Action: Utah Leg, Changing our Form of Government – Public/Private is Illegal

(In our recent video on the recent train wrecks, we explained how they’re connected to these 15-minute cities.)

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INTRODUCTION – A NEW FORM OF GOVERNMENT?

This is one of the most important articles I’ve ever written. Our form of government is changing to match with the United Nation’s vision.  We are losing our way of life in large part because we are gradually (rapidly now) changing our form of government (public private partnerships). This year is our only opportunity to stop this, or else the state is going to radically and permanently change.

Utah has taken unprecedented legislative action to create a whole slew of new types of government corporations, mixing public and private like we’ve never before seen.  These quasi-government corporations will become their own legal Districts.  With the protection of unaccountable private property but yielding the power and force of government over people’s lives. It is the very definition of fascism, mixing public and private jurisdictions together in the same contradictory entity. You absolutely need to understand what this is all about and why you should have a very big problem with this. No understanding of how we’re losing our freedoms is complete without understanding this breakdown.

Once fully completed over the coming years, this transition will be the last nail in the coffin to change us from a government that is supposed to be accountable to the people into a government that rules over the people any way it wants. The last nail in the proverbial coffin. Once the government can appoint its own rulers, write and enforce its own rules, tax you for it all and you get no say in the matter, government of the people has been dissolved. No matter your political beliefs, it will never matter to government again.

Our original constitutions are still in tact to a large degree, with most of the good principles there that limit government. But because we don’t know them everyone feels powerless to do anything about any of the growing tyranny in our state.

One way to understand this new movement that is happening, is by identifying it as “Micro Regionalism“. I won’t break down “regional government” here, because I already did a full deep dive on how it’s destroying our system of government (I invite you to watch it or bookmark for later).

This article is going to empower you to understand why what’s happening in our state right now is fundamentally unconstitutional and give you the knowledge needed to push back.  You will learn why these new corporations are illegal and what lawful grounds you can stand on to resist them.

If you’re an employee or local official in a city or county and you are bothered by all these new special district then this article is for you to have the law to stand on to stop this where you work. If you’re a resident, then you’ll know how to insist your local government follow the law.

I will re-emphasize, the legislature is literally creating a new form of government, piece by piece.  One where the government is not accountable to the people by design – where there are no separation of powers, they can tax you with no accountability, and there’s no ultimate power for the people to fix things. It’s technically been happening for a long time as my regionalism presentation explained, but it’s been generally slow moving up until now.  They’re kicking it in to overdrive like we’ve never seen before in this last session with a whole pile of bills that includes SB20,HB22,HB77, HCR7, HB265 and SB295. (We did a breakdown on SB20 and HCR7 already here). (HB22 and HB77 specifically have changed every “local district” in Utah to a “special district” with the intention of making them more independent and being acceptable to federal funds ie. control)

It must be stopped cold in it’s tracks this year, at the local level, or else the state will never recover.  In the future, these new micro-regional power centers won’t be reversed by the stroke of a pen because you will have billions of dollars of physical infrastructure built. All in high-density focused 15 minute cities with pre-engineered high tech surveillance of every inch of the city. But before that infrastructure is built, we absolutely can reverse it with the stroke of a pen.

This year is our opportunity to stop in Utah what will likely not be stopped in other states.  We can be different. That’s why this article exists.

If you understand the fundamental constitutional principles that make all of this illegal, then you’ll understand the battle cry that needs to be sounded in the ears of Utahns and local governments all over the state. Nullification in the cities and counties can and must put a stop to this. It’s the only option, so you need to learn how to do it.

We must never stop insisting, in the ears of all city and county representatives, that the law of the constitutions (the voice of the people) be honored, and these districts by deemed illegal at the city and county levels.  We need you to be a part of making popular that which is right.  Don’t underestimate the power of your voice and our strength in numbers.

Even though many bills played a part in creating this monster, we’re going to focus on SB295 because it has every example of why these new districts are illegal. This will teach you how to identify where this is illegal as we explain the constitutional principles involved.  Once you understand the principles, it is the same battle and same solution no matter how you look at it.

