2013 Utah Legislative Session Wrap-up: Herbert Says It’s Likely He’ll Use Veto Pen

Reader-interaction Bonus Question: Governor Herbert is likely to veto one of the 524 bills that were passed in the State Legislature this year; so what about the 523 others?

In the interest of jump-starting another Weber County Forum discussion, now that the 2013 Utah legislative general session has drawn to a close, and as Utah "legislator critters" now find themselves wending their ways back to their own home towns and remote Utah farmsteads, we'll shine the spotlight on this morning's Standard-Examiner front page story,  reporting that Governor Gary Herbert now embarks upon another Utah legislative session tradition, i.e., deciding which "legislatively passed" bills to which he'll affix his signature, and which ones he'll give the ax.  Read up, folks:

• Herbert says it’s likely he’ll use veto pen

"One candidate for a veto this year is HB 76, which would amend the state law on concealed carry weapons. The governor has staunchly maintained he thinks the state’s firearms laws are adequate and has hinted at a veto, but has never definitely said yes or no on the matter," S-E reporter Antone Clark duly reports.

This legislation, would of course render Utah's highly-popular concealed weapons permits superfluous, if not obsolete, and spell the death knell for Utah's booming Concealed Weapons Permit Training industry. Besides, creating a situation where every man jack with an itchy trigger finger could legally carry a weapon without a permit, whether concealed or not concealed, is an statutory outcome that even the most rabid Utah gun nuts would properly tremble to contemplate, wethinks.

Inasmuch as Governor Herbert says he's not changed his "if it ain't broke don't fix it"  position on the state’s existing gun laws, our bet that HB76 will wind up in Herbert's trash-can soon after the bill arriives on his desk, even though he's hedged a mite by saying (reassuringly, we suppose,) that it is [best] to be "thoughtful and methodical in the review process." It's thus to be the gubernatorial "kiss of death" for GOP Rep. John G. Mathis's HB76, wethinks.

OK, folks; now that we've taken our turn "at bat" and dealt with the surely doomed HB76, what about the other bills that are headed for signature on the governor's desk?  "Utah lawmakers passed 524 bills in the 45-day [2013] legislative session," according to the Standard-Examiner; so what about the other 523?

In that connection we've compiled a list, gleaned from the pages of our Northern Utah media over the past few days since the gavel came down ending Utah General Legislative Session 2013. We'll accordingly invite you to plow through these recently prominent 2013 legislative stories, and make your own predictions.

• 2013 Utah Legislature Post-Session News Summary 

So which bills among this admittedly abbreviated list do you predict that Governor Herbert with strike with his trusty veto pen?  Better yet, which of these (or any other 2013 bill that you may come up with) would you "give the ax" if you stood in the shoes of Governor Herbert?

Time for a little reader-interactive weekend fun, we do believe. So don't let the cat get your tongues.