February 3 – 7, 2025
Appropriations Subcommittees
On Monday, February 3, the Transportation and Infrastructure Appropriations Subcommittee heard a bonding request from the University of Utah for the Huntsman Cancer Institute Vineyard Comprehensive Cancer Center. Utah State University also presented its Utah Board of Higher Education-approved capital budget request for its Math, AI, Data & Analytics Center and a bonding request for a residence hall.
The Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee (HEAS) heard institutional presentations from Davis Technical College, Dixie Technical College, Mountainland Technical College, Southwest Technical College, Tooele Technical College, and Uintah Basin Technical College. The Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst provided headcount and budget details for each of these institutions. Institutional presidents also presented their respective institution’s response to LFA-presented data, updates on performance metrics, data on student financial aid and scholarships, student job placement data, updates on previous years’ funding items, and 2025 General Session budget requests as approved by the Utah Board of Higher Education. On Thursday, LFA presented the Higher Education Accountable Budget Process for 2025-2029, and HEAS heard the Office of the State Auditor’s Annual Financial Audit Presentation.
HEAS also heard legislator-initiated Requests for Appropriations (RFAs) from Representative Dailey-Provost for Tanner Dance’s Program for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities, Senator Millner for Higher Education Digital Credentials, Pathways, and Program Mapping, and Representative Logan Monson for expansion of extension programs into Navajo Reservation Communities, supported by the 4-H program.
View all previous HEAS meeting agendas and materials.
Upcoming HEAS Meetings:
8 a.m.
The final HEAS meetings of the 2025 General Session will include institutional presentations from Utah Valley University and Weber State University, additional legislator-initiated requests for appropriations, and HEAS prioritization and voting.
Legislation of Interest
HB 1 — Higher Education Base Budget (Representative Karen Peterson, Senator Ann Millner): Provides appropriations for the use and support of higher education agencies and institutions and for other purposes as described (appropriates $147,689,300 in operating capital budgets for FY 25, appropriates $7,397,000 in restricted fund and account transfers for FY 25, appropriates $2,868,144,100 in operating and capital budgets for FY 26, and appropriates $57,779,000 in restricted fund and account transfers for FY 26). Provides an estimate of the total budgets for higher education institutions and provides intent language. This bill has passed both houses.
HB 40, 1st Substitute — School Safety Amendments (Representative Ryan Wilcox): Adds the Commissioner of Higher Education or Commissioner’s designee to the membership of the School Security Task Force. Creates a Higher Education Advisory Board under the School Security Task Force. Requires state institutions of higher education to annually conduct a comprehensive safety needs assessment and annually submit assessment results to the respective institution’s board of trustees, the Utah Board of Higher Education, and the School Security Task Force. Requires the Utah Board of Higher Education to ensure institutions comply with these requirements, coordinate resources to assist institutions in implementing safety improvements, facilitate sharing of best practices among institutions, and establish policies for maintaining confidentiality of sensitive security information contained in these safety assessments. This bill received a favorable recommendation from the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee on January 29th.
HB 107 — University Facilities Financing Amendments (Representative Neil Walter): Repurposes the Higher Education Capital Projects Fund into a loan program and provides for the terms of the loan. This bill was assigned to a standing committee but was not heard in committee.
HB 131 — Talent Ready Utah Program Amendments (Representative Val Peterson, Senator Ann Millner): Clarifies that an advisory council under the Talent Board shall have a minimum of four members. Clarifies that engineering and computer technology are included in the list of talent advisory councils. This bill has passed the House and received from the Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee a favorable recommendation for the Senate consent calendar.
HB 133 — Dangerous Weapons Amendments (Representative Karianne Lisonbee, Senator Scott Sandall): Clarifies that an individual who may otherwise lawfully possess a firearm may possess a firearm at the individual’s residence, openly possess a firearm in most public locations, and conceal a firearm in most public locations without a concealed carry permit. This bill passed in the House.
HB 142 — Service Member and Veteran Amendments (Representative Jordan Teuscher): Removes residency requirement for in-state tuition at a state institution of higher education for active military members, veterans, and their families.
HB 157 — Energy Education Amendments (Representative Colin Jack, Senator Derrin Owens): Requires the Department of Energy to develop energy-related workforce development programs and facilitate collaboration among higher education institutions, elementary schools, secondary schools, and industry. This bill passed in the House.
