Tag Archives: Constitution

This week I want to discuss the big push by the Utah Legislature to embrace the 10th Amendment. I’m one of those guys who likes, what is now called, “message” bills. In fact, if a piece of legislation doesn’t have a message I wonder what its purpose is. Every bill has a message.

Just look through today’s newspaper. There’s a story about performance pay for school teachers – the bill sponsor says she wants to “ensure a quality teacher in every classroom.” That’s a message. Another legislator wants to ban what are called “e-cigarettes.” Evidently, “e-cigarettes” are reusable, battery-powered, cigarette-like things, that heat a vile of liquid nicotine so the user can get his buzz off of the vapors (which sounds oddly like how a “crack pipe” works). The legislator says that nicotine is a powerful poison that should be avoided. That’s certainly a message bill. read more