A House amendment allocating $2 million for design of a new pediatric unit at Provo's State Hospital failed to gain agreement from the Senate. Negotiations between the two chambers resulted in a bill passing Thursday without the amendment.
SB280 authorizes $46 million in bonds for a bio-innovations research institute at Utah State University and a neuroscience and biomedical technology research facility at the University of Utah.
Rep. Fred Hunsaker, R-Logan, said that due to budget constraints, the two bodies agreed to include intent language with SB280 to set the State Hospital's pediatric unit design as top priority in 2011.
On Wednesday, several House members said they had visited the children's residential facility and decried building conditions as deplorable. And some noted the State Hospital had already been at the top of the state's capital-facilities list.
