2021 Legislative Session Accomplishments

Appropriations Priorities (what we asked for):

  • $6M (ongoing) additional funding for arts & museums sustainability grants: funded at $4M ongoing
  • (1x) Impacted Businesses COVID Relief // funded at $5M 1x to refill creates in utah plus GOED has $20M 1x that will include a live events refill.
  • $200K (ongoing) / $225,000 (1x) Informal Science Education Enhancement (iSEE) // funded at $475K ongoing
  • $200K (ongoing) Professional Outreach Programs in the Schools (POPS) // funded at $250K ongoing
  • $4M (ongoing) Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program // funded at $2M ongoing
  • $25M (1x) Film Industry Tax Credits & Incentives // will be on 3/3 EAX list 
  • New staff positions at the Department of Heritage & Art plus restore 5% cut in staffing budget // fully funded 
  • $175 (1x) Martha Hughes Cannon statue installation in Washington DC // fully funded 
  • $15K ongoing / $15K (1x) Department of Heritage & Art Collection Storage // fully funded 
  • $500K (ongoing) GOED Main Street Program (historic building restoration) // TBD
  • $125M (1x) for open space/parks infrastructure investment // funded around
  • Plus the capital requests of our members
  • See all here

FINAL Appropriations decisions (what we got)

  • Arts & Museums Sustainability Grants: $4 million ongoing to a total budget of $7.5 million on-going
  • Create in Utah: $5 million 1x refill to the Create in Utah grants to assist with economic recovery
  • Impacted Business COVID Relief: $20 million one-time funding for economic development grants and a refill to the live event grants program (this industry will have access to both)
  • Film Incentives: $2.1M
  • SB194 Main Street: $300K
  • Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program: $2 million ongoing for the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program
  • POPS: $250,000 ongoing toward making three provisional members permanent
  • iSEE: $250,000 ongoing toward making the Ogden Nature Center a permanent member & $225,000 ongoing for reopening the RFP so new organizations can participate
  • New Positions at Division of Multicultural Affairs: $250,000 ongoing funding for a new Community Outreach Coordinator and Racial Equity & Inclusion Training Coordinator at the Division
  • Women's History Position at Utah Division of State History: $150,000 ongoing for a new position 
  • 5% Budget Restoration to Department of Heritage and Arts: $1,069,000 (was cut last year when the state was worried about a budget shortfall)
  • Digital Access specialist at State History: $150K (was a bill that failed but EAC funded it anyway)
  • Artifact Collection Storage Improvements: $15,000 one-time and $15,000 ongoing in upgrading UA&M's temporary artifact storage environment
  • Trails, Outdoor Recreation, Open Spaces, Parks Infrastructure Investment: close to $140M
  • Bears Ears Visitors Center: $250,000 one-time for planning study

Bills: You can download the BillTrack50 App to see all bills we tracked. Talk to Ernesto ([email protected]) or look in the member portal here: https://www.utahculturalalliance.org/2021billpriorities to get code to see our priority bills. Some of the highest priorities:

  • SB88 -- Sen. Fillmore edited his bill so that it doesn’t do anything. Could have pulled it entirely but he wanted a legislative win. This was a lot of work. Passed the senate last Friday. But this bill shows that our industry needs to do a lot of education and building of public goodwill on the RAP taxes. The edited bill has passed both chambers
  • HB 242 -- this is our ticketing bill, PASSED
  • HB 313 -- DHA will have a new name, PASSED
  • HB 120 -- makes some changes to information required to be given to new employees by small nonprofits, PASSED
  • HB167 -- increases cap on film tax credits, is currently in the house and waiting to be funded by EAC, PASSED and funded
  • HB38 // UCA worked with Rep. Seegmiller, Sen. Weiler and Utah Libraries Association to get some edits to this bill however Rep. Seegmiller did not run the substitute, PASSED
  • SB204 // creates some uniformity on permitting at the city level, currently in the house, HELD IN HOUSE (means it didn’t pass)
  • SB194 // recreates the main street program at GOED, PASSED and funded
  • SB214 // allows the state to offer materials in languages other than English, PASSED
  • SB202 // this bill is dead and replaced with the $20M line item described above in appropriations

2021 Session Grades // Our new legislative grading microsite is now live! The site allows you to see all Utah legislators and view their grade according to a rubric and bill scoring weight that was established internally. You can view the site using this link: https://scorecard.utahculturalalliance.org/#/