DISNEY WORLD – THE PRECEDENT

Roughly 50 years ago Disney World was established in this manner, where they had the benefit of mixing the authority of public government with the benefits of private property ownership.  Just last month Florida’s governor finally pulled the plug on this un-American form of government. Reuters reported,

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday [took] control of a special tax district surrounding Walt Disney World that for half a century allowed Walt Disney Co to operate with a high degree of autonomy.

“The corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” DeSantis said during a press event at Lake Buena Vista near Orlando.

Read “Florida Governor DeSantis ends ‘corporate kingdom” of Walt Disney World.

ALREADY EXISTING IN UTAH

Some example of these new districts that have already been built, even BEFORE this legislative session passed all these bills, are as follows:

–The Utah Inland Port Authority
-Inland Port Extension proposed in Brigham City
–Inland Port Extension in Iron County
-The Point (15 minute city) (Point of the Mountain State Land Authority)
–Military Installation Development Authority
–Utah Lake Authority

BUILDING ON 2021

As mentioned earlier, this has been happening slowly over a long time.  But last year the rapid ramp-up began in the legislation for PIDs in the “Public Infrastructure District Act” from 2021. Many fancy names for the same thing. They’re all illegal “Public/Private” partnerships, posing as a government.

UTAH STATE CONSTITUTION

We’ll begin the breakdown by reviewing three relevant references from the Utah Constitution. These principles expressed in the state constitution can also be found in our national founding documents, but I will not spend any time on the national perspective in this article as it would be redundant. Defending Utah is planning a video on our media channels to cover this later.

Reference #1

Meaning: The State of Utah is forbidden by the People of Utah to re-delegate municipal (local government) functions. The constitution already delegated such authority from the people to the state. Unlawful re-delegation would happen if that authority is further transferred to anything other than a standard political sub-division of the state (city or county – public only).

Reference #2

Meaning: “Special Service Districts” (entities other than cities or counties that perform specific functions of government) must be governed by the city/county where it resides. Boundaries and control of the people are preserved (elected mayor and city council still in control and still accountable to the people).

This section of the constitution (Art XI, Sec 7) essentially is to ensure that special service districts comply with the above reference section (Art VI, Sec 28).
To remain constitutional a guarantee that they are not re-delegating powers, a special service district must fall within the boundaries of an existing city/county and be fully controlled by that city county and can only be a public entity. We already have countless special districts across the state that are pushing the definition of this limitation, if not blatantly violating it.

Reference #3 – “Free Market System” defined in principle.

This section has three distinct sentences to break apart to read correctly. Among other things, it is a complete ban on public/private partnerships.

Sentence 1 (Spirit of the Law) – It is the policy of the state of Utah that a free market system shall govern trade and commerce in this state to promote the dispersion of economic and political power and the general welfare of all the people.

Sentence 2 (contracts, intentional or accidental, that monopolize) – Each contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce is prohibited.

Sentence 3 (Restriction on monopolies by a person) – Except as otherwise provided by statute, it is also prohibited for any person to monopolize, attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons to monopolize any part of trade or commerce.

Meaning: Giving state money or power to any one or specific private (or partially private) corporations over everyone else would be forbidden because it will…
– (From sentence 1) Create artificial competitive advantages in trade and commerce, in opposition to the “free market system”.
– (From sentence 1) Consolidate economic and political power (instead of “promoting the dispersion” of it)
– (From sentence 2) Create a “restraint of trade” that stems from the organizing (combinations) and “contracting” methods that create these special corporations (or districts). Or whatever exclusive contract a private company has with the state that ends up naturally excluding other private companies from competing in the same space.

