During the 2017 General Session, the Utah Legislature passed the Utah Data Research Center Act, S.B. 194 (Act). The Act creates the Center as a centralized, standardized governance structure for the purpose of facilitating data-driven decision-making for education and employment policy and research within the state. Specifically, the Center is granted access to de-identified information from several participating state agencies and entities for the purpose of carrying out research and analysis into K-12 education, postsecondary education, and workforce data and outcomes. The Center replaces the similar, less centralized arrangement that was in place under the auspices of the Utah Data Alliance. The Act instructs the Department of Workforce Services (Department) to make rules establishing a process for submitting data research requests, as well as criteria for how those requests will be prioritized by the Center and the information the Center will require as part of each request. This proposed rule identifies the Center's website as the mechanism for submitting data research requests. This proposed rule also maintains the distinction, spelled out in the Act, between primary requesters (agencies or entities from which the Center is required to accept data research requests) and ancillary requesters (all other persons or entities, including members of the general public). The Act permits the Center to charge the cost of completing a data research request to an ancillary requester. This proposed rule makes clear that ancillary requesters must execute a payment agreement with the Center as a condition of the Center's obligation to complete a request submitted by an ancillary requester. This proposed rule also generally gives priority to primary requesters over ancillary requesters in evaluating their requests. In addition, this proposed rule prioritizes requests that are more likely to provide meaningful policy guidance or to lead to findings likely to be of greater interest to the broader public, as well as requests for which the data being sought is more readily available to the Center. Each data research request is evaluated on these criteria and assigned a score by the Center; the Center then completes each request in order based on this evaluation. The Center has the discretion to deviate from the criteria in cases of compelling public interest as demonstrated by the requester. Finally, this proposed rule specifies the information that must be included in a data research request, including the identity of the requester, the requester's thesis, the research question(s) being investigated, the specific data to be analyzed, and the timeframe for fulfilling the request. If an ancillary requester fails to include this information, the Center may delay or deny the request. The Department has specific authority to make rules governing the Center's operations pursuant to Subsection 35A-14-302(9)(a).