House adopts grant-prioritization changes for arts, libraries and museums

SALT LAKE CITY — Lawmakers passed First Substitute House Bill 135 as amended, a measure aimed at reorganizing and increasing per-capita grant allocations for cultural programs and creating a prioritization process for capital facility requests.

Representative Ballen moved Amendment No. 1, which adjusts per-capita allocations—raising arts, museums, history and library grant levels from their current per‑Utahn amounts to higher, sponsor-proposed rates—and establishes a process by which boards for arts, museums, history and libraries receive and prioritize capital facility requests by set deadlines and forward recommendations to the Governor's Office and the legislature.

Ballen said the change seeks to reduce "last-minute" requests that require hurried legislative decisions and to leverage expert boards to evaluate duplicative or competing requests. She noted that when combined with earlier appropriations (Senate Bill 1), the amendment would bring total allocations to approximately $7.7 million.

Members from the Economic Development Appropriations Committee and others supported the bill as a better-structured approach to grant review, while sponsors acknowledged the final appropriation amounts would remain subject to negotiations as the budget process continues. After waiving summation, the House passed HB135 as amended and referred it to the Senate.

Next steps: The bill will be reviewed through the appropriations process and the Governor's Office as part of final budget negotiations.