Utah Legislative Session 2010

I don't what what it takes to be elected to the Utah Legislature... obviously not much of a brain or common sense. Before I completely trash this group of people, let me recognize the one intelligent thing they've done so far this year... it's illegal in Utah to collect rainwater and use it to water your plants/yard, etc. Utah law basically says that if it doesn't come out of a tap, then the water belongs to the State and therefore if you collect it, you are stealing. A bill passed committee to reverse that law and allow people to collect rain water for home watering usage. Yea!

Okay... now, why the Utah Legislature is stupid. First, there is Senator Buttars. The man is an out-of-touch idiot who has a history of making racial comments on the Senate floor and yet he manages to get re-elected by his constituents. Utah, like every other state in the nation, is facing huge budget cuts and he has come up with as great solution to the problem... eliminate 12th grade. Yep, that's right... he says that seniors in high school are just killing time and wasting taxpayer dollars that last year of high school, so it should be eliminated. Brilliant!

The second reason the Utah Legislature is stupid is because they don't care about the safety of children. Last year, Utah finally got a booster seat law passed that requires all children to be in a car seat or booster seat until the age of 8 or they weigh 80 pounds. I like that law. This year, some guy has pushed a bill through committee that only requires children over the age of 5 to be in a booster seat if they are traveling more than 4 miles from home and traveling on any roads with a speed limit of 45 mph or higher. How stupid is that? All the data I have seen shows that traffic accidents occur more likely to occur within a one mile radius of your home. But his legislature thinks it's too much to ask to require parents to put their kids in an appropriate safety device for trips to schools, church, etc. Stupid.