Committee approves joint resolution urging Congress to dispose federal public lands to Wyoming

Senator Eyde told the Agriculture, State & Public Lands & Water Resources Committee that Senate Joint Resolution 2 seeks congressional action to “dispose of the federal title in those public lands and subsurface resources in this state,” invoking Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution and Wyoming’s act of admission.

The resolution directs the Wyoming legislature to ask Congress, by Oct. 1, 2025, to confirm an intent to transfer federal title to lands and resources it holds within Wyoming so the state may “obtain full admission into the Union . . . upon an equal footing” with the original states. The resolution explicitly contemplates negotiations that would preserve lands of national interest; the sponsor said that national parks and monuments could be the subject of separate disposition discussions.

Testimony showed a wide range of views and detailed fiscal concerns.…