diff --git a/lib/galaxy/util/sanitize_html.py b/lib/galaxy/util/sanitize_html.py
index 2aabbe2dccd..aec55f9f53a 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/util/sanitize_html.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/util/sanitize_html.py
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ class _BaseHTMLProcessor(sgmllib.SGMLParser):
 
     def output(self):
         '''Return processed HTML as a single string'''
-        return ''.join([str(p) for p in self.pieces])
+        return ''.join(self.pieces)
 
 
 class _HTMLSanitizer(_BaseHTMLProcessor):
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/util/validation.py b/lib/galaxy/util/validation.py
index 7b0686cec19..a163abf0b44 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/util/validation.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/util/validation.py
@@ -5,20 +5,20 @@ TODO: Refactor BaseController references to similar methods to use this module.
 from galaxy import exceptions
 from galaxy.util.sanitize_html import sanitize_html
 
-from six import string_types, text_type
+from six import string_types
 
 
 def validate_and_sanitize_basestring( key, val ):
     if not isinstance( val, string_types ):
         raise exceptions.RequestParameterInvalidException( '%s must be a string or unicode: %s'
                                                            % ( key, str( type( val ) ) ) )
-    return text_type( sanitize_html( val, 'utf-8', 'text/html' ), 'utf-8' )
+    return sanitize_html( val, 'utf-8', 'text/html' )
 
 
 def validate_and_sanitize_basestring_list( key, val ):
     try:
         assert isinstance( val, list )
-        return [ text_type( sanitize_html( t, 'utf-8', 'text/html' ), 'utf-8' ) for t in val ]
+        return [ sanitize_html( t, 'utf-8', 'text/html' ) for t in val ]
     except ( AssertionError, TypeError ):
         raise exceptions.RequestParameterInvalidException( '%s must be a list of strings: %s'
                                                            % ( key, str( type( val ) ) ) )