One smaller business is “restrained” from their ability to trade in the free market because of the artificial advantage granted to another business that had the right connections in the legislature to obtain the favorable status. A very important observation is to notice that this section can be broken down even further as it is an enumerated list separated by commas. Grammatically, it could also be written like this:

1. Each contract … in restraint of trade is prohibited
2. Each combination in the form of trust … in restraint of trade or commerce is prohibited
3. Each combination otherwise (not formed as trust) … in restraint of trade or commerce is prohibited
4. Each conspiracy … in restraint of trade or commerce is prohibited

This enumerated breakdown clearly emphasizes that you don’t have to prove intent of conspiracy to restrain trade, you only have to have a contract that accomplishes the restraint of trade. This does NOT mean private business contracts, as the private property clause (Art 1 Sec 1) and prohibition on contract interference clause (Art 1 Sec 18) discussed in this article would protect the right to a private contract. So only a state issued contract could potentially fall under this prohibition.

– (From Sentence 3) The “Except” word was not in the original state constitution but added in later modifications. This is an unfortunate confusion but it is still not a problem when read correctly. Some might claim this would authorize that if the law says they can do it, then that is permission to violate this entire section. But to authorize any of this by legislation would render the entire section void by violating the spirit of this law (part 1), and a law nullifying itself makes the whole thing void (contradicting itself) so this meaning cannot stand. But that being said, it doesn’t matter anyway. Because most importantly, this word only exists in the third sentence, so even with the most tyrannical interpretation, it can only be applied to sentence 3, and not the first two sentences.

Here’s a scan of the original constitutional text.

Source: https://archives.utah.gov/research/exhibits/Statehood/corporations43.htm

FREE MARKET “MONOPOLY” VS GOVERNMENT PROTECTED MONOPOLY

A free market “monopoly” is not really a monopoly, but I’m referring to a theoretical situation of a company being so well loved and chosen by the public that the public continually chooses their product over all other competitors, without the company doing anything dishonest or using any government money or power. In this situation that company would lose it’s market control the moment their product becomes the 2nd choice of the consuming public.

The constitutional protection of private property in Art 1 Sec 1 would allow for a truly all-private corporation to grow unrestricted market share based strictly on the use of private property and the “free market”, as that is the entire spirit of this law. But as soon as they use government/taxpayer/public money or power to create or maintain that monopoly the protection of private property cannot be used because their property is no longer fully private (they’re now partially owned by the public) and it immediately becomes a “restraint of trade” violating the spirit and letter of this law as described.

2013 – UTAH ALREADY WENT ON RECORD THAT THIS WAS ILLEGAL

We reported on SJR11 in 2013 when the Utah legislature passed a resolution of non-compliance with regional entities and NGOs pushing Agenda 21/2030.

urges state and local governments … to not enter into any agreement, expend any sum of money, contract services, or give financial aid to those nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations affiliated with Agenda 21;

urges state and local governments… to reject United Nations Agenda 21 and any grant money or financial aid attached to it;

PUBLIC/PRIVATE IS FOREIGN INFLUENCE- PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

Even though “Public/Private Partnerships” is an old idea in the philosophy of “Regional Government”, the idea now is being pushed globally, from the top, by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the United Nations. This is foreign government that is exercising it’s power over our state government. It is a political invasion of our way of life.

The WEF says on their website:

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

SB295 – BREAKDOWN AND HOW IT VIOLATES THE CONSTITUTION

Now that we understand the constitutional sections listed above, let’s review SB295.

Dedicated Infrastructure District Act – Breakdown of the bill

1. They get their own charter – A constitution for each District – Having its own charter makes it very independent. Able to create laws to govern itself.
   
2. “Infrastructure and Improvements”
   Violation of Constitutional Reference #1 – Re-delegation of performing municipal functions to a non-government corporation
   
3. The District can fund itself through bonds and property taxes. What happened to taxation by representation? Who are the representatives? Where’s the power of the purse?
   Possible Violation of Constitutional Reference #2 (if they can tax on their own with no oversight, then are they being governed by the city where they reside?)
   

4. Sounds like mixing public/private here? A District is all of these at the same time?
   Violation of Constitutional Reference #3

   

5. Claims that the laws governing the District’s powers are supreme if something else is in conflict
   Violation of Constitutional Reference #2 (So nobody governs them, no matter what laws happen in the cities?)
   
