Mike Noel (R - Kanab, District 73) made a bit of a mistake when he proposed H.B. 437 that could get him, and Legislative Research and General Council, in a bit of hot water. You see this bill violates a state law that requires bill titles to accurately reflect what the bill actually does. In my oh so legal opinion "Obstruction of Natural Resource or Agricultural Production" is a lie... it should really be called "We hate the fact that Tim DeChristopher was able to upset a questionable land deal and I, as the bill sponsor, am amazingly hostel to people who actually like to recycle and drive hybrid cars." A little long, I know, but it is more accurate. How about we just call it "Tim's Law?"Yes, yes, Representative Noel is creating laws for problems that don't even exist. This bill would make it a third degree felony for someone goes to an auction and purposefully bids on land that they have no intention of paying for - artificially raising the price of the land in the process. Now, it should be noted that if this law were already in effect since the birth of our state, exactly one person would be guilty. ONE PERSON!
But, to be honest, I am so glad that Representative Noel is missing the bigger issue here. I mean it is not as if DeChristopher was acting out of a frustration caused by various state and national policies that allow for the desecration of our land with little to no public input. Furthermore I am happy that, at no point, Noel is aware of the fact that this is a federal issue and not a state one - after all DeChristopher placed bids on federal land, not state. Finally I am glad that Noel has placed this as a priority for the state to consider - taking away time from things like budgets and school funding.
With nine days left in the session, I doubt that this bill will make it anywhere. But the fact of the matter is that this is a bill designed to fix a problem that does not really exist.
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