George Pyle: Don’t tell the Legislature, but they are following our editorial advice ...

... It has long been hard to understand that the same people who are often the most likely to object to the government’s claim that it can competently educate children, inspect automobiles or protect public lands are often comfortable with the idea that that same government is so infallible as to be empowered to put people to death. ...

... The bill has the support of House Speaker Greg Hughes, who said Tuesday that while eliminating the death penalty has traditionally been viewed as liberal or “soft on crime,” he is a “staunch conservative” who wants the punishment ended. ...

Kevin Green, state director of Utah Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, said the millions spent by the state in seeking executions in the past 20 years is “inefficient government at its worst.” “As conservatives, we don’t trust the government to properly deliver our mail,” he said. “We certainly aren’t comfortable with the government having the power to execute us.”

... The Legislature needs to implement a policy of zero tolerance. None. No protection of identity. No protection from reporting. And no taxpayer subsidy of settlements. ...

After tales that some lobbyists sexually harassed legislative interns, the Legislature is considering requiring lobbyists to take an annual course about what behavior is and is not acceptable. ...

... The problem with a sales tax is that it is, by its very nature, regressive. That’s the economist’s way of saying that it falls harder on low-income households than it does on higher-income folks. ... To their credit, some members of the Utah Legislature are promoting a way to make the state sales tax just a little bit progressive. ....

Just a year after legislators seriously considered raising the sales tax on food, the Utah House voted 42-27 on Tuesday to eliminate the state’s share of the levy. ....

... No action, or series of actions, will solve all of our violent tendencies and avenues for expressing those tendencies. But the repeated, almost automatic, argument that there is nothing that can be done is not worth of us, and not true. ...

Rep. John Curtis knows his guns. Before being elected to Congress, he was a partner and executive at Action Target, a Provo company that helps design and manufacture shooting ranges. And he has studied ballistics enough to expertly track the trajectory of bullets. So after the shooting at a Florida high school last week that killed 17 people, Curtis said enough was enough. ... Curtis isn’t backing legislation to add more gun regulations. ... Curtis backs legislation to help schools and communities identify warning signs of mental illness that could help deter shootings, as well as providing more resources for schools to make them safe like “we use to protect our celebrities, elected officials and airports.”