Momentum continues to build behind a bill to allocate $3 million in state funds to woo movie and television production to Utah.

HB17, sponsored by Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, was unanimously passed by the Senate Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development Standing Committee Monday. The bill would appropriate $3 million from the state's general fund to a new Motion Picture Incentive Fund, a dedicated fund to bring film and TV projects to Utah.

"Incentives are critical to this industry," Allen told the committee. "They're looking at the bottom line, like everyone else. They want to go where they've got good employees, where there are incentives. And Utah has lost that incentive."

The bill stipulates that two-thirds of the $3 million be used to attract within-the-state production of television series and made-for-TV movies, with the remaining one-third used as incentives for in-state movie productions.

The fund would be managed by an administrator under the direction of the Utah Board of Business and Economic Development, which also oversees the state's Industrial Assistance Fund. The IAF is used to encourage businesses to expand operations or relocate to Utah.

Under HB17, an incentive may not exceed $100,000 per episode or $750,000 per funding cycle for a television series, or $500,000 per motion picture production.

Utah has lost several projects to other states and countries because it wasn't able to offer adequate incentives, said Leigh Von Der Esch, Utah Film Commission director. Projects that were lost include "Into the West," an upcoming series on the TNT television network, which dramatizes the opening of the American West. The show was shot in Calgary and Alberta, Canada.

"We have seen over the years a lot of the motion pictures go to Canada," said committee member Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley. "If we don't play the game, we don't get the revenues and the business here.

"We have quite a business here. This is not only for economic development and tourism, but it brings a lot of notoriety here as well."

Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, was the only committee member to voice concern over the bill, questioning whether the fund administrators would have some guidelines about the content of the projects they help fund.

While the "Touched By An Angel" television series and recent films like "Saints and Soldiers" were quality productions, Madsen said, not all films reach such standards.

"There are many movies that are great," he said. "But there are many other movies out there that are less desirable, from my perspective. We are stewards of the people's money. How do we make sure that, without getting all wrapped up in some kind of censorship discussion, that the people's money is going to quality productions in the sense that they have some social, redeeming value, rather than having them subsidize some porno movie or something?"

After Allen and Von Der Esch assured him that Utah law precludes state involvement in the production of pornography, and a longer discussion on the funding mechanism in the bill, Madsen said he was "180 degrees" turned around on his vote.

HB17 will now go to the Senate for broader debate. But Allen said the real challenge likely will be the appropriations committee.

"The hard part, as it always is, will be getting that $3 million," she said.

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