House approves Supplemental Appropriations Act after hours of amendments including $465,000 for Utah Museum of Fine Arts

The Utah House spent several hours on an amended version of Senate Bill 1, the FY2005 Supplemental Appropriations Act, considering a series of floor amendments that reallocated or clarified funding for capital projects, program line items and one-time appropriations.

Representative Bigelow, the bill sponsor, introduced the package and defended negotiated numbers. Floor debate turned on a contested use of intent language that originally would have allowed the legislature to identify a purpose within a larger university line item and, critics said, to shift unused funds without a separate line item. Representatives Snow and others objected, saying intent language should not be used to redirect funds away from explicit capital projects without dedicated appropriation.

A substitute motion inserted a specific $465,000 line item for the Utah Museum of Fine Arts to pay for storage racks and secure storage compartments for about 7,000 artworks in storage (described on the floor as having an estimated collection value of $140 million). Proponents said the museum needs secure storage space and the funding is time-sensitive; opponents sought formal line-item treatment rather than vague intent language. The substitute motion to fund the museum passed.

Other floor action included amendments to correct capital-facility figures, create intent language directing an open public process for a study about relocating a state corrections facility to Draper, and an adopted amendment (Buxton) to add funding for a veterans nursing home and other adjustments. Multiple motions to shift $150,000 from a prison study into an ombudsman program failed in floor votes, while other line-item adjustments passed.

After the amendment process concluded, the House passed the amended Supplemental Appropriations Act on a roll call reported 60 yes, 11 no. The bill will now go to the Senate for concurrence or further action.