Utah Rep. Lee Perry on Monday announced he will not be seeking reelection and plans to retire at the end of his term after 10 years in the Legislature.
“I hope that during my service that I have planted trees, under whose shade I do not expect to sit,” the Perry Republican wrote on Twitter.
In an interview Monday morning, Perry said he’d originally intended to bow out after eight years but ended up serving one last term to help mentor the next generation of legislators. His departure will give him more time for his family, he said, and start a new job as a traffic safety consultant with a company called Parsons Corp.
“I always feel like term limits are a good thing, whether it’s by the voters or by ourselves. I think it’s time,” Perry said.
The lawmaker currently serves as chairman of the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee. Last year, he helped push through the Legislature a bill to strengthen the state’s hate crimes law, which had never resulted in a successful conviction. Perry said he’s also proud of his work to enhance the state’s public safety and firefighter retirement systems.
“Hopefully, that retains and recruits our police officers to stay in the profession,” Perry said.
Utah’s seat belt law was also sponsored by Perry, as well as one to ban teen drivers from using cellphones while driving.
Perry also helped sponsor the 2014 law that allowed creditors to seize bail money and apply it to what people owed. In a report last year, ProPublica found at least 17 cases in which Utahns had been jailed because of the law’s provisions.
Perry has said these detentions are an unintended consequence of the 2014 law, adding that he had “good intentions" in supporting the legislation. The Utah Legislature this session is considering a bill to prevent people from landing in jail because they owe a debt, but it was amended in the Senate to allow collection agencies to seize bail money.
On Monday, House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, said he appreciated Perry’s decade of service in the Legislature and knows “Utahns across the state will continue to benefit from his service.”
Perry earlier this year retired from his job as a lieutenant with the Utah Highway Patrol following a 31-year career in law enforcement. At Parsons, which is based in Virginia but has offices in Sandy, Perry said he will study ways of keeping traffic flowing on Utah’s roadways and how to reduce the risk of secondary collisions while rescue workers are clearing a crash scene.
