A bill creating a fund to help bring film and TV production to Utah was approved Wednesday, but only after $2 million of the original $3 million fund amount was left on the cutting-room floor.

The substitute HB17, passed by the House by a 60-12 vote following Senate amendments, creates the fund for the 2005-06 fiscal year. It calls for a top incentive of $500,000 for any single project, which may be a television series, made-for-television movie or motion picture, which may include both feature films and independent films.

The fund administrator may consider giving preference to a production that stimulates economic activity in rural areas of the state or that has Utah content, such as recognizing that the production was made in the state or using "Utah as Utah" in the production.

The original bill sought $3 million in ongoing funds, with $2 million for TV series or made-for-TV movies and $1 million for motion pictures. It also had a cap of $100,000 per episode and $750,000 per funding cycle for TV productions and $500,000 per movie.

Backers of the bill had said Utah needed to have such a fund in order to compete with other states looking to lure film and TV productions and that the incentive would result in job creation as well as promotion of Utah.

State officials have indicated that a $1 million demonstration incentive program during the current fiscal year is expected to yield a $4.50 return to the state for each dollar spent. But those officials also indicated that the demonstration program had failed to land applications for a TV series or for a major movie.

Among business-related bills that already had been passed by both houses before Wednesday were:

• HB11, which provides tax incentives for job-creating companies through the creation of "economic development zones," similar to aerospace and aviation development zones that have been created near airports. Local entities would establish the economic development zones, and companies would apply for the incentives through the state's Department of Community and Economic Development. The incentives would be in the form of a partial rebate of new state revenues generated by new commercial projects within an economic development zone.

• SB108, which further deregulates Qwest Communications International Inc. It reclassifies Qwest regulated services and removes Utah Public Service Commission regulation of those retail services, and it allows Qwest to make promotional offers. It also freezes basic residential service rates at 2004 levels.

---

E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com