Arizona Governor Vetoes Bill for Return of Federal Lands

05/15/12

On Monday, Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona vetoed a bill that required the federal government to turn over millions of acres of federal land to the state. Arizona lawmakers had been up in arms for quite some time against federal ownership of the vast areas of land within the state, a move popularly called the “sagebrush revolt.” The veto of the Governor is seen as a surprise blow to the movement by many.

The bill, which had cleared the Arizona legislature last month, demanded that federal agencies return the titles to 48,000 square miles of land to state ownership by 2015. Governor Brewer, known as a Republican stalwart presiding over a Republican-dominated legislature did not agree with the general opinion of lawmakers and said that the legislation failed to “identify an enforceable cause of action to force federal lands to be transferred to the state.”

All in the last week in the last month in the last 3 months in the last 6 months in the last year

Search Career Advice

She expressed herself strongly against the bill and said, “I am also concerned about the lack of certainty this legislation could create for individuals holding existing leases on federal lands. Given the difficult economic times, I do not believe this is the time to add to that uncertainty.”

The SB 1332 is similar to a law recently signed in Utah following a Republican drive to reduce federal ownership of land in the West.

• Search Legal Jobs
• Search Articles
• Employer Listing

United States

Search jobs

All in the last week in the last month in the last 3 months in the last 6 months in the last year

Search Career Advice

Select In-House Law Firms Government Recruiters Public Interest

Search Employer

Even though experts have warned that Utah's law would likely result in costly legal battles where ultimately the state would lose, the lawmakers of Utah hold that the state has sufficient rights to reclaim ownership of the land. They hold so because of poor federal funding for education and because by the original agreements according to which Utah became a part of the United States, the federal government has the power to pay for education by transferring title of lands owned by it. Hence, the lawmakers at Utah hold that reduction in federal funding for education and accompanying hurt to the society can be remedied if federal government chose to complement and fill the funding deficit by transfer of lands to the state.

The moves in the states like Utah and Arizona follow years of frustration at the workings of the federal government's Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management. Widely held as the sagebrush rebellion and aimed at wresting back state land from the hands of the federal government and subsequent control over natural resources, the movement definitely suffered a setback by Brewer's veto on Monday.

In one way or the other, the federal government owns at least 42 percent of all the land in Arizona and there is great indignation among the local populace. Al Melvin, a Republican state senator who sponsored the bill told the media, “It amazes me that she would mention employment when the radical … policies of the federal agencies have stifled and almost killed the lumber industry, the mining industry and cattle grazing on federal lands.”

Click here to find legal jobs in UT.