On April 27, leaders of the Utah Republican and Democratic parties sent a joint letter to Gov. Gary Herbert requesting a special session to clarify state law on calling a special election for a U.S. House member midterm.

Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz announced he will not run for office in 2018, and will likely step down before his current term ends. Current law says the governor shall call a special election for a U.S. House vacancy, but does not lay out any details for the process.

Gov. Herbert does not believe a special session is necessary and believes some state lawmakers could have a vested interest in amending the law in order to increase their own chances to win the seat.

Members of the Legislature stated they want to offer their perspective to Herbert to show it is a bipartisan effort to work towards a process needing to be put in place.