Comments on: Does the Utah State Legislature pass too many bills?

By: Perspectives: How many laws does it take to screw in a lightbulb? | St. George News | STGnews.comSt. George News | STGnews.com

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 18:27:04 +0000

[...] the Utah Legislature so far introduced 483 bills this year. In fact, according to a May 10, 2011, article by Matthew Piccolo published by the Sutherland Daily News and Views on Utah Public Policy, each year we see an [...]

By: Daniel Rush

Daniel Rush — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:35:00 +0000

Yes, they do. Conservatives try to gauge the size of government by the amount of money it spends, but in reality you can also gauge a government’s size and reach by how involved they are in the lives of their citizens. 500+ laws is way too much government involvement. In most cases, it means more rules, regulations, and stipulations over all people. To put it into perspective, 500 news laws per year is 5,000 in a decade and 50,000 in a century. 500+ laws is also symptomatic of an unhealthy debate process for each law (indicative of a one-party state). How many of these laws cost the state millions in litigation costs that could have been avoided if a healthy debate centered around each law in order to expose its flaws and unintended consequences? Just some food for thought.

By: Strider

Strider — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:42:00 +0000

Can’t resist. YES the legislature has too much time, and bills, on their hands. I cite two: The first had to do with the closure of several State Liquor stores on some kind of everybody must feel the budget knife philosophy. The hours of operation, number of stores and staffing is purely an administrative issue, legislative “help” is not needed. I am the child of alcoholic parents, I choose not to use the stuff but it is a legal product, heavily taxed but can be sold at a profit and the State does make a profit for the legal purchase and use. I think it was bone-headed for who (or is it whom?) ever took the time to propose and run this bill, shame on those who supported this one. Second was the dim bulb legislator who had the time to consider the specialty tag decal problem and ran a bill requiring a minimum number of participants in order to get a specialty plate. This too, is an administrative issue. The cost to the state is the decal, and if the group has a logo designed and will fund the cost Who Cares! There must be more examples but these seem to ring out the loudest.

The sad part of citizen legislators and legislatures is the ability to focus on minutia and ignore the hard stuff – like adequate highway maintenance funding, local Justice Court reform and maybe an extensive audit of UTA for cost to benefit ratio. How much does it really cost to ride the Bus, Traxx or Frontrunner?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:39:00 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Luke. You might want to check out a recent essay written by Sutherland Institute’s president Paul Mero:

http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/uploaded_files/sdmc/The%20Poison%20of%20Extremism.pdf

By: Luke E. Dalton -- Ogden

Luke E. Dalton -- Ogden — Tue, 17 May 2011 02:46:00 +0000

I consider myself to be conservative — although by Utah’s extreme standards I’m probably a flaming liberal. I’ve served twice as a delegate to the Republican state convention, but the last time around I was shouted down in our local caucus because I tried to express some more moderate views and to point out that some claims made by others present were simply false. Most of those in attendance identified themselves as affiliated with the Tea Party.

I take strong issue with your last paragraph: “Liberal-leaning Utahns are probably schizophrenic about this trend: They
like that government is more active, and likely growing, but they
dislike that a generally conservative legislative body is directing that
increased activity.” It is not “liberals” in Utah who are increasing the size and intrusiveness of government in our lives. It is the extremists — ala Gayle Ruzika and Chris Buttars , Sen. Howard Christiansen, Carl Wimmer, Mike Noel and others who are actually doing so.

Our legislature is far to beholden to extremists and special interests and not to ordinary people.

Blaming “liberals” for government expansion and intrusion into our lives is simply false propaganda. Bad laws come from all sides. Especially when one party dominates and uses questionable tactics without regard for basic ethics and honesty to impose the will of those who offer the best financial and power brokering for the individual legislator.

It is frightening to see and hear what’s happening around me. This was dramatically brought home to me over a year ago when the conversation in my ward’s High Priest group turned to how much ammunition we need to have stashed away in our family supplies now that “the Mark of Cain is bringing Socialism into the White House.”

Although I do respect the Sutherland Institute for its normally more moderate stands on vital issues, I am very worried about what I have come to view as the Utah Taliban as those on the extreme right fringe seem to be gaining more and more power.