This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Rep. Mike Morley has run into a turf-war buzz saw.
It all began when Morley decided to run a bill that supported a constituent's new technology modernizing the recordings of legal depositions.
Entrepreneur Lee Richan has developed a process to create video and audio records of court depositions that are sealed and delivered on site to all parties in the litigation. He also provides a written transcript.
His company, AVLawDepot Depositions, has been doing the job of traditional stenographers since last spring, but his business was interrupted when the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing slapped him with a temporary restraining order that halted his practice.
DOPL then rescinded the restraining order, which had been requested by the Utah Court Reporters Association, because it had a technical flaw, said Department of Commerce Director Francine Giani. But she said it may be reissued.
The association also hired powerful lobbyists Doug Foxley and Frank Pignanelli to fight any legislation they fear will be introduced this year that would loosen its grip on the traditional craft of transcribing depositions in court proceedings.
Morley also found pushback from the courts, which determine acceptable court reporters' credentials through the rules of criminal procedure.
Realizing he would face a long lobbying battle in the Legislature, Morley introduced a softer bill that would make the videographers' product an official court record, but if the court required a written transcript from depositions, that would still have to be done under the supervision of a licensed court stenographer.
Richan then asked Morley to pull the bill, and Morley says he will submit it to be studied during the interim between this year's session and 2013.
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Rapunzel would be shocked • Professional associations pushing strict regulatory standards to protect their turf is nothing new.
Take hair braiding, for example.
Former Republican Rep. Holly Richardson tried to take up the cause of a woman from Sierra Leone who had a particular talent for braiding hair and wanted to earn some money using her skill. Richardson attempted to run legislation exempting hair braiding from cosmetology license regulations, which require extensive and expensive schooling.
She ran into stiff opposition, mostly from cosmetology schools, and she left the Legislature to work on U.S. Senate candidate Dan Liljenquist's campaign before she could see the bill through.
Opponents told an interim legislative committee considering the issue that a bad hair braid could cause death.
That's one way to discourage competition.
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The vets vote 'neigh' • Holly Richardson also was looking at another exemption, but ran into opposition from veterinarians. She wanted to exempt a certain animal service from having to conduct the procedure under the supervision of a licensed vet.
The procedure that requires such intense scrutiny?
Horse massage.
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You've come a long way, baby • Another profession that requires a license is that of exotic dancer. In Salt Lake County, applications are made to the Sheriff's Office. The sheriff sends a copy of the application to business licensing in Planning and Development Services, which then gets approval from the mayor. The approval is then sent back to the Sheriff's Office, which issues the license.
But a former stripper at the old Joker lounge, who put herself through school by strutting her stuff, remembers in the 1980s she had to get her county license through Animal Services.