Little action was taken by the State and Local Affairs Interim Committee, save for an antiquities resource protection act passed from committee Wednesday, a committee co-chairman said.

"The issues that people wanted to address just did not appear," said Rep. Bob Bishop, R-Box Elder, co-chairman of the committee. Many committee members were distracted by tough elections and other matters, said Dotti Mortensen, research analyst for the committee.The committee passed the Utah Archaeological and Paleontological Resources Protection Act, which regulates the collection of archaeological and paleontological artifacts on state lands.

The bill gives the state ownership of artifacts collected on state land.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.