After three years of negotiation and five months of drafting, a coalition has presented Governor Napolitano and legislative leaders with a package of proposed state trust land changes.

The proposed legislation is intended to help preserve open space, produce more money for schools and improve rangeland management, supporters said. State Trust Land is distinguished from the public land such as parks or national forests because all uses of the land must benefit the 14 Trust beneficiaries.

Portions of the plan would have to be submitted for voter approval as state constitutional amendments. That could be done by the Legislature, possibly during a special session that runs concurrently with lawmakers’ 2004 regular session.

Besides approving changes in how school trust land is managed, leased and sold, voters also would be asked to decide whether to designate large swaths of trust land as open space that would be preserved without compensation to the trust.

Coalition members include educators, developers, ranchers, homebuilders, local governments and conservationists.

Trust land in both urban and rural areas of the state has been a subject of political debate and legal combat in Arizona because of controversy over sprawl, grazing and education.

9.3 Million Acres Of Land Left

Arizona has about 9.3 million acres of trust land left of 10 million acres it received at statehood. The federal government gave the property to the state on the condition that income from the sale and leasing of trust land be used only for education and other specified public purposes. Similar land grants were made to other Western states.

If voters approve the constitutional changes, congressional action then would be sought to change the federal law that gave the land trust to the state in 1912.

Ed Fox, a utility executive and former environmental regulator who organized the coalition, told state leaders earlier this year that the group is willing to consider changes but that members agreed to not seek revisions “except through this consensus process.”

Spokesmen House Speaker Jake Flake, R-5, and Senate President Ken Bennett, R-1, said the leaders and their staffs would review the proposal.

“It’s just a behemoth,” said Mr. Bennett’s spokesman Nick Simonetta.

A Napolitano aide said the governor “is generally supportive of the terms of the agreement.”

“Certainly there’s three years of work here and it’s encouraging,’’ said Lori Faeth, Ms. Napolitano’s policy adviser for natural resources. Ms. Faeth said March 30 that the governor’s office is still reviewing the document, delivered to her earlier this year.

“It is now my understanding that the coalition will be putting forth new language so at this point we want to make sure we’re reviewing the most up-to-date language.”

The governor continues to be encouraged that this will all work out,” she said.

The proposed package includes an 11-page constitutional amendment that the Legislature would put on the November ballot for voter approval. Those provisions include:

• Making it easier for cities to obtain trust land for conservation.

• Authorizing trades of trust land with federal, state or local governments for conservation purposes.

• Creating a new oversight board for the Land Department.

• Permitting longer grazing leases under certain conditions.

• Using up to 15 per cent of annual trust land income to manage the trust.

Separately, voters would be asked to authorize setting aside approximately 290,000 acres of trust land for preservation as open space without reimbursement to the trust.

The package also proposes that the Legislature itself approve an 87-page packet of changes to state statutes.

The issue has divided the conservation community, with some groups criticizing the proposal’s grazing provisions and the proposed authorization for exchanges of public land.

Arizona voters have rejected previous proposals to authorize trades.

FYI

The state land department’s Web site is www.land.state.az.us —