Measured progress: it was a quiet, but pro-business, 2013 legislative session.

• Author: Webb, LaVarr
• Position: State Government

Utah's high-tech corridor, spanning southern Salt Lake County and northern Utah County, received a big boost from the Utah Legislature in its recently concluded session. By voting to take incremental steps to move the state prison, which is squarely in the middle of the high-tech corridor, lawmakers are creating a $1 trillion business opportunity for the state, according to Utah's top economic development leaders.

The prison re-location issue is one example of a generally pro-business attitude displayed during the 2013 legislative session that concluded in mid-March. Business leaders, overall, were pleased with the outcome of the session, although some business priorities were not approved, and not many visionary or far-reaching initiatives made it through the 45-day legislative gauntlet.

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This was a "steady-as-she-goes" session. While few major new initiatives were approved, lawmakers continued Utah's strong record of good management and frugal budgeting.

Utah's 104 citizen legislators are regular people with regular jobs, professions and businesses. So they understand the private sector and are inclined to keep taxes low and government limited. They were careful in their use of tax dollars, balancing the state budget and declining to raise any taxes.

However, lawmakers did not take big steps or endorse big ideas. An exception was the initiative to move the prison. Representatives of the Governor's Office of Economic Development and the Economic Development Corporation of Utah say relocating the prison, providing 700 acres of bare ground currently surrounded by large and small high-tech businesses, is an enormous opportunity for Utah. They believe a world-class development will occur, attracting major businesses that provide great jobs. Experts in many disciplines are extremely excited about the possibilities.

Moving Forward

State legislatures, by their nature, are more reactive than pro-active. They tend to look short term rather than long term. Their election cycles are only two years or four years, so they mostly focus on the budget for the next 18 months, and what can be accomplished right away.

But lawmakers in the 2013 session did take some important small steps to keep some major initiatives moving forward.

For example, energy development is one of Utah's greatest long-term economic development opportunities, and lawmakers appropriated $3 million for a Uintah Basin transportation study. Oil and gas production...