PA Bill Number: HB2235
Title: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ...
Description: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ... ...
Last Action: Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY
Last Action Date: Apr 25, 2024
Chaffetz wants to take guns away from 'Rambo' BLM, Forest Service agents :: 03/09/2016
SALT LAKE CITY — Law enforcement agents with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service are too "Rambo" to Rep. Jason Chaffetz's liking, so he wants to take away their guns and authority.
"These agents are more Rambo and less Andy Griffith than I would like," he told the Deseret News Tuesday.
Chafftez, R-Utah, said he plans to introduce a bill next week to strip those two agencies of their law enforcement authority and instead set up a system of block grants to states with a lot of federal lands within their borders to augment local law enforcement response.
"Let's not kid ourselves. The blood pressure is running high, especially in southern Utah, and I don't want anyone to get killed," Chaffetz said, adding his bill has the endorsement of his Utah colleagues in the House.
Chaffetz said he also wants to issue subpoenas to the "out of control" federal agencies to learn why they want to purchase submachine guns. He said he has had repeated meetings and sent letters to the BLM's national director, Neil Kornze, with no satisfactory response to his questions.
"I want to know what kind of arsenal they have. I'm met with blank stares," he said. "They're wholly unresponsive. They don't feel compelled to answer our letters."
He said the BLM abruptly canceled its contracts with local county sheriff's offices in Utah and relationships have diminished in a significant way. He met with local sheriffs Tuesday to discuss his proposal, with a couple of the men predicting that the congressman's legislation will receive support.
"I think it will have some support among sheriffs and probably widespread support among rural sheriffs," said Kane County Sheriff Tracy Glover.
Glover said he enjoys productive relationships with federal law enforcement, but agents' duplication of local sheriff's deputy duties has been a long-standing concern.
Chaffetz said generally there has been a continued decrease in the level of cooperation from federal agents.
"The BLM is refusing to do any business in Utah," he said, referencing canceled contracts. Yet if someone is lost or injured in a national forest or BLM-managed land, it is local deputies who respond and spend the resources, he said.
Chaffetz said it makes more sense to have elected county sheriffs with public accountability in charge of law enforcement functions in their own geographic areas.
"If it is really serious, you're going to call the FBI anyway," he said.
Glover said his county is 4,000 square miles and his agency has a lot less turnover than federal counterparts.
"Lastly, I think we are closest to the people. We're the elected officials. We get the reports, we get the phone calls, we get the communication from our local residents," he said.
