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U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon urges Utah senators to back school trust lands trades
Summary
Rep. Chris Cannon told the Utah Senate Jan. 21 that a school and institutional trust lands trade could create a large fund for schools, criticized appraisal processes he said block trades, and asked state lawmakers to help move a similar bill the House passed last year.
SALT LAKE CITY — U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon addressed the Utah State Senate on Jan. 21 and urged senators to support a proposal to consolidate and trade school and institutional trust lands to create a long-term funding source for education. Cannon said the House passed a similar measure last year and that, if implemented, the state could build a trust-fund resource comparable to New Mexico’s.
Cannon framed the effort as nonpartisan and centered on schoolchildren’s needs. “This is not a partisan issue — this is a school kids issue,” he told senators, and added that “The New Mexico School Trust Land Fund has 7 and a half billion dollars in it.” He said he expects to introduce a bill similar to last year’s and asked senators to cooperate with House members and federal partners.
The congressman criticized aspects of the appraisal process that he said have impeded trust-land trades, arguing some appraisers and oversight activity have effectively blocked transactions. “It’s ludicrous … the theory that we have a hundred million dollars worth of value in the shale oil” in the context of very large, long-term investment assumptions, Cannon said, urging a move to an “equivalent value” trade model rather than detailed multi-appraisal procedures.
Senators pressed Cannon on motives and mechanics. A senator asked why opponents resist land trades; Cannon responded that motives vary, including bureaucratic resistance by some federal appraisers, and said the Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management are engaged in reviews of the process. He also told senators his Washington staff stands ready to assist Utah lawmakers on rural and technical issues.
Cannon said Senate allies in Congress and state senators (he named senators who would work on the measure in the upper chamber) would coordinate to move the issue forward. He closed by reiterating his availability and offering his office and staff as resources to the Legislature.
No formal vote on a Senate measure was recorded during the visit; the exchange was a presentation and question-and-answer session, after which the Committee of the Whole was dissolved and the Senate recessed.