6. Separating the state’s historical boundaries from the new public/private boundaries?
   If you change the layout of a city then the boundaries of the District are unaffected.
   Violation of Constitutional Reference #2 (Again, nobody governs them, no matter what happens in the cities)
   

7. The purpose of districts is to create “more housing” and make them “more affordable” – Affordable housing, or essentially, the entire purpose is “High Density Housing” and the infrastructure necessary to support it.
   Violation of Constitutional Reference #1 – Re-delegation of municipal authority. Plus violation of SJR11 from 2013
   

8. Appointed and not elected. This emphasizes that the re-delegation of authority is not to a political sub division, but a body that is unaccountable to the people. The District charter decides.
   Violation of the principle of “no taxation without representation”
   
9. You don’t have to live in the boundaries of the district that you represent. It could be anyone from anywhere. This also re-emphasizes that board members are appointed. This violates federalism principles, this violates representative government in the typical “regional government” fashion.
   Violation of Constitutional Reference #2 – Governed outside of the city/county where the District resides. Not even the boundaries of the district itself.
   

10. Says that *optionally* the district’s charter is allowed after certain milestones are reached to have elections…. OPTIONALLY!
    
11. Even if some start being elected, there will always be the appointed members.
    

12. Powers of the District listed as
    1) Go into debt to pay off all the construction (The developer who built the 15 minute city can pay themselves through public debt)
    2) Join other regional governments (Violation of SJR11 2013)
    3) Purchase infrastructure that’s already there
    4) Operate public services
    5) Further re-delegate some of their duties to yet other districts
    Violation of Constitutional Reference #1 – Re-delegation
    

13. Original city still keeps zoning (one thing that has not been re-delegated)
    
14. Mixing boundaries – property can be in both jurisdictions, the District and the city
    
15. The city is allowed to give away property into the special District (transfer from the “republican form” of Utah government into the UN-inspired regional system)
    
16. State level Property Rights Authorities (LUDMA) cannot discriminate against Districts (Protecting the new districts from pushback?)
    
17. Cities/Counties also not allowed to discriminate against Districts (Protecting the new districts from pushback?)
    
18. There’s one more whole section on BONDS – Regulations on how they can borrow money. We will skip this section, as the fact that they can borrow money at all is already covered.

SOLUTIONS – ACTION ITEMS

Local nullification must be done – There is no other option.

Some areas in Utah have immediate threats while other areas do not have immediate threats but will eventually be threatened.

Every single city and county needs to be asked by their constituents to nullify this, to protect our constitutional form of government and shut down these unlawful public/private and regional non-government corporations.

If your area does not have an immediate threat, you still need to get this nullified there to prevent it from coming and to set an example for other parts of the state. Live in a small town?  Just by being an example, you will help other towns follow suit.

1. Spread this article around, everyone needs to understand this.

2. Contact us and we’ll mentor you directly to create groups in your area that you can use to push back.

3. Become a member of Defending Utah and join our weekly training

4. Nullification at the local level is the only way to stop this – Here’s your guide:

– Watch this short video first on Nullification, so that you have a personal understanding on what it is, how it works, and why it’s the duty of your city/county council

– The Utah Central Committee for Protecting Rights has published a sample nullification document for this problem.  You can bring this to any government body and they can vote to adopt it directly into their body of law (or use it as a template and write their own). Download the document here.

– City or County Legislative Nullification – Contact your city and county representatives and ask them to protect your town from this overreach of the state. The City or County Council can vote it into city code.

– City Executive Nullification – Because these laws violate the state constitution, a mayor can unilaterally declare that it will not be executed in their town.

– Sheriff Nullification – Like any government official or employee, your county sheriff has the authority to enforce the constitution in his county. Bring the nullification declaration to your sheriff and ask him to sign this statement that he will not allow the county to create districts in conflict with the law on his watch.

5. If you know what it is, you can organize a Committee of Safety in your county. Contact us if you have a group that wants to be mentored.