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House passes antitrust-exemption clarification to secure Intermountain Power Project financing
Summary
The House approved first-substitute House Bill 333 to clarify long-standing antitrust exemptions for interlocal electrical producers, a change sponsors said is necessary to secure bond financing for Intermountain Power Association Phase 3.
The Utah House approved first-substitute House Bill 333, a bill sponsors described as clarifying the state’s long‑standing antitrust exemption for interlocal electrical producers.
Representative Wheeler, the bill sponsor, said the measure restates that interlocal agencies granted an exemption before 1981 retain that status. He told colleagues the clarification responds to a 2005 court case that raised questions about the exemption and that the attorney general’s office helped rework the language. Wheeler said the Intermountain Power Association is preparing to build Phase 3 and that bondholders need assurance the exemption remains intact. "That will be a $300,000,000 of new business and tax base for the state of Utah," Wheeler said on the House floor.
The House voted on the substitute bill on the consent calendar; the reading clerk reported the committee vote (9 yes, 0 no, 4 absent) and the floor vote closed with 68 yes, 0 no; the bill passed and will be referred to the Senate for further consideration.
Ending note: supporters characterized the bill as a technical clarification to preserve financing certainty for a major energy project; no floor amendments were recorded.
