SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah lawmakers are taking a stand for states' rights. Tuesday, two bills advanced that take on the federal government and its laws.
There are strong feelings that the federal government is too big, and therefore too intrusive. The bills that advanced are among a dozen or so similar ones at the Utah Legislature.
The first bill, House Bill 67, would put the brakes on any federal health care legislation Congress may pass. It would prohibit any state agency from implementing the federal programs without reporting to the Legislature first. In other words, the Legislature and governor would have to approve of it.
It would also provide a way for Utah to opt out of such a bill. Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, is sponsoring the bill and says support has been overwhelming.
"That's the way it should be," Wimmer says. "We are representatives of the people. We are set up to protect their rights. We should be a stopgap to prevent what the federal government is trying to impose on them."
Utah seeks to exempt its guns from federal rulesGuns made and kept in Utah would be exempt from federal regulations under a measure the Utah Senate has initially approved.
A second states' rights bill, Senate Bill 11, passed the full Senate Tuesday morning. It would keep federal firearms laws from applying to a gun or ammo manufactured in Utah, and Utah-made firearms would have "made in Utah" stamped on them.
The bill is patterned after a Montana law, and several other states are joining in that state's court fight to tell the federal government to back off.
"It's called 'emerging consensus' when you have so many states following the same pattern and using the same language," said Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem. "The issue really is the Constitution. We're just addressing the guns process."
Dayton also took on No Child Left Behind a few years ago. The difference now is that many more states are part of this fight.
E-mail: rpiatt@ksl.com
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