Don't Hate--Legislate! Guv signs hate crimes bill into law.

As she stood behind a state-sealed podium in the Capitol rotunda, Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, could have mentioned any number of hateful violent acts that have occurred in Utah or the U.S. in recent years. Instead, she focused on an instance that hit particularly close to home: the 2012 shooting of her local synagogue’s windows by a man named Macon Michael Openshaw.

“He just hated Jews, and our sacred building symbolized what he hated,” Arent, the only Jewish member of the Legislature, said. “His actions sent fear throughout our Jewish community, in a different way than a simple property crime. But under Utah law at the time, he could only be charged with a misdemeanor, so the federal prosecutors had to step in.”

That officially changed on Tuesday afternoon, when Herbert signed Senate Bill 103 into law, a piece of legislation intended to hold people like Openshaw accountable for their hateful actions. “With the passing of SB103, Utahns will now be protected by our own state law,” Arent said. “It is the strength of our country and state that expression of belief is protected, no matter how offensive it may be to others.”

As of Tuesday, Herbert had signed 538 bills from the 2019 legislative session. But the governor’s support for the hate crimes bill is significant because similar pieces of legislation have long failed to gain muster in previous sessions. The bill, Herbert said in his address, represents the culmination of years of work of retired and currently serving legislators. “We certainly are paying tribute to those who had something to say, something to do with bringing us to this point today,” the governor said.

Read more: https://www.cityweekly.net/BuzzBlog/archives/2019/04/02/dont-hate-legislate