Senate advances plan to explore moving Draper prison, approving creation of a land-management authority

The Utah Senate on the afternoon calendar advanced second substitute Senate Bill 72, a measure directing a new Prison Land Management Authority to study and pursue options to relocate the state prison and develop the old Draper site.

Sponsor Senator Jenkins said the legislation follows a series of requests for information and seeks to give a statutorily authorized board tools to test whether moving the prison can be financed by operational savings, sale or redevelopment of the current site, and other financing options. He told colleagues the committee received eight responses to its inquiries and that preliminary committee estimates put annual operational savings at roughly $17 million to $20 million. Jenkins said the committee estimated the current Draper site’s present value at about $70 million to $90 million and,…