New Utah Laws

There are a number of new laws this year (318 to be exact) and many of them go into effect today, so what you don't know could hurt you. BTW, the legislature made the huge sacrifice to show that they are suffering with the rest of the state employees when they cut their pay by a whopping 10%. Of course they have mandated a billion dollars in program cutbacks along with employee lay-offs effective July 1. Their own pay and benefits for this part-time job is pretty comfy anyway and though they won't get "laid off" they could face not being re-elected I suppose. Someone else would step in though so no cost-savings there, particularly when they get lifelong benefits anyway.

Here's an example of a few of the interesting new laws:

• You can't text or e-mail while driving your car or truck. Doing so can cost you your license for three months. You can still talk on a cell phone, however. And you can text if it is an emergency. [Should have been a no-brainer, but people do it!]

• You must show picture ID to vote at the polls [Seems like a no-brainer. I often wondered why this wasn't a necessity before - you can't do anything without picture ID - well, I guess previously you could vote]

• Marriage license fees go up by $10 to help fight domestic violence [A good cause but I guess I missed the boat on saving ten bucks here]

• Regular folk can't give drugs to wildlife, especially birth control drugs (?!?!?!) [Now what will I do with all those leftover prescriptions?]

• You can be guilty of harboring a runaway if you give shelter to a minor child without notifying the parents or authorities. [Could put a child in harm when they truly need a refuge, but there are adults distributing or at least allowing drugs in their homes and welcome extra vulnerable visitors - watch those sleep-overs where Tommy's mom "said it was OK" - your trust could come back to bite you]