Gov. Gary Herbert signed 71 more bills on Monday — ranging from placing more restrictions on roadside panhandlers to more clearly protecting public breastfeeding and deeming the heads of townships in Salt Lake County as mayors.
Some highlights of those bills, which were passed in the recent legislative session. include:
• HB145: It cuts down on roadside areas where panhandlers may seek money.
It newly bans panhandling on roads with a median — either raised or flat, including the grassy medians on many low-speed-limit Salt Lake City streets — and roads that share space with rail tracks, such as for TRAX light rail.
Last year, the Legislature outlawed panhandling at freeway exits and along high-speed highways by taking a different approach than previous, similar laws that were struck down as unconstitutional.
The old laws specifically targeted panhandling, which courts ruled is a protected form of free speech. The new laws ostensibly are designed to improve pedestrian safety.
• HB196: After removing language that some lawmakers had worried could lead to immodest behavior, the new law makes it crystal clear that breastfeeding is legal in public places.
That language that was removed had said that breastfeeding was allowed in public places “irrespective of whether the woman’s breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding.”
“This seems to say you don’t have to cover up at all,” Rep. Curt Webb, R-Logan, complained during a hearing. “I’m not comfortable with that, I’m just not. It’s really in your face.”
• SB175: It will soon give a new title for the chairmen and chairwomen of metro townships in Salt Lake County: mayor. Officials said that allows townships to have a direct voice in the county council of governments, and makes it easier to apply for some grants.
Townships in the county include such areas as Kearns, Magna, Copperton, Emigration Canyon and White City.
• SB87: Passed the day after the recent Florida school shootings, it allows the use of barricade locks in schools — which previously violated Utah building codes.
• SB134: Requires internet service providers to notify customers of the ability to block pornography or materials harmful to minors.
• SB167: Serves up some extra help for food trucks, such as barring cities from prohibiting food trucks where zoning allows other restaurants.
It also bans cities from limiting the number of days trucks may operate, requiring a land-use permit for each site they operate, charging separate fees for every employee of each truck or requiring food truck employees to pass a criminal background check.
SB167 comes a year after the Legislature passed a more sweeping food truck bill. It allowed reciprocity for licenses and inspections between various cities and counties, and stopped food-truck owners from the necessity of obtaining licenses and inspections in numerous cities — often with conflicting criteria.
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