Monday is a Utah state holiday and a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. -- except for the state's legislators, who report to work that same day every year to open their annual session.

Civil rights leaders say the state -- which doesn't have a single black legislator -- should be ashamed of itself.

''They really should be embarrassed,'' said Jeanetta Williams, president of the Salt Lake branch of the NAACP. ''It does frustrate me -- very much.''

Lawmakers insist it's out of their hands because the Utah Constitution requires them to convene on the third Monday in January, the same day designated in 2001 as the state holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader.