If you pay taxes in Utah, here’s a question worth asking: should the state approve a $2 million grant for an unqualified recipient based on an incomplete application?
The following is based on information available to the general public.
On January 8, 2026, the Board of the “Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity” (“GOEO”)—it’s name reverted to the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) effective May 6, 2026—unanimously approved a $2 million Industrial Assistance Account (IAA) grant for Nuovo Film Festival, Inc. (”Nuovo”), a Utah nonprofit registered barely two months after Sundance announced its move to Colorado.
The Industrial Assistance Account is a restricted state account that funds economic-development projects, and the law sets minimum requirements an applicant must meet before any money is awarded.
The public agenda for that Board meeting said almost nothing about it, describing the item only as an “Industrial Assistance Account (IAA) Grant” the board would “vote to approve.” On July 8, 2026, after a state records order, GOED released some of the emails and documents behind that decision, and they tell a more revealing story.
GOED’s own staff were not sure the proposal even counted as an application. Days before the vote, the office’s Director of Industry Partnerships forwarded the draft and asked colleagues whether it could be used “as their application.” A staff member listed items missing from it, including a signed W-9 and confirmation of whether Nuovo had other funding. On January 7, 2026, a staffer noted the formal application had not been entered into the system “because some of the items are still being discussed,” adding that the item could move forward “with or without their formal application on file.” As late as February 2, 2026,—nearly a month after the vote—a contract manager reported seeing nothing in the system requesting a contract.
The projected benefits (up to $12 million in impact, 50–75 jobs, more than $200 million a year by year five) were described as estimates “based on comparable film ecosystem investments in other states,” not documented figures specific to Nuovo. And the released budget shows the single largest line—$750,000—going to a “Robert Redford Memorial” rather than to matched, in-state economic spending.
Utah law generally requires IAA applicants to spend at least a dollar in-state for every grant dollar. The records do not show that match was demonstrated. The only clear legal path for the award would be a discretionary exemption for nonprofits that provide “significant economic stimulus”—but no documented finding invoking that exemption appears in the records. Even if the exemption was declared, it would not waive the other minimum requirements, which apply regardless of whether the applicant is a business or a nonprofit.
This is $2 million in public money. The records raise a fair, factual question about whether GOED followed its own qualification process before approving it. A Petition for Judicial Review is now pending in the Third Judicial District Court, Salt Lake County (Case No. 260905225), challenging the atypically worded, and confusing, June 8, 2026, order and the conduct of GOED staff and leadership, noting possible violations of the Open and Public Meetings Act, the Board Conflicts Act, and the Public Officers’ and Employees’ Ethics Act.
Additional records have yet to be released and others remain redacted, so the picture is incomplete.
It should also be noted that this post is informational, not to be construed as legal advice or an accusation. Still, based on the public records available today, the paperwork the law calls for was not finished when the money was approved.
Here’s a link to a deeper analysis on whether or not this grant proposal should have been considered for a vote in the first place.