HB0204 | Trust Land Disposal Requirements

Description
General Description: 

This bill imposes conditions on the sale of school and institutional trust lands.

Highlighted Provisions: 

This bill:
12          ▸     requires the director of the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration to
13     invite input from local legislators before advertising a proposed sale of trust lands;
14          ▸     adds specific requirements regarding the timing of a proposed sale of more than
15     5,000 contiguous acres of trust lands;

Bill Details
Bill Number: 
HB0204
Year: 
2022
Status: 
House/ filed
Last Action: 
Mar 04, 2022
Sponsor
Representative
Casey Snider
Republican - District 5
Fiscal Note
Fiscal Note Amount: 
$0
None
View Fiscal Note
Utah PTA Response
Utah PTA Position
Oppose
Utah PTA Resolution: 
EDU 2015-1 | School Trust Lands
Impact on Children: 

1. The bill requires duplicative notification that will delay selling land at the optimal time for the maximum revenue.
2. The bill requires large land sales take place only in and around the yearly legislative session.
3. SITLA lands are NOT public lands. They belong to the beneficiaries. This bill directly introduces a political entity into an agency created to avoid political influence.

4. The "beneficiaries" of these trust lands are the children. This would negatively impact the ability to properly care for and manage these lands thereby decreasing the funds distributed to the children's education.

Commission: 
Trust Lands
Education
Utah PTA Public Policy Program
National PTA and Utah PTA Resolutions: 

That Utah PTA encourage State and local officials to take all necessary steps to assure that
management of the School Trust Lands is in accordance with trust duties and principles
including undivided loyalty to the beneficiaries, a duty to make trust property productive, a
duty to keep and render accounts, and a duty to exercise prudence and skill in administering
the trust, thereby obtaining much-needed revenue for Utah's public schools;