(CNN) What Utah voters expanded, GOP lawmakers are curtailing.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, signed a bill Monday that would limit the expansion of Medicaid that voters approved in November.

The move, which has sparked days of protests at the statehouse by advocates for the poor, is expected to deny 48,000 low-income residents access to Medicaid and cost Utah nearly $50 million over the next two years, according to a recent state legislative analysis.

The Utah ballot measure, which garnered 53.3% of the vote, was set to go into effect April 1 and was projected to cover as many as 150,000 residents. Herbert and GOP lawmakers say the changes are needed because the voter-approved 0.15 percentage point increase in the state sales tax won't cover the costs of expansion by the third year.

"I do not accept the characterization that SB 96 ignores the will of the people," Herbert said about the bill in a blog post Friday. "I see this as a thoughtful effort to implement the will of the people to care for the poor with quality health care with the added benefit that it can be sustained over the long term with no reduction in other important social services."

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