Utah
Proposed bill would define what’s allowed on personalized Utah license plates
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SALT LAKE CITY — After a pair of failed attempts to pause Utah’s personalized license plate program over concerns of future legal challenges, a bill that takes another route to the issue cleared its first challenge Wednesday following some additional changes.
Members of the House Transportation Committee voted 7-3 to advance an amended version of HB186. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Norman Thurston, R-Provo, seeks to outline in state code what would not be allowed on a personalized license plate, such as any combination of letters or numbers that is “indecent, obscene, profane or connotes certain other illegal activities or substances.”
These, according to the bill, include profanities, “vulgar, coarse or irreverent” terms and anything that “naturally provokes a violent resentment.” It also includes any “statement or use of innuendo, euphemism, double-entendre,” as well as anything that “depicts or describes sexual or eliminatory activities or organs; and patently offensive or appears to pander or is used to titillate or shock,” among other terms that wouldn’t be allowed.
The intent behind the bill remains the same as in recent years. Thurston explained to the committee that he’s concerned with how Utah approves personalized plates. He fears that the state denying a swear word could lead to a lawsuit over freedom of speech based on the current law.
“The problem is that court cases around the country, federal cases in particular, are finding that states cannot ban just whatever they want,” he told the committee. “The First Amendment requires that any restrictions must be viewpoint neutral and cannot be vague — they have to be specific enough that people can understand the law.”
The representative floated around somewhat similar bills over the previous two legislative sessions, although both of those called on the state to temporarily stop issuing any personalized license plates while the state waits for further legal clarification.
In 2022, his bill that included the pause sailed through the House of Representatives but the Senate failed to vote on it before the session came to a close. Then, last year, the same bill was altered to remove the provision that called for the pause while the rest of the bill went into law.
This year’s bill doesn’t seek to stop the program for any point in time; rather, it intends to codify what’s considered appropriate that “still passes constitutional muster.”
“Hopefully, we’ll get it right this time and the Senate will love it and we won’t have to talk about it again,” he said.
His presentation led to a flurry of clarifying though, as constituents and lawmakers sought to understand the restrictions better.
Crystal Young, a member of the audience, asked about nuances within outlined banned terms. She asked if her partner could have a license plate that reads “69TESLA,” because the bill lists No. 69 as a possible example of “indecent” language.
Thurston explained that the context of a request would be used in this situation. In that scenario, the plate shouldn’t be rejected; however, it could be rejected if it’s determined that the number is used indecently.
In the end, she said doesn’t oppose the effort because it doesn’t attempt to restrict “viewpoint diversity.”
Questions about the bill sparked a pair of amendments during the meeting. The changes clarify that any slur is on the list of banned language and tweak the wording to say that the Utah Division of Motor Vehicles “shall consider how an objective reasonable person would interpret the requested language with no other context.”
Others doubted the need for the bill, though.
Utah State Tax Commission Chairman John Valentine said the commission, which oversees the Division of Motor Vehicles, hasn’t issued a stance on the bill yet, but there are “significant administrative concerns” with what’s in the bill now because it shakes up the current standard that has “stood the test of time.”
Rep. Kay Christofferson, R-Lehi, voted against the measure for similar reasons. He believes it has “a lot of good points,” but that it’s also a nonissue right now.
“At this point, why change it when it’s not broken?” he said. “I’m inclined to just say let’s keep this in mind, but let’s hold off at this point.”
But Thurston countered that it’s why Utah should look at the measure now, so it avoids a legal conflict that it may lose without bolstering the law.
“Every other state that got sued had not been sued until they were sued,” he quipped. “We haven’t been sued yet. We don’t know if that’s going to happen sooner or later or not at all.”
In the end, the committee voted in favor of the bill, sending it to the House floor for a full vote. The bill must be approved by the House of Representatives and Senate by March 1.
If approved, it’ll go into law in May.
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A weekend BASE jumping accident in a Utah canyon killed two people, one of them a daredevil athlete best known for performing onstage with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl, authorities said.
The sheriff’s office in Grand County, Utah, confirmed one of the dead was Andy Lewis, an extreme athlete known for feats in BASE jumping, a dangerous sport that involves parachuting to the ground after jumping from a tall fixed object such as a building, a bridge or a desert cliff overlooking a deep canyon.
The victims had been conducting a tandem jump in which two people are harnessed together, according to a social media post by Aerial Arts Moab, an acrobatics company that described Lewis as “co-owner and best friend.”
Lewis also owned BASE Jump Moab, a business that offered tandem jumps to inexperienced customers who would be harnessed to a guide wearing the parachute. Promotional videos on the company’s website show pairs of people stepping off the edges of towering cliffs and briefly plummeting before their parachutes open.
In BASE jumping circles, Lewis had a huge following and a reputation for pushing the envelope — leaping into tighter spaces or deploying his parachute later than his peers would dare, said John McEvoy, a BASE jumping instructor in Twin Falls, Idaho, who has jumped with Lewis.
“He had an incredible level of athleticism and skill that was developed over years of practice,” McEvoy said. “But then he would take an incredible amount of risk.”
Grand County Sheriff Jamison Wiggins confirmed the other person who was killed was Danny Joe Kregle, a 68-year-old father and grandfather who was described by a family member as an accomplished businessman.
“Danny had a wonderful sense of humor and was always looking for ways to make people laugh,” relative Sydney Laverty told The Times-Independent. “One of his greatest joys was performing magic tricks alongside his granddaughter.”
Lewis was also a prominent figure in the niche sports of slacklining and tricklining, which combine elements of high-wire walking with aerial acrobatics — sometimes at perilous heights.
