Original UCC members from left to right: Aileen Clyde, Gale Dick, Robert ‘Archie’ Archuleta, David Irvine, Emma Lou Thayne, Olene Walker, Irene Fisher, J. Bonner Ritchie, Raymond Uno. (Missing from photo: Norm Bangerter, Boyer Jarvis)

Utah Citizens’ Counsel History

2009-2014

The idea for the Utah Citizens’ Counsel (UCC) arose from members of the board of the Tanner Center for Human Rights at the University of Utah. They envisioned a group of senior citizens, retired and therefore independent of employment ties, with significant public policy experience, who would be able to influence important policy issues in Utah. The original UCC Board members were all well-known senior citizens: Archie Archuleta, Norm Bangerter, Aileen Clyde, Gale Dick, Irene Fisher, David Irvine, Boyer Jarvis, Bonner Ritchie, Emma Lou Thayne, Raymond Uno, and Olene Walker (see picture above).

The hope was that these statesmen and stateswomen could engage the public in selected human rights issues and be influential by virtue of their reputations and experience in the public arena. The first meeting of this board took place on January 22, 2009. The Board studied three specific issues during its first years and reached consensus on policy positions in support of (1) state-level legislative ethics reform (i.e., support for the initiative run by Utahns for Ethical Government), (2) the new START treaty, and (3) nonpartisan redistricting of congressional and state legislative districts following the 2010 Census.

2014-2020

UCC’s means of communication have evolved over time. In 2014 the group wrote its Declaration of Utah Human Rights to serve as a framework for the issues studied. That year it also began issuing annual reports covering articles in the Declaration, presented at annual press conferences. (See Deseret News article). Gradually, outreach and dissemination expanded to include newspaper op-eds and letters to the editor, a seminar on climate change in 2017, mailing the reports directly to legislators, presentations at the Hinckley Institute of Politics and the Osher Institute at the University of Utah, and an ever-expanding email distribution list of interested members of the public, media, and policymakers.

Partially because of only de minimis improvements at the legislature with respect to issues they thought important, UCC members decided to forgo a 2019 general report to focus on the legislature’s Task Force on Tax Restructuring and Equalization. Members worked to understand the nature of the revenues lost to the system because of tax expenditures (e.g., exemptions, credits, abatements, exclusions) and to understand the impact of proposals to change the balance of state income, sales, property, and gas taxes. Through public comments at two Task Force hearings and a letter to Governor Herbert, UCC argued that the proposals of the Task Force were not ready for legislative passage but required additional study. UCC also opposed the legislature’s subsequent, successful proposal for a constitutional amendment to expand use of the income tax from solely public and higher education to add vague support of “children” and “individuals with a disability.”

2020-2025

In 2020 UCC issued its last and most comprehensive annual report, including the impact of the Covid pandemic and the murder of George Floyd on its issues of long-standing interest. After much reflection in 2021, the group decided it needed to begin more systematic monitoring of legislative activity and to shift to shorter, more timely policy briefs and position statements, as well as op-eds and letters to the editor, and to engage more in coalitions with other groups with overlapping interests. In 2025 UCC launched a new website and, with the help of student interns from the University of Utah, added a presence on social media. UCC is entirely volunteer and self-financed by its members. It has chosen not to obtain 501c(3) status because of its modest financial needs and its desire not to compete with nonprofit organizations that raise money to support staff members.