needed a little tinkering — the eight-pointed star was reduced to five – but Utah’s senators made short work of the proposal.
The bill passed the Senate bright and early on Monday during the Legislature’s third week in session, by a vote of 17-to-10.
The challenge now falls to House Majority Leader Mike Schultz (R-Hooper) to carry that measure over the goal line in the Utah House in the Legislature’s final week.
But Schultz is taking flack from his own supporters in Weber County.
“The bill (SB 31) initially sought to replace Utah’s flag that has served the state for more than 100 years,” said Jake Sawyer, the chair of the Weber County GOP.
Sawyer argues that, since its introduction a few months ago, the new designed has been continually modified to make it more palatable to the general public. But the public remains unimpressed, he says.
“With the cost of flag development and presentation estimated at between $300,000 and $500,000 of taxpayer funds,” he says, “polls indicate the vast majority of Utah residents are opposed to making any changes to the flag.”
That’s a little bit of an exaggeration, however.
A survey of more than 700 Utahns commissioned by the State Flag Task Force found that 36 percent favored a new flag, 35 percent were opposed to the new design and 29 percent had no opinion.
Following their near-unanimous vote of Feb. 23, the Weber County Republicans directed Sawyer to draft a letter to all lawmakers expressing their opposition to the new flag.
The matter will now be resolved in the Utah House, most likely in the closing minutes of the Legislature on Mar. 3.