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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Wednesday is the last day Utah Gov. Gary Herbert may take action on legislation, and if he approves about 30 remaining measures waiting for action, it will be his first year without vetoing a proposal.
He's so far signed 420 of about 450 bills that came to his desk this year.
The Republican governor was in a similar situation last year where he didn't veto any legislation until his final day to act, when he rejected five bills and used a line-item veto strike some proposals out of a budget bill.
The state's last veto-free year was 2007, when then-Gov. Jon Huntsman did not reject any measures sent to him by lawmakers.
Since Herbert took office in 2009, he has vetoed at least one bill a year and usually rejects a handful. The governor may also allow bills to go into law without his signature.
The governor signed several hundred bills last week, including a very limited Medicaid expansion plan and a proposal to set aside more than $50 million for a shipping port in Oakland, California to export Utah coal overseas.
Here's a look at highlights of the more than 80 additional measures he approved so far this week.
ANESTHESIA FOR ABORTIONS
Herbert on Monday signed a bill that makes Utah the first state to require doctors to give anesthesia to women having an abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy or later. The measure is based on the disputed premise that a fetus can feel pain at that point.
PORNOGRAPHY HEALTH CRISIS
The governor on Tuesday signed a resolution that declares pornography to be a public health crisis. The measure doesn't regulate or ban anything, but the resolution's sponsor, Republican Sen. Todd Weiler, says he wants to start a national conversation as porn becomes more accessible on smartphones and tablets and children are exposed to it at younger ages. Weiler and supporters argue that porn causes relationship problems, leads young people to engage in riskier sexual behaviors and that people who compulsively view porn showed similar brain activity as seen in drug addicts. Defenders of pornography say it's hyperbole.
BREAST-FEEDING PROTECTIONS
A law approved Monday requires businesses to offer breast-feeding or pregnant employees accommodations such as extra breaks during work. It's similar to laws passed in at least 12 other states. The law applies to companies with 15 or more workers but does not require employers to allow children in the workplace so mothers can breastfeed.
CHILD PORN REPORTING
Utah computer technicians can now face jail time if they don't immediately report child pornography they discover on someone's computer. Herbert on Monday signed that law, which at least a dozen other states have already passed.
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