How many times have any of us said in moments of frustration with the world, "There ought to be a law"fi

Sometimes there should be a law, but we don't need one to deal with every little annoyance in life. Unfortunately, Utah lawmakers and their constituents don't seem to grasp that concept.

The latest in a parade of bad ideas was Rep. Michael T. Morley's proposal to make it a crime to ski while intoxicated. The Spanish Fork Republican said he started the process of drafting the law after a constituent complained about sitting on a ski lift next to a man who appeared drunk and seemed to be drinking more on the way up the mountain.

Fortunately, after talking to the ski industry, Morley dropped the nascent legislation after resort managers said they would provide training for lift operators to spot drunken skiers and ban open containers of alcohol. Ski resorts already confiscate passes from skiers and snowboarders who pose a threat to others on the slope.

Unfortunately, there are too many legislators who will press on with bad legislation just because a constituent asked for it, or to show the folks at home that they are working hard.

For example, Sen. D. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, last session sponsored legislation that would have banned the teaching of evolution just because a constituent's child had her religious faith shaken in a biology class. Buttars should have told the parents to do a better job of teaching their children religion instead of trying to monkey around with the state curriculum.

Likewise, Buttars also sponsored legislation to outlaw gay-straight alliances in high schools because a few people were upset with a club that formed at Provo High School. Those people should have taken up the matter with U.S. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, whose legislation permitting Bible clubs on high school campuses opened the door to gay-straight alliances.

In 1996, Sen. Millie Peterson, D-West Valley City, sponsored legislation in Utah to permit first cousins to marry in certain circumstances because two of her constituents didn't have the money to get to Colorado, where such unions are legal. It would have been better for Peterson to give them the money.

But stupid bills do more than just embarrass the state on the national stage. They are a waste of resources.

Bills have to be reviewed by attorneys and accountants during the drafting process, printed out for anyone who asks for a copy and then argued about by the Legislature, sometimes for hours, in committee meetings and floor debates. The time spent on meaningless legislation designed just to make a lawmaker look productive means that more important matters, such as tax reform, are shoved to the back burner, where they may die if the Legislature can't get to them before adjourning on the last day.

The best solution would be to have lawmakers just say no when someone suggests a new law to fix a trivial problem. People need to accept the fact that life is not fair and no amount of regulation will change that. In many cases, such bills can have unintended consequences, as did Hatch's Bible-club bill.

Unfortunately, restraint is unlikely as lawmakers attempt to curry favor with constituents. Plenty of elected representatives feel uncomfortable putting any sort of limit on a colleague, but that's exactly what needs to be done. The total number of bills a senator or representative should be allowed to introduce should be low.

If each member of the Legislature were limited to, say, three bills apiece, that would mean a total of 312 bills could be considered during the session. That is less than half the current number of bills introduced during the General Session and less than the actual number passed this year, many of which were ridiculous.

A three-bill limit would mean a more reasonable workload for the Legislature, allowing lawmakers the chance to actually read every bill and have more informed debates. But most important, it would reduce the sheer number of meaningless bills that clutter the Legislature's calendars. Lawmakers would realize, like those granted wishes by the mythical genie, that they can't waste their three opportunities on trivial matters; they would have to make each bill count.

It may not discourage the die-hards who insist that every cockamamie idea a constituent brings up deserves a legislative debate, but it will reduce the time- and resource-wasting bills to a more manageable level.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A6.