Controversial bill to create powerful new state agency is dead (for now), senator says
The Utah Capitol is pictured with downtown Salt Lake City behind it on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
A Utah lawmaker who ran a bill that quickly became wildly unpopular across the political spectrum has confirmed to reporters that he's pulling it from consideration.
Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, said during a media availability that SB337 — a bill to create a mighty new state body called the Beehive Development Agency that would have had broad land use, taxing and planning authority — won't be moving forward during the 2025 legislative session, which ends at midnight on Friday.
'(SB337) is not moving,' Cullimore told reporters on Thursday, the second-to-last day of the 2025 session.
'Yeah, it's dead,' Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, added.
'Power grab?' Despite cross-party outcry, bill to create mighty new state agency moves forward
Cullimore acknowledged it was published late in the session, leaving little time for debate. The first version of the bill also stoked a lot of outcry, while he said the aim was to better 'coordinate' planning and tax use tools across the state for economic development and housing.
'The messaging got away, and so many people saw this as state overreach,' he said. 'Really the intent was to take all these tools and, I'm not going to say consolidate power, but consolidate the tools so that we know they're being used most efficiently and effectively.'
However, Cullimore said similar legislation is likely to return in the future, perhaps in 2026.
'The governor was a huge supporter of this bill, and so I don't think the idea's going to go away,' Cullimore said. 'But I think it needs to be retooled and bring some more people to the table so that as it further develops they have more input and can help with the messaging along the way.'
Adams echoed that the 'messaging' around Beehive Development Agency 'probably came out wrong.'
'I think there's a lot of good things that were intended with the bill, but at times the messaging gets away, and I think that makes it tough,' Adams said.
Asked if he plans to revive the bill next year, Cullimore jokingly said, 'If they find a sponsor, probably,' drawing laughs from other Senate Republican leaders.
Under SB337, the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity would have a new tool in the Beehive Development Agency, which would be an 'independent nonprofit' that would have ultimate planning power with broad bonding, land use and taxing authority. It's meant to accomplish 'statewide strategic objectives' by facilitating and streamlining 'significant community impact project areas.'
A previous version of the bill would have totally preempted cities and counties' local control by allowing the Beehive Development Agency to 'designate up to three significant community impact project areas' in a city each year — regardless of consent from local officials.
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But last week, Cullimore changed the bill in a Senate committee after negotiating with groups including the Utah League of Cities and Towns and the Utah Association of Counties to address their concerns.
The new version of the bill would require a city or county council to 'consent or not consent to inclusion' in one of the Beehive Development Agencies' 'significant community impact plans' within 45 days of the agency's commissioner proposing a draft plan.
If they consented, SB337 specified that decision would be 'irrevocable.'
The bill would have also also required the Beehive Development Agency's commissioner to coordinate with a list of other powerful, previously created agencies (many of them controversial) that also have broad land, bonding and taxing use authority, including:
The Military Installation Development Authority, also known as MIDA, which was created in 2007 to work with the military, private businesses and local governments to promote economic development. It's responsible for developing the Falcon Hill Aerospace Research Park at Hill Air Force Base, and a project area in Wasatch County that includes Mayflower Mountain Resort, a new ski resort near Deer Valley.
The Utah Inland Port Authority, which the Utah Legislature created in 2018 under a cloud of scandal after Salt Lake City officials decried lawmakers for usurping local authority. Environmental groups continue to litigate its constitutionality, while state officials defend it as a tool to develop logistics hubs across the state to maximize Utah's import and export industries.
The Point of the Mountain State Land Authority, a board tasked with overseeing the development of 600 acres of prime real estate at the site of the former Utah State Prison in Draper, now known as The Point.
The Utah Lake Authority, a body to manage development in and around Utah Lake.
The State Fair Park Authority, tasked with managing the existing Utah State Fairpark.
The Utah Fairpark Area Investment and Restoration District, which has taxing, bonding and land use authority to facilitate development of a Major League Baseball stadium in and around Salt Lake City's Fairpark neighborhood.
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