The Provo Republican saw his SB196 - Revisions to Redevelopment Agency (RDA) Provisions - unanimously approved by the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee on Friday. It now goes to the full Senate.

Bramble took on RDAs last year, passing legislation prohibiting such agencies from condemning land to boost retail or commercial projects. It also placed a moratorium on new RDAs until later this year, which bought Bramble time to rewrite the entire statute - while keeping cities from "grandfathering" projects.

Utah cities use RDAs to bring new development to economically dead zones. The measure allows those municipalities to sell bonds and raise money for improvements - and then use future property taxes to pay off those bonds.

In recent years, however, cities have come under fire for using RDAs to take tax money from schools and other taxing entities to help projects that would come about anyway without a city's help.

SB196 recasts how Utah communities can use RDAs. Specifically, the bill creates three redevelopment categories that have their own uses and rules:

l Economic development - This RDA arm would spur growth that would produce new jobs for a community. Cities would be allowed to tap property taxes earmarked for all taxing agencies - such as schools, water districts and mosquito-abatement districts - to generate this kind of development.

l Redevelopment and urban renewal - This is a traditional RDA designed to help upgrade a community's blighted areas. The bill, however, would make it more difficult to create an RDA by giving other taxing entities more say and by tightening the definition of blight.

l Community development - This is a new concept for Utah. A city could do any project it wants, as long as it only taps its share of property and sales taxes. If a city needs a bigger piece of the tax pie, the other taxing entities could voluntarily participate.

Utah schools, the Utah League of Cities and Towns, the Utah Association of Counties and the Utah Taxpayers Association support Bramble's bill.

jsantini@sltrib.com

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