By Brice Wallace, Deseret Morning News

March 1, 2006 – Proponents of the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative issued a call to action Tuesday, urging Salt Lake Rotary members to contact lawmakers in support of a bill funding the initiative.

Any action will have to be quick. The final day of the Legislature's general session is today.

"If the Legislature passes USTAR and funds it as being requested, this will set off an explosion that will have a dramatic impact and a dramatic return to our state and to our economy," Scott Anderson, president of Zions Bank and chairman of the Economic Development Corp. of Utah, said Tuesday during a Rotary luncheon.

SB75 sailed through the Senate, passing unanimously on its third reading Feb. 7. It has been in the House's hands since then, where it has only been introduced.

The bill calls for general obligation bonds for the construction of research buildings at Utah State University and the University of Utah; funding for research teams there; and the creation of a technology outreach program for strategic locations in the state.

The underlying concept is that over a 35-year period, the research will spin off 422 companies with 123,000 employees being paid an average of $81,000. The state also would see $4.9 billion more in federal grant money and benefit from $5 billion in new taxes.

"Having USTAR in place will be a key to Utah's participation in the new Knowledge Economy," said Jack Sunderlage, chairman of the Utah Information Technology Association and chief executive officer of ContentWatch. "It's exciting, and we have a wonderful chance to be in play."

USTAR will allow Utah to "build on our current strengths," he said.

"There are many states out there that are competing with us that have the philosophy, 'Build it and they will come.' We don't have to build it. We have it today. But we have to build on it, and we have to enhance it and make sure that we're attracting new talent and retaining existing talent."

Anderson cited statistics showing how Utahns' average pay as a percentage of the U.S. average is shrinking, as is the number of high-tech jobs in Utah. The average-pay situation has led to a higher number of bankruptcies, a prevalence of two-wage-earner households and a low per-pupil expenditure level, he said.

"We do not have enough high-paying jobs," Anderson said.

Thirty-two other states have passed such initiatives, putting out a total of $29 billion to universities for research and job creation, he said.

But he stressed that USTAR is about economic development and that the five technology centers throughout the state would help all Utahns, not just areas near the U. and Utah State.

"These centers will be the link between the research universities and the entire state — the other universities, the other colleges in our state, the businesses and with the community," he said. "So ideas can be sourced out at the community, come through the research centers and be developed at the universities, (and) research and ideas will be pushed back out to the community so that the entire state will benefit from what is going on."

Sunderlage said the state was at the forefront of computer science and imaging technology in the 1970s and the development of artificial hearts and arms in the 1980s. "We had leadership positions in both of those areas and we lost it," he said. "In 2005 and today in 2006, we have another opportunity for leadership in the area of genetics. We cannot afford another lost opportunity.