HB 160, 2nd Substitute — Professional License Degree Amendments (Representative Stephanie Gricius, Senator Chris Wilson): Amends certain processes and procedures related to licensing requirements for architects, environmental health scientists, land surveyors, accountants, and geologists. This bill received a favorable recommendation from the House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee on January 31.
HB 168 — Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education (Representative Ariel DeFay): Creates the Artificial Intelligence in Education Task Force. Task Force responsibilities include making recommendations to the Legislature, public education institutions, and higher education institutions on policies related to the use of AI, including guidelines for AI use in educational settings and protections for student privacy and data security. Task Force membership shall include the Commissioner of Higher Education or Commissioner’s designee and two higher education staff institutional staff members appointed by the Board of Higher Education.
HB 210, 1st Substitute — Higher Education Board of Trustees Amendments (Representative Joseph Elison): Requires that a degree-granting institution’s Board of Trustees member shall be a Utah resident (with the exception of the two ex officio members – the president of the institution’s alumni association and the institution’s student body president). Requires that at least 6 of the appointed members of a degree-granting institution’s Board of Trustees shall meet one of the following qualifications: previously attended the institution, resides within the institution’s service area (as defined in Utah Board of Higher Education policy), or, if no longer living in the institution’s service area, previously resided in the institution’s service area and last moved away from the service area no more than five years before their appointment date. Clarifies that the requirements outlined in the bill only apply to trustees appointed on or after May 7, 2025. The Second Substitute of the bill, if adopted, will require that the Board of Trustees of a technical college shall include one member each from no more than four local school boards in the technical college’s service region in a rotation specified by the technical college Board of Trustees’ bylaws.
HB 215, 2nd Substitute — Office of Legislative Auditor General Requirements (Representative Jefferson Burton, Senator Stephanie Pitcher): This bill received a favorable recommendation from the House Government Operations Committee on February 7th. Authorizes the Office of the Legislative Auditor General to create, manage, and report to the Legislative Audit Subcommittee a list of high-risk programs, operations, and systems within the Utah System of Higher Education that require transformation, require improved efficiency or effectiveness, are vulnerable to mismanagement, fraud, or waste, or are not compliant with applicable laws, rules, policies, or best practices. Authorizes the Office of the Legislative Auditor General to monitor, examine, and review the Utah System of Higher Education, including:
- The mission of, leadership of, and culture within the Utah System of Higher Education and the board;
- Whether the state-level vision and goals described in 53B-1-402 reflect the educational and workforce needs of the state;
- Whether the metrics adopted under 53B-1-402 adequately measure performance related to the goals and performance on measures of operational efficiency;
- Whether the data quality and collection by the board under 53B-1-402 is standardized through USHE and provides meaningful information on the performance of each institution of higher education, and;
- Whether an institution of higher education has adopted performance metrics and is executing practices to measure and achieve those metrics.
HB 260, 1st Substitute — First Credential Program (Representative Val Peterson, Senator Ann Millner): Replaces the PRIME Program to create the First Credential Program. Requires the Commissioner of Higher Education, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Governor’s Education Advisor to establish the First Credential Oversight Committee. Specifies that membership of the Oversight Committee shall include certain representatives from industry, high-demand sectors, representatives from public and higher education, Talent Ready Utah, and workforce development experts. Duties of the Oversight Committee include developing the First Credential Master Plan, which must include elements such as a comprehensive framework for developing and maintaining the First Credential Master List and a comprehensive needs assessment that evaluates resources available through higher education institutions, industry partnership opportunities, and general resource availability. Provides for the awarding of First Credential Program certificates and scholarships to students and provides for the awarding of First Credential grants to LEAs. Introduces specific requirements regarding regional pathways coordinators, including implementation of the First Credential program. This bill passed in the House.
HB 265 — Higher Education Strategic Reinvestment (Representative Karen Peterson, Senator Ann Millner):
PERFORMANCE FUNDING: Requires the Board of Higher Education and the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee to collaborate on a redesign of the performance funding model starting in the 2025 interim.
STRATEGIC REINVESTMENT: Requires the Board of Higher Ed to establish standards for institutional strategic reinvestment plans and to provide guidance to the institutions on metrics and evaluative processes for the institutions to use in analyzing programs and budgets to develop their strategic reinvestment plans. Criteria for analysis must include demonstrated enrollment data, completion rate and timely completion, discipline-related professional outcomes (including placement, employment, licensure, and wage outcomes), current and future localized and statewide workforce demands, program-level costs, and the institution’s mission and role within the statewide system.
