On March 7, the Utah House passed HB 485. It says that if parties want to change their rules relative to their nomination process, the rules change must be made in the year before the election. This bill is designed to block the recent Republican Party rule change that said any Republican who submits a petition to be on the Republican primary ballot is deemed not to be a Republican.

The vote in the House was 40-31. The Republican Party opposes this bill and says it violates due process for the law to be changed this late in the season. Now the bill goes to the Senate. The legislature adjourns on March 8 so there isn’t much time for this bill to pass.