diff --git a/src/spaceandtime/sxtbaseapi.py b/src/spaceandtime/sxtbaseapi.py
index 0e688fd..ade0b91 100644
--- a/src/spaceandtime/sxtbaseapi.py
+++ b/src/spaceandtime/sxtbaseapi.py
@@ -71,6 +71,26 @@ def prep_biscuits(self, biscuits=[]) -> list:
 
 
     def prep_sql(self, sql_text:str) -> str:
+    if not sql_text:
+        return ''
+
+    sql = ' '.join(sql_text.split())
+    parts = []
+    in_quotes = False
+    current = []
+
+    for char in sql:
+        if char == "'":
+            in_quotes = not in_quotes
+        if in_quotes:
+            current.append(char)
+        else:
+            if char != ';' or len(current) > 0:
+                current.append(char)
+
+    result = ''.join(current)
+    return result.strip()
+
         """-------------------
         Cleans and prepares sql_text for transmission and execution on-network.
 
diff --git a/src/spaceandtime/sxtbiscuits.py b/src/spaceandtime/sxtbiscuits.py
index 98667e9..cc27bb2 100644
--- a/src/spaceandtime/sxtbiscuits.py
+++ b/src/spaceandtime/sxtbiscuits.py
@@ -180,27 +180,33 @@ def add_capability(self, resource:str, *permissions):
         if not resource: resource = self.__lastresource
         if not resource: raise KeyError('must define a resource (schema.object) on which to assign permissions')
         self.__lastresource = resource
-        if resource not in self.__cap: self.__cap[resource] = []
+
+        self.__cap.setdefault(resource, [])
+
         if 'ALL' in self.__cap[resource] or '*' in self.__cap[resource]:
-            self.logger.warning('Cannot add other permissions to a biscuit containing ALL permissions.  Request disregarded.')
+            self.logger.warning('Cannot add other permissions to a biscuit containing ALL permissions. Request disregarded.')
             return self.__isall__(resource)
-        initial_count = len(self.__cap[resource])
-        process_count = 0
-        final_permissions = []
-        for permission in permissions: 
-            process_count += 1
-            if type(permission) == list: 
-                if 'ALL' in permission: return self.__isall__(resource)
-                final_permissions += list(permission)
-                process_count += len(list(permission))-1
+
+        current_perms = set(self.__cap[resource])
+        added_count = 0
+
+        for permission in permissions:
+            if isinstance(permission, list):
+                if 'ALL' in permission:
+                    return self.__isall__(resource)
+                new_perms = {p.value for p in permission if p.name != 'ALL'}
+                current_perms.update(new_perms)
+                added_count += len(new_perms)
             else:
-                if permission.name == 'ALL': return self.__isall__(resource)
-                final_permissions.append(permission)
-        self.__cap[resource] += [p.value for p in final_permissions]
-        self.__cap[resource] = list(set(self.__cap[resource]))
+                if permission.name == 'ALL':
+                    return self.__isall__(resource)
+                current_perms.add(permission.value)
+                added_count += 1
+
+        self.__cap[resource] = list(current_perms)
         self.__bt = ''
-        added_count = len(self.__cap[resource]) - initial_count
-        self.logger.info(f'Added {added_count} permissions, from total {process_count} submitted ({process_count - added_count} duplicates)')
+
+        self.logger.info(f'Added {added_count} unique permissions')
         return added_count
 
     def __isall__(self, resource):
@@ -436,4 +442,4 @@ def load(self, filepath: Path, resource:str = None, date:str = None, time:str =
 
     # Return a json object with information
     print( bis.to_json() )
-    pass
+    pass
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/spaceandtime/sxtresource.py b/src/spaceandtime/sxtresource.py
index 40f5315..40fe72e 100644
--- a/src/spaceandtime/sxtresource.py
+++ b/src/spaceandtime/sxtresource.py
@@ -369,16 +369,20 @@ def to_list(self, obscure_private_key:bool = True,
         Returns:
             list: List representation of the class.
         """
-        rtn = []
-        for n,v in self.to_dict(obscure_private_key=obscure_private_key, include_keys=include_keys).items():
-            if n=='biscuits':
-                for bname, token in dict(v).items():
-                    rtn.append(func_biscuit_formatter(bname, token))
-            elif 'ddl' in n or 'sql' in n:
-                rtn.append(func_sql_formatter(n,v))
-            else:
-                rtn.append(func_line_formatter(n,v))
-        return rtn
+        dict_items = self.to_dict(
+            obscure_private_key=obscure_private_key,
+            include_keys=include_keys
+        ).items()
+
+        return [
+            func_biscuit_formatter(bname, token)
+            if n == 'biscuits'
+            else func_sql_formatter(n, v)
+            if 'ddl' in n or 'sql' in n
+            else func_line_formatter(n, v)
+            for n, v in dict_items
+            for bname, token in ([('', '')] if n != 'biscuits' else dict(v).items())
+        ]
 
 
     def get_first_valid_user(self, *users) -> SXTUser:
@@ -778,23 +782,15 @@ def get_column_names(self) -> dict:
         object type, this is technically not guaranteed.
         """
         rtn = {}
-
-        # prep ddl to isolate columns 
-        ddl = str(self.create_ddl).replace('\t',' ').replace('\n',' ').strip()
-        while '  ' in ddl: ddl = ddl.replace('  ',' ')
-        first_paren = ddl.find('(')+1
-        for i in range(len(ddl), 1, -1):
-            if ddl[i:i+1] == ')': 
-                last_paren = i 
-                break
-        
-        # process columns
-        cols = [c.strip() for c in ddl[first_paren:last_paren].split(',') ]
-        for col in cols:
-            if col.lower().startswith('primary key'): continue
-            colname = col.split(' ')[0]
-            coltype = col.split(' ')[1]
-            rtn[colname] = coltype
+        ddl = ' '.join(self.create_ddl.split())
+        columns_section = ddl[ddl.find('(')+1:ddl.rfind(')')].strip()
+
+        for col in (c.strip() for c in columns_section.split(',')):
+            if col.lower().startswith('primary key'):
+                continue
+        parts = col.split(maxsplit=2)
+        if len(parts) >= 2:
+            rtn[parts[0]] = parts[1]
 
         return rtn