He went from obscure athlete to overnight celebrity when he appeared onstage in Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl halftime show. Dressed in a Roman toga, Lewis bounced and executed tricks on his inch-wide line like it was a trampoline while Madonna sang behind him.
“My phone actually rang itself to death three days in a row,” Lewis said soon afterward in an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s late night show.
Emergency responders were dispatched Sunday to a report of people injured in a BASE jumping attempt at Mineral Bottom, a remote desert area near the Utah-Colorado line, according to the sheriff’s office.
Though there’s no official tally of BASE jumping deaths, a list compiled by the website BASEaddict.com shows 540 total fatalities worldwide since 1981 — including 30 people killed last year. Prominent deaths include BASE jumper Dean Potter and his climbing partner, Graham Hunt, who were killed in 2015 while attempting a wingsuit flight in California’s Yosemite National Park.
A study focused on BASE jumping in Norway, published in a medical journal in 2007, estimated that BASE jumping carried risks of injury or death five to eight times greater than skydiving.
Lewis openly acknowledged the sport’s inherent danger.
“It’s weird to think about how many people are dead, because it’s like a normal thing,” Lewis told documentary filmmaker Ella Warnick in an interview published last year.
Tandem BASE jumping carries additional risk because it straps together two people, one of whom generally lacks experience, under a single parachute, McEvoy said. But because they involve novices, they also tend to be the most low-risk, basic types of jumps.
“Within BASE, it’s a very controversial topic,” McEvoy said. “There’s a lot of people who say it’s the stupidest thing in the world and others arguing: `No, we’re giving people the experience of their lives.’”
No one immediately returned phone, text and Facebook messages left Monday for BASE Jump Moab.
Lewis won four straight world championships in competitive slacklining from 2008 through 2011. Lewis set a Guinness World Record for slackline surfing, swaying his feet side to side in a rocking motion that mimics surfing, while keeping his balance above China’s Diaoshuilou waterfall in 2011.
In 2014, he walked a slackline suspended between two hot air balloons more than 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) above the Nevada desert.
A weekend BASE jumping accident in a Utah canyon killed two people, one of them a daredevil athlete best known for performing onstage with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl, authorities said.
The sheriff’s office in Grand County, Utah, confirmed one of the dead was Andy Lewis, an extreme athlete known for feats in BASE jumping, a dangerous sport that involves parachuting to the ground after jumping from a tall fixed object such as a building, a bridge or a desert cliff overlooking a deep canyon.
In BASE jumping circles, Lewis had a huge following and a reputation for pushing the envelope — leaping into tighter spaces or deploying his parachute later than his peers would dare, said John McEvoy, a BASE jumping instructor in Twin Falls, Idaho, who has jumped with Lewis.
“He had an incredible level of athleticism and skill that was developed over years of practice,” McEvoy said. “But then he would take an incredible amount of risk.”
Lewis’ other sport made him an overnight celebrity, thanks to Madonna
Lewis was also a prominent figure in the niche sports of slacklining and tricklining, which combine elements of high-wire walking with aerial acrobatics — sometimes at perilous heights.
Lewis went from obscure athlete to overnight celebrity when he appeared onstage in Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl halftime show. Dressed in a Roman toga, Lewis bounced and executed tricks on his inch-wide line like it was a trampoline while Madonna sang behind him.
“My phone actually rang itself to death three days in a row,” Lewis said soon afterward in an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s late night show.
Emergency responders were dispatched Sunday to a report of people injured in a BASE jumping attempt at Mineral Bottom, a remote desert area near the Utah-Colorado line, according to the sheriff’s office. Lewis and an unidentified 50-year-old man died at the scene, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Sheriff’s Lt. Al Cymbaluk confirmed to The Associated Press that it was Lewis the extreme athlete who died. He said he had no further details on the fatal accident.
BASE jumping is far more dangerous than skydiving
Though there’s no official tally of BASE jumping deaths, a list compiled by the website BASEaddict.com shows 540 total fatalities worldwide since 1981 — including 30 people killed last year. Prominent deaths include BASE jumper Dean Potter and his climbing partner, Graham Hunt, who were killed in 2015 while attempting a wingsuit flight in California’s Yosemite National Park.
A study focused on BASE jumping in Norway, published in a medical journal in 2007, estimated that BASE jumping carried risks of injury or death five to eight times greater than skydiving.
Lewis openly acknowledged the sport’s inherent danger.
“It’s weird to think about how many people are dead, because it’s like a normal thing,” Lewis told documentary filmmaker Ella Warnick in an interview published last year.
Lewis owned BASE Jump Moab, a business that offered excursions to inexperienced customers using tandem jumps, in which the customer was harnessed to a guide wearing the parachute.
Sheriff’s spokesperson Cymbaluk said he didn’t know if Lewis and the other man killed were performing a tandem jump.
Tandem BASE jumping carries additional risk because it straps together two people, one of whom generally lacks experience, under a single parachute, McEvoy said. But because they involve novices, they also tend to be the most low-risk, basic types of jumps.
“Within BASE, it’s a very controversial topic,” McEvoy said. “There’s a lot of people who say it’s the stupidest thing in the world and others arguing: `No, we’re giving people the experience of their lives.’”
No one immediately returned phone, text and Facebook messages left Monday for BASE Jump Moab.
Lewis won four straight world championships in competitive slacklining from 2008 through 2011. Lewis set a Guinness World Record for slackline surfing, swaying his feet side to side in a rocking motion that mimics surfing, while keeping his balance above China’s Diaoshuilou waterfall in 2011.
In 2014, he walked a slackline suspended between two hot air balloons more than 4,000 feet above the Nevada desert.
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