Requires institutions to develop strategic reinvestment plans in collaboration with the Board of Higher Ed. For FY 26, the Board of Higher Ed may transfer reinvestment funds to institutions if the respective degree-granting institution’s strategic reinvestment plan is approved by the Board, the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee (August 2025 meeting), and the Executive Appropriations Committee (September 2025).
For FY 27 and FY 28, the Board of Higher Ed may transfer reinvestment funds to institutions if the respective degree-granting institution if the respective degree-granting institution has submitted a report on their strategic reinvestment plan progress to the Board, and the Board, Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee (in its August interim meetings in the respective years), and Executive Appropriations Committee (in its September interim meetings in the respective years) make a determination that the institution has progressed in executing the institution’s strategic reinvestment plan in accordance with this bill.
A degree-granting institution may use reinvestment funds for approved strategic investments that include programs, courses, degrees, departments, colleges, or other divisions of the institutions, operational efficiencies, and other components of the institution’s instruction and administrative functions, including dean positions and other administrative positions that merit further investment. For the reduced or eliminated items described in Subsection (3)(b)(ii) (line 145 of the bill), the institution may use reinvestment funds only in the following amounts: For FY 2026, no more than 70% of the total of the reinvestment funds dedicated to the institution, for FY 2027, no more than 30% of the total of the reinvestment funds dedicated to the institution, and for FY 2028, 0% of the total of the reinvestment funds.
Specifies that a degree-granting institution may not supplant or supplement the cost of reduced or eliminated items from the reinvestment exercise through a tuition increase or with any state funds, except in the fiscal year 2028 (to the extent necessary to allow a student to complete the students’ academic program as outlined in the institution’s approved strategic reinvestment plan).
Specifies that if an institution fails to reallocate resources in accordance with its approved reinvestment plan, the Executive Appropriations Committee shall reduce appropriations for the institution’s instruction and administration in an amount equal to the amount the institution failed to properly reallocate.
CREDIT HOUR REQUIREMENTS: Codifies that a degree-granting institution may not offer a bachelor’s degree with a credit-hour requirement, comprising general education and degree-specific requirements, that exceeds 120 total credit hours. Allows the Board of Higher Ed to authorize a degree-granting institution to exceed the credit-hour limit to no more than 126 credit hours if the institution demonstrates to the Board that a professional licensing or accrediting body requires additional coursework or credit hours in excess of the limit. Requires the Board to develop a process to grant conditional approval of accelerated three-year degrees to allow for the implementation of an accelerated degree upon accreditation.
PROGRAM REVIEW: Moves the Board’s program review requirements to a 5-year cycle instead of a 7-year cycle. Requires the Board to develop and use qualitative and quantitative standards for program review. During program review, if the Board finds a program to be underperforming (as the Board defines), it requires that the Board shall modify, consolidate, or terminate the program of instruction, and the Board may require an institution to develop a performance improvement plan and annually report back to the Board regarding the plan.
This bill passed in the House.
HB 269, 1st Substitute — Privacy Protections in Sex-Designated Areas (Representative Stephanie Gricius, Senator Brady Brammer): Requires the Utah Board of Higher Education to provide guidance regarding student housing that degree-granting institutions own or control. Requires degree-granting institutions to comply with sex designations in assigning students to dwelling units within the institution’s sex-designated housing. This bill passed in the House and Senate. The Senate sent the bill back to the House with Amendments, and the bill has been placed on the House concurrence calendar.
HB 390 — Religious Expression in Higher Education (Representative Karianne Lisonbee): Establishes that an institution may not discriminate against a religious, political, or ideological student organization or deny these student organizations any privilege or benefit (defined as “recognition, registration, use of facilities, use of communication channels, and funding sources”) that is available to any other student organization.
HB 426 — Resident Student Tuition (Representative Jennifer Dailey-Provost): Amends the list of individuals who are eligible for in-state resident student tuition to include employment-based immigrant visas.
HB 444 — Data Privacy Amendments (Representative Jefferson Moss): Modifies requirements for privacy annotations and privacy notices. Modifies requirements for government website privacy notices. Modifies provisions related to data breach notification requirements. Renames and modifies duties of the state privacy auditor. Modifies enforcement provisions related to privacy requirements.
