This Week on the Hill

Hey everybody out there in the interwebs! I've decided to start a new little thing here on our blog. It might not last long depending on how well it goes but until then I guess you'll all just have to suffer through it. Three days a week I cover the Utah state legislature for KUER. I pretty much just sit in lots of committee meetings and press conferences all day. Sound fun yet? Well, if you're patient enough there are some pretty amusing things that happen. This week on the hill is my take (meant purely for entertainment and shouldn't be taken seriously meaning I will take plenty of literary license) on the comings and goings of the circus that is the law making process.

This week on the hill Utah legislators declared that they are pro-graffiti, anti-American, and not smart enough to figure out the clocks on their VCR's.

Senators declared they are pro-graffiti when they voted down SB 107. The bill would have made carrying graffiti paraphernalia (spray paint, ladders, etc.) with the intent to use a crime. But because they voted it down it means that in Utah you are still free to walk around with spray paint...or a gun for that matter...in public.

A bill limiting the hours and days you can light off fireworks has already passed in the house and is under consideration in the Senate. If passed Utahns will no longer be able to celebrate their pride in America with overpriced fireworks at 3 o'clock in the morning. They will, however, be able to celebrate their pride in America on Chinese New Years.

And finally, have you ever shown up late to something because you forget to turn your clock forward in the Spring? Well, neither have I. But apparently Rep. Jim Nielson of Bountiful has. He proposed a bill that would take Utah off of Daylight Saving time. But members of the House Judiciary Committee must all have cell phones that automatically change because they voted down the bill 7-5.

And that's what happened this week on the hill.