Committee advances bill to grant perpetual easements for county and municipal roads across state land

CHEYENNE — The Agriculture, State & Public Lands & Water Resources Committee advanced House Bill 219 on a committee vote after testimony from the bill sponsor, state land officials and local stakeholders about dozens of undocumented county and municipal roads that cross state trust lands.

Rep. Tony Locke, sponsor of House Bill 219, told the committee the bill “simplif[ies]” the process for county and municipal roads and aims to resolve longstanding confusion where roads exist without documented easements. Locke said the proposal would grant “a perpetual easement for a right of way over and across any state or school land … for county roads and municipal roads that go over and across state land or school land that are established before 01/01/2025.”

The bill also directs that “no fee, charge, assessment, or other costs shall be imposed on county, city, or users of municipal roads … for the perpetual easement” if counties and municipalities submit required documentation within the statutory window. Locke and others described the measure as a cleanup effort to avoid situations in which private users or developers were unexpectedly billed for easements that should have been documented as county or municipal rights.

Jason Crowder, interim director of the Office of State Lands and Investments (OSLI), explained the agency’s existing easement process and rationale for fees. “State lands cannot be condemned or you can't adversely possess state lands to put a road on,” Crowder said, and added that easements are granted by the Board of Land Commissioners under statute and rule. He said OSLI typically charges market rates for easements and that the board has offered reduced terms for roads built prior to 1974: “the market rate … is about $2,400 per acre” on average, and the board has reduced charges for certain older roads to “$10 an acre.”

Crowder told the committee the office has already begun compiling an inventory of county roads crossing state sections and expected that inventory to be available to counties. He described the bill’s timetable provisions as intended to allow counties time to gather documentation and for the board to process grants on its bimonthly meeting schedule; the office requested changing a 60‑day processing deadline in the draft to 90 days and the sponsor included that change.

Operators and local officials who had direct experience with the easement process testified in favor of the bill. Tom Van Cleef, an oilfield operator from Natrona County who described the road at the center of an earlier dispute, said the measure “cleans up and streamlines the approval for permanent easements” and would not affect private road use agreements he has with a surface owner. Natrona County Commissioner Dave North told the committee most county roads in his county predate statehood and said his county’s typical easement width is 64 feet (fence to fence) and road surfacing is generally about 30 feet.

Committee members discussed a temporary repeal provision that would let the easement waiver expire after the cleanup period. The sponsor and OSLI staff said the temporary window (the engrossed draft sets deadlines in a multi‑year window ending in early 2030 and included a proposed repeal) is intended to let counties submit documentation for historic roads; after the window expires, standard fees and rules would apply for any subsequently undocumented roads or roads created after Jan. 1, 2025.

Committee action: the committee adopted a technical amendment from Legislative Service Office, heard and approved a motion to add a repealer (move to repeal added statutory section 36‑9‑121 on 07/01/2030), and advanced HB 219 as amended. Roll call in committee recorded affirmative votes by Senator Ide, Senator McEwen, Senator Pearson and Chairman French; Senator Crago was excused. The committee’s tally recorded four ayes for committee passage.

Ending: With committee approval, HB 219 moves to the next legislative stage with a requirement that counties and municipalities compile and submit required documentation to the Office of State Lands and Investments in order to secure the no‑fee perpetual easements described in the bill.