Lee & Curtis Introduce Legislation to Preserve University of Utah’s Research Park

 

WASHINGTON –Today, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Senator John Curtis (R-UT) introduced the University of Utah Research Park Act, legislation to protect and preserve the University of Utah's nearly 600-acre Research Park. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) leads companion legislation in the House.

 

“The University of Utah's Research Park has been an engine of growth and discovery for more than half a century," said Senator Lee. “This bill ensures that the university can continue building on that legacy without fear of retroactive reinterpretation of decades-old agreements."

 

“For decades, Research Park has quietly delivered the kind of innovation, jobs, and medical breakthroughs that make Utah proud,” said Senator Curtis. “This bill ensures that the federal government honors its commitments so the University can keep building a future worthy of its past.”

 

“The University of Utah’s Research Park has been instrumental in putting Utah on the map for innovation, research, and development,” said Representative Moore. “It is imperative that we support Research Park and the University’s future needs. I am grateful to introduce this bill alongside Utah’s congressional delegation and look forward to moving it through the legislative process.”

 

“Senators Lee and Curtis, along with Representative Moore, have been steadfast champions of the University of Utah’s innovation ecosystem built at Research Park,” said Taylor Randall, president of the University of Utah. “Facilities like Huntsman Mental Health Institute, ARUP Laboratories, and Myriad Genetics not only serve Utahns but drive discoveries with global impact. We are deeply grateful for their leadership in advancing this legislation, which provides the certainty and long-term stability essential to the continued success of one of the nation’s leading university research parks.”

 

The bill addresses legal uncertainties surrounding the university's use of land initially conveyed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 1968 under the Recreation and Public Purposes (R&PP) Act. At that time, the university requested land on the Fort Douglas Military Reservation for academic and research use-a request approved and granted by BLM. Since then, the university has built a nationally recognized research park, housing over 50 companies and employing nearly 14,000 Utahns.

 

After decades of cooperative engagement between the university and the federal government, BLM has recently questioned whether the long-standing activities at Research Park are consistent with the original land patent under the R&PP Act. The University of Utah Research Park Act resolves that uncertainty by confirming that the development and operation of a university research park is a valid public purpose under the Act.

 

The legislation builds on previous versions negotiated with the Department of the Interior and is supported by the University of Utah and passed unanimously out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources last Congress, with a technical revision to ensure flexibility in land use as authorized.

 

Background:

 

• In 1968, BLM issued a land patent to the University of Utah for undeveloped tracts of the Fort Douglas Military Reservation.
• The land was conveyed under the R&PP Act, which allows for public use of federal land for education, recreation, and other purposes.
• Recent concerns raised by BLM threatened to call into question the university's ongoing use of the land for a research park.
• The University of Utah Research Park Act affirms the university's activities are valid and consistent with the original public purpose of the conveyance.

One-pager | Bill text

  

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