LDS members account for nearly 90 percent of Utah State Legislature

[TexasTowelie]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will account for nearly 90 percent of the state Legislature this session, giving members of the faith outsized influenced in a state that is becoming slightly more religiously diverse.

When the new session begins Monday, LDS legislators will account for 91 of the 104 members, according to a Salt Lake Tribune story based on research of past surveys, campaign websites, members’ social media pages and direct calls and emails to some lawmakers.

That’s a much larger portion of the legislative body than Mormons have among the state’s 3.1 million residents. Members of the LDS church account for about 62 percent of the state’s population.

The LDS supermajority shines a new spotlight on concerns about the LDS influence on policymaking.

Former Democratic Sen. Jim Dabakis, a non-LDS member, said decisions about Utah’s new DUI law that is the strictest in the country were made by people who don’t drink alcohol.

Read more: https://www.standard.net/news/government/lds-members-account-for-nearly-percent-of-utah-state-legislature/article_9011463b-512e-5220-a5a3-24d68a2a7acb.html

[2naSalit]

1. As opposed to the usual 100%?

[TexasTowelie]

2. Yeah, there goes the neighborhood.

The next thing that they'll be adding is a bus stop nearby.

[2naSalit]

3. I lived in "North Utah"

AKA Idaho for almost 1.5 decades and it's actually worse there. At least in Utah, you have more than half a chance of finding a job if you aren't a member, not so in Idaho with few exceptions.

Utah had to change their strict alcohol laws for the Olympics. I don't know if this one is still on the books but when I had friends there, who weren't members, complained that you couldn't buy chilled wine in the state... prior to 2000.