Rep. Stephen Sandstrom's bills include honey, alimony, schools

What do unpasteurized honey, high school lacrosse teams, dishwashing detergent and illegal immigration all have come in common? The answer: Rep. Stephen Sandstrom. During this legislative session, Sandstrom, R-Orem, has sponsored legislation pertaining to all of the above issues, plus quite a few more.

While Sandstrom is most well-known for his controversial Arizona-style anti-immigration bill, which has passed the House, he is also the author of 14 other bills on issues that cover the gamut: from creating a more constitution-centered curriculum for Utah students to making sure judges consider a divorced mother's at-home status when deciding on alimony payment. And Sandstrom is not the only one who can claim a diverse list of legislation. Most legislators only sponsor a small number of bills, or choose to focus on one particular issue in a session, but there are a few who take on a variety of issues, in hopes to prove that no issue is too small or too obscure to merit the attention of the Utah Legislature.

"I've always told my constituents that I want to be what I call a 'broad-based' legislator," Sandstrom said. "I don't want to just be focused on one issue; I want to represent the little issues that might need attention."

Sandstrom explained that in order to represent the "little issues," a representative needs to be dedicated to responding to the needs and concerns of his or her constituents.

"Take my bill on raw honey, for example," he said. "I have two beekeepers in my district who approached me and were worried about restrictions on selling their honey because it's unpasteurized."

Sandstrom explained that he's glad these two beekeepers came to him, because it turns out that this is an issue where there was some concern in the honey industry.

"It's often that I'll go look into an issue for a constituent, and find out that there's a lot of interest about the issue in the particular industry," Sandstrom remarked, "it happens all the time."

Sandstrom's immigration bill is by far the most publicized piece of legislation yet this session, and while Sandstrom isn't bothered by the amount of attention he's gotten, he says he doesn't want to be branded as "the immigration guy."

"Sure, I'm sponsoring the immigration bill, but I don't want to be tagged as someone who only does immigration bills," said Sandstrom. "You have to come with an open mind about sponsoring different kinds of legislation."