HB 447 — Statewide Catalyst Campus Model (Representative Mike Schultz): Creates the Catalyst Center Grant Program (program) to support local education agencies (LEAs) in creating or expanding catalyst centers. Requires alignment with labor market needs, LEA strategic plans, and state career and technical education goals. Requires Talent Ready Utah and Utah Leading through Effective, Actionable, and Dynamic Education to create a marketing campaign for the program. An LEA applying for a grant under this section shall demonstrate capacity for workforce alignment programs within the LEA or provide a plan to establish or enhance alignment, including outlining steps to establish or enhance partnerships with technical colleges, degree-granting institutions, or other postsecondary entities.
HB 449 — Student Athlete Amendments (Representative Jordan Teuscher): Establishes that an institution of higher education may compensate a student athlete directly for use of the student’s name image and likeness. Specifies that this compensation cannot come from sources that include state funds or student fees. Establishes that a contract between an institution and a student athlete that provides a student athlete with compensation for the use of the student’s name, image, or likeness is a public record subject to the Government Records Access and Management Act. Establishes that a student athlete attending an institution is not an employee of the institution through the student athlete’s participation in an athletic program the institution offers, or through the institution compensating the student athlete for the student athlete’s name, image, or likeness. Requires that the Utah Board of Higher Education, beginning fiscal year 2028 and every five years thereafter, shall conduct an audit of each institution that evaluates money an institution expends to directly compensate a student athlete for the use of the student’s name, image, or likeness, and the implementation and use of payments by an institution for a student athlete for a student athlete’s name, image, or likeness. Starting in fiscal year 2028 and every five years thereafter, the Board shall submit an audit report to the Education Interim and the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Specifies an athletic entity may not prevent a student athlete of an institution from full participation in intercollegiate athletics because the student athlete earns compensation for their name, image, or likeness, or obtains professional representation.
SB 17, 1st Substitute — Services for Department of Defense Civilian Employees (Senator Ann Millner, Representative Val Peterson): Provides in-state residency for tuition purposes at a state institution of higher education for a United States Department of Defense employee and the employee’s family. Provides for coordination of technical changes between this bill and HB 142: Service Member and Veteran Amendments. This bill has passed both chambers.
SB 129 — Higher Education Development Areas (Senator Chris Wilson): Authorizes certain higher education institutions to designate a development area of property owned by the institution. Provides a process for an institution to adopt a resolution designating a development area. Requires an institution to establish a fund for revenue from the development area and provides for uses of money in the fund. Provides for property an eligible university leases to a private person to be exempt from a privilege tax. Requires approval from the Transportation and Infrastructure Appropriations Subcommittee and the institution’s board of trustees before the institution may adopt a development agreement relating to property within a development area. Provides limitations on a trustee’s participation in development actions and requires a trustee to disclose a conflict before the board of trustees approves a development agreement. Requires the board of trustees to provide an annual report to the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee for each development area. The first substitute, if adopted, would require institutions to obtain approval from the Utah Board of Higher Education for the geographic area proposed to be designated as a development area.
SB 154 – Legislative Audit Amendments (Senator Brady Brammer): Excludes certain information and communications obtained by the legislative auditor general from the definition of “record.” Requires a lawyer to provide information, materials, or resources related to the representation of an entity. This bill was not considered in the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee.
SB 162 — Workforce Development Amendments (Senator Ann Millner): Major provisions include creating a statewide talent portal for high-demand jobs in Utah and establishing a cooperative education pilot program. See bill for full details. This bill received a favorable recommendation from the Senate Education Committee on February 4.
SB 168 – Public Employee Negotiation Amendments (Senator David Hinkins): Provision specifically related to higher education: Requires that the governor of the state, the governing body of a political subdivision, the Commissioner of Higher Education, or the designated authorized representative shall represent the public employer in collective bargaining with an exclusive representative.
SB 198 – Federal Guidance Letter Amendments (Senator Keven Stratton): Requires a state agency to publish certain federal guidance letter information received by the state agency on public websites and transmit copies to the Legislature. Establishes standards for federal guidance letter information published on a state agency’s website. This bill received a favorable recommendation from the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee on February 4.
SJR 4 – Joint Resolution Amending Court Rules on Attorney Confidentiality (Senator Brady Brammer): Establishes that if a party is an entity that the legislative auditor general is authorized to edit, and the legislative auditor general determines information that is privileged or prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial is necessary to conduct an audit of the entity, the party must disclose the information to the legislative auditor general. The disclosure to the legislative auditor general does not make the information discoverable or prevent the party from claiming that the information is privileged and prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial.
