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Federal‑land jurisdiction study update: commission says ownership not same as governing jurisdiction
Summary
Commission members said an updated legal study finds federal ownership of land within a state does not automatically confer governing jurisdiction. The commission plans a report at its June meeting and will distribute the study.
The Utah Commission on Federalism told members on May 13 that it commissioned and received an update to a long‑standing legal inventory about federal land and jurisdiction, and that the updated analysis will be presented at the commission’s June meeting.
Gus Harb, legal counsel for the commission, said the state had commissioned an updated study that follows an Eisenhower‑era inventory and a 1962 General Services Administration report. Harb said the updated report examines where the federal government’s land ownership does and does not equate to governing jurisdiction.
"The upshot of the study is that while the federal government may own land within a state most for the most part, it is not the governing jurisdiction," Harb said. He told the commission the lead attorney who completed the update could not attend the May meeting for medical reasons but will appear in June to present the full report and provide copies to members.
Commission members asked for wide distribution of the updated study once it is finalized. Senator Kevin Stratton and others said the updated inventory and legal analysis will be important background for the National Federalism Initiative and for state strategies involving public lands and intergovernmental disputes.
The commission noted that the report is part of a broader effort to identify legal lines of authority that the commission and its UVU partners will use when developing training and interstate materials under HB 488.
