Utah’s Legislature and Governor are aiming to make Utah a friendly state for public-private partnerships. In 2012, the Legislature enacted the “Public-Private Partnerships for Tollways Act” (Utah Code Title 72 Chapter 6 Part 2), which allowed the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to enter into public-private partnerships for tollways and permitted both solicited and unsolicited proposals.
In 2020, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 90, which permitted unsolicited proposals for public-private partnerships for all infrastructure projects in the state (see Utah Code 63G-6a-712). It also enacted the “Facilitating Public-Private Partnerships Act” (Utah Code Title 63N Chapter 13 Part 3), which created a facilitator to match public entities’ infrastructure needs to the private sector. Our organization, P3+, was ultimately chosen to serve as the facilitator.
Governor Spencer J. Cox has also championed public-private partnerships since taking office in 2021. Upon taking office, Governor Cox outlined his administration’s strategic priorities in the “One Utah Roadmap.” A key component of the administration’s economic advancement plans was to “identify ways Utah can lead out on public-private partnerships focusing on clean energy (such as micro grids, battery storage, solar, hydrogen, etc.) in a fiscally prudent way” and to “expand Utah’s P3 Facilitator’s mandate to include promotion of sustainability, community living standards, inclusion, rural Utah development, and target industries.”