Libertas Legislator Profiles


Legislator Profile: Representative Brian Greene

Name: Brian Greene
Type: Representative
Party: Republican
No longer in office

Libertas Legislator Index Rankings

The following rating measures how consistently this legislator votes in support of individual liberty, private property, and free enterprise. To learn more, see the main index page.

20142015201620172018 Overall Rating
95%100%100%100%99.5% 99%

To see the specific votes used to rank this legislator, click the link in the table above for any of the yearly percentages listed.

Sponsored Ranked Bills

This legislator was the sponsor of the following bills, which were ranked by Libertas Institute in their respective year's Legislator Index.

  • HB94: Occupational and Professional Licensure Review Committee Amendments (2017)
    This bill modified a legislative committee that has oversight over occupational licensure—the area of law that requires a person to obtain a permission slip prior to offering their services to others. Among other important changes to the law, the bill empowered the committee to review existing licenses and find potentially less burdensome regulatory methods to still protect public safety. This bill passed the House 67-5 and passed the Senate 24-1. Libertas supports a "yea" vote. A recent report ranked our state as being the 12th most burdensome for occupational licensure, and reform is needed. Empowering this committee to investigate these issues is a good first step in that direction.
  • HB19: Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Amendments (2017)
    This bill would have prevented prosecutors from using civil asset forfeiture (taking people's property) unless they had convicted the owner of the related crime, among other important changes.

    This bill passed the House 58-10 but was not advanced in the Senate; a compromise bill was instead considered. Libertas supports a "yea" vote, because people should be presumed innocent until proven guilty of an alleged crime.
  • HB22: Civil asset forfeiture reform (2016)
    This bill would have, among other things, limited the government's ability to legally take a person's property by requiring a prosecutor to only take such an action if there was a criminal conviction. Revenue obtained through forfeiture also would have been diverted into the general education fund, rather than being sent back to law enforcement agencies.

    This bill passed in the House 56-17 but was tabled in a Senate committee. Libertas Institute supports an "aye" vote, as property rights and due process require that government not be able to take the property of innocent individuals.
  • HB85: Private attorney general doctrine (2016)
    Several years ago, the Utah legislature passed a law that prohibits courts from compensating individuals who successfully overturn a law that violated the rights of the public at large. Utah is the only state that prohibits this by law. This bill would have repealed that prohibition, thereby allowing courts to award such fees once more.

    This bill passed the House unanimously but was not considered in the Senate. Libertas Institute supports an "aye" vote, because in a case where a government agency is violating the public's rights, the Attorney General would be duty bound to defend the government; incentives are needed such that private citizens can act in the public interest to overturn such laws.

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