Lid on protests mulled

State officials are looking at putting new restrictions on protests held at the Capitol Complex, including limiting the number of people who can gather in some areas.

The rules are being rewritten as a result of a lawsuit filed earlier this year by members of the Utah Animal Rights Coalition, claiming they were told to stop handing out political leaflets outside the Capitol during the 2006 Legislature.

As part of the case's settlement, the state is attempting to tighten up existing rules governing "free-speech activities" — protests, vigils, marches and press conferences as well as distribution of leaflets.

The intent, according to a draft of the new rule, is to accommodate such activities without disrupting state business or threatening the health and safety of state workers and visitors to the Capitol.

"We aren't really concerned at all with the message people are trying to convey," said David Hart, executive director of the Capitol Preservation Board. The issue isn't, he said, "what they're talking about, or whether I agree with it or anyone agrees with it."

The existing rules aren't clear enough, Hart said. For example, there is currently no reference to restrictions on passing out leaflets or other printed materials as part of a protest or similar activity.

But Hart and other members of the board acknowledged the draft may go too far in attempting to spell out exactly how to handle the numerous groups and individuals who want to have their say on Capitol Hill, especially when the Legislature is in session.

"We don't want to hear we're limiting people's access to make statements or to meet with their elected officials," Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, said during a recent meeting of the board's budget and operations subcommittee considering the draft.

Attorney Brian Barnard, who represented the animal rights activists in the recent lawsuit, said he's waiting to see what the state does. "My philosophy is you let anybody and everybody shoot their mouths off," Barnard said.

"If I were drafting the rules, I would say everything goes, now let's see if there are some reasonable restrictions we can put on it," he said. "I'm sure the drafting philosophy from the other side is there shouldn't be any free speech and let's see what we have to give them."