They're inexpensive alternatives to pricey private facilities. They keep kids off the streets. And they're an excellent use of tax dollars, helping improve the quality of life for regular folks of all ages.

They're also potential targets of the free market-obsessed majority in the Utah Legislature.

In the past, state lawmakers have only considered privatizing services provided by the state, like prisons and the state mental hospital. But now they're turning their guns on local governments, and attempting to usurp the power of local elected officials. It has municipal officials worried, including recreation managers in Salt Lake County, where the public can swim, golf, skate or exercise at 38 separate facilities.

The privatization proposals are spelled out in House Bills 75 and 76, sponsored by Rep. Craig Frank, R-Pleasant Grove, a small-business owner. (If both measures pass, the bills will be merged.) While recreation facilities are not mentioned by name, make no mistake, they're in the cross hairs.

HB75 creates a 15-member state Government Competition and Privatization Council to field unfair-competition complaints leveled by private enterprises against the state, and compile an inventory of state services that the council believes could be provided by the private sector. The governor would be required to select at least three activities from the list every two years and determine if they should be privatized.

HB76 takes privatization to the extreme, creating seven-member state and local privatization commissions that would include at least four business owners or officers, a built-in, unjust majority.

The omnipotent boards would serve as clearinghouses for complaints from the private sector. They would determine if a service is a core government function, and if privatization is feasible. If an activity is deemed to be outside the public realm, the commissions could order that the service be privatized, and seek court injunctions if a government entity refuses to cease operations.

State lawmakers often rail against federal mandates. Now they're trying to impose their will on duly-elected local government officials, and strong-arm the governor. These Capitol privateers need to take note of the contradiction, preserve the autonomy of local governments, and defeat these bills.