The Legislature's Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development Interim Committee is backing funding increases for film production incentives and tourism marketing.

The committee on Wednesday endorsed a Tourism Task Force letter calling for a separate line item in the Governor's Office of Economic Development budget totaling at least $3 million annually for the Motion Picture Incentive Fund to help boost film production in Utah.

The letter also calls for a separate GOED line item for tourism.

After a one-year pilot program, supporters of the film fund last year sought $3 million, but that was trimmed to $1 million during the legislative session. Backers have said several more Utah-based productions could have been funded with more money and that Utah must have such funds to compete with other states dangling incentives to lure production companies.

Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City and the task force's chairman, said the state is funding only one-fourth of the production opportunities it has and that the $1 million during the past fiscal year yielded $27 million in revenue for the state. "It was huge, just monstrous," he said, "and we're turning away a great deal of that."

The committee also backed a letter calling for $9 million in tourism promotion funding for 2006-07. Original legislation called for $10 million the first year and $9 million the second, but that was changed to $4 million for the second, with the belief that an additional $4 million would be added.

"I believe wholeheartedly that we'll see an increase in our tourism because of this. . . . We do believe with this money we've put in here, tourism in Utah has a very, very bright future," Jenkins said of the tourism marketing fund.

The committee on Wednesday also voted to pass out as a committee bill a measure requiring counties to report to the state on their use of tourism, recreation, cultural and convention facilities tax funds, known as the TRCC tax. It also calls for the counties to report on the use of the TRCC and transient room tax, or TRT or hotel room tax, spending by certain tourism categories.

The TRT report would detail spending for recreation, tourism, film production and conventions, plus the building and operation of tourism facilities. For TRCC, counties would need to list spending on financing tourism promotion or developing and operating tourism-related facilities.

The measure had been developed by the Legislature's Tourism Task Force.

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