H.C.R. 10

             1     

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON SCHOOL AND

             2     
INSTITUTIONAL TRUST LANDS EXCHANGE ACT

             3     
2014 GENERAL SESSION

             4     
STATE OF UTAH

             5     
Chief Sponsor: Michael E. Noel

             6     
Senate Sponsor: Evan J. Vickers

             7     
             8      LONG TITLE
             9      General Description:
             10          This concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor urges the United States
             11      Congress to enact legislation affirming the federal land grant process and eliminating
             12      barriers to federal-state land exchanges.
             13      Highlighted Provisions:
             14          This resolution:
             15          .    urges the United States Congress to enact legislation that:
             16              .    affirms and clarifies that Congress and federal land management agencies
             17      recognize their historic role of establishing land grants to the states for the
             18      support of educational and other public institutions;
             19              .    establishes that the United States has a continuing affirmative obligation to
             20      assist the states in fulfilling the purposes of the various grants;
             21              .    establishes that rationalizing the land ownership pattern to reposition lands more
             22      suited to the management mandates of each owner is an important public
             23      purpose equivalent in character to all of the other management mandates
             24      required of federal land management and federal resource regulatory agencies;
             25              .    establishes that land exchanges between the United States and the respective
             26      states are transactions between coequal sovereign governments and require
             27      standards of prioritization, evaluation, and processing that may differ from those


             28      involving private parties; and
             29              .    eliminates unnecessary obstacles to federal-state land exchanges contained in
             30      the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 by:
             31                  .    creating the presumption in federal environmental and land use planning
             32      that state-federal land exchanges are in the public interest;
             33                  .    requiring federal land management agencies to give priority to land
             34      exchanges that remove state land grant properties from areas of federal
             35      land or resource management provisions that restrict the state's ability to
             36      generate revenue; and
             37                  .    setting a goal for federal land management agencies and managers of
             38      state land exchange proposals to work from the feasibility study through
             39      the transaction-closing phases of state-federal land exchanges in two
             40      years or less.
             41      Special Clauses:
             42          None
             43     
             44      Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
             45          WHEREAS, pursuant to the Utah Enabling Act of 1894, the Congress of the United
             46      States granted four sections in every township in the state of Utah for the benefit of public
             47      schools and school children;
             48          WHEREAS, Congress intended that these lands provide the state with revenue to assist
             49      in funding the state's education system;
             50          WHEREAS, federal courts have interpreted the grant of lands by Congress, and the
             51      acceptance of the lands in the Utah Constitution as the creation of a "trust" between the United
             52      States as "settlor" and the state of Utah as "trustee";
             53          WHEREAS, the scattered nature of the congressional land grants established an
             54      ownership pattern that results in trust land being included within the areas of federal
             55      management for noneconomic purposes;
             56          WHEREAS, this ownership pattern has led to numerous situations where trust land
             57      management mandates and federal land management mandates cannot coexist without conflict;
             58      and


             59          WHEREAS, processing land exchange proposals through the administrative process
             60      has become time-consuming, expensive, ineffectual, and burdensome for both state and federal
             61      land management agencies:
             62          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
             63      Governor concurring therein, urges the United States Congress to enact legislation that:
             64          1. affirms and clarifies that Congress and federal land management agencies recognize
             65      their historic role in establishing land grants to the states for the support of educational and
             66      other public institutions;
             67          2. establishes that the United States, through Congress and federal land management
             68      agencies, as settlor of the land grant trusts, has a continuing affirmative obligation to assist the
             69      states in fulfilling the purposes of the various grants;
             70          3. establishes that rationalizing the land ownership pattern to reposition lands more
             71      suited to the management mandates of each owner is, in and of itself, an important public
             72      purpose equivalent in character to all of the other management mandates required of federal
             73      land management and federal resource regulatory agencies pursuant to the Federal Land Policy
             74      and Management Act of 1976;
             75          4. establishes that land exchanges between the United States and the respective states
             76      are transactions between coequal sovereign governments and require standards of
             77      prioritization, evaluation, and processing that may differ from those involving private parties;
             78          5. eliminates unnecessary obstacles to federal-state land exchanges contained in the
             79      Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 by:
             80          a. creating the presumption in federal environmental and land use planning that
             81      state-federal land exchanges are in the public interest;
             82          b. requiring federal land management agencies to give priority to land exchanges that
             83      remove state land grant properties from areas of federal land or resource management
             84      provisions that restrict the state's ability to generate revenue; and
             85          c. setting a goal for federal land management agencies and managers of state land
             86      exchange proposals to work from the feasibility study through the transaction-closing phases of
             87      state-federal land exchanges in two years or less.
             88          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the President of
             89      the United States, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United


             90      States House of Representatives, the United States Secretary of the Interior, the Principal
             91      Deputy Director of the Bureau of Land Management, and the members of Utah's congressional
             92      delegation.




Legislative Review Note
    as of 2-13-14 9:48 AM


Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel


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