This bill:

• establishes the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee as the subcommittee to hear and prioritize requests for state funding of capital facility projects within the Utah System of Higher Education;
• establishes requirements for the proposal of a technical college or degree-granting institution for a capital facility project funding request;
• requires compliance with the dedicated and non-dedicated project approval process for higher education capital facility projects;
• clarifies the process for requesting capital development appropriations by distinguishing between architectural programming and design-and-construction phases;
• authorizes an agency to request funding for architectural programming without requiring the submission of a feasibility study;
• requires an agency to complete architectural programming before requesting an appropriation for the design and construction of a capital development project;
• increases, from $100,000 to $1,500,000, the maximum project cost for which a state entity may directly supervise the design and construction of a state facility and establishes higher supervisory thresholds for certain institutions within the Utah System of Higher Education;
• requires a state entity that elects to directly supervise the design and construction of a state facility project to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Division of Facilities Construction and Management (division) that addresses compliance with division standards;
• prohibits a state entity described above from accessing the division's statewide contingency reserve or project reserve for the state facility project;
• authorizes the director of the division to assume control of a project described above when division inspection or review determines that the work is deficient or noncompliant with division design, construction, or code inspection standards;
• aligns revocation authority for delegated projects by allowing the director of the division to revoke delegation to address inspection-based deficiencies;
• requires that design criteria exceeding the state construction code to be appropriate for the facility's intended use and cost-effective over the facility's expected useful life;
• adds required components to a capital development feasibility study by requiring inclusion of a space utilization plan and capital budget estimate approved by the division;
• authorizes the Legislature to transfer any excess amount from the statewide contingency reserve to the General Fund or the Income Tax Fund;
• if the excess amount described above is attributable to a higher education or technical college capital project, requires the Legislature to transfer the excess amount to the applicable capital project fund;
• requires the division to submit an annual request for appropriation to the Legislature for each year covered by the five-year building plan;
• authorizes the director of the division to approve certain design modifications for capital development projects of institutions of higher education and to allocate resulting construction cost savings between the institution and the state;
• exempts construction contracts administered by the division from statutory performance and payment bond requirements;
• authorizes the division to require a performance or payment bond when necessary to protect the division from financial loss or performance risk; and
• makes technical and conforming changes.