Chaffetz, Polis Team Up for Bipartisan Lands Legislation

Press Release

Today Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) teamed up to sponsor bipartisan legislation aimed at facilitating state trust land exchanges for parcels locked inside designated wilderness and other federal conservation areas. The Advancing Conservation and Education (ACE) Act helps equalize funding for education in public land states by enhancing the revenue-generating capacity of lands designated for the purpose of funding education.

"Western states are at a considerable disadvantage in funding public education," said Chaffetz. "State trust lands were intended to help equalize the imbalance between public land states and non-public land states, but too many parcels can no longer be used for their intended purpose. Creating a mechanism to enable land exchanges is an important step toward giving children in Western states the same resources available to kids who live east of the Mississippi."

"Our beautiful public lands are the splendor of Colorado and the West. We need to make sure that states can use public land trusts as efficiently as possible to reap the maximum benefits for school children while protecting the beautiful landscapes of the West. This bill is a win-win. It supports our schools and maintains land conservation efforts," said Polis.

BACKGROUND ON STATE TRUST LANDS

Upon statehood, all states except the original 13 colonies were granted land trusts for the purpose of generating revenue for public education. Today, approximately 447 million acres of these lands continue to be managed by our states as they generate over $3.8 billion annually for our school children. Over several decades, many of these lands have been swallowed up in federal conservation designations that encase the lands and preclude development or even access.

WHAT THE BILL DOES

To remedy the problem of encased state trust lands, the ACE Act does the following:

Allows states to apply to the Secretary of Interior to relinquish state trust lands located inside a federal conservation area, and select replacement lands of equal value from otherwise unappropriated public lands within the respective states;
Once approved, the transaction will follow an expedited process to insure these transactions occur in a streamlined manner;
Lands which may be relinquished by the state must be within a federal conservation area under a one of the designations defined in the bill;
These transactions must be for equal value. Costs of these transactions will be shared equally between the State and the Secretary.
Public notice and opportunity for comment on proposed conveyances is required, as is analysis of state selections under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Grazing rights are grandfathered unless underlying lands are subsequently sold, and appurtenant water rights are conveyed with the lands.
The Act does not alter the treaty rights of any Indian tribe or affect land held in trust by the Secretary for any Indian tribe.

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