A comparison of three state agency practices in the disposition of state trust lands and recommendations to improve same.

摘要

After 1803, the federal government occupied vast western land tracts that were acquired by purchase, treaty, or conquest. Rather than making money grants at statehood, the central government transferred land to newly formed states. These lands were to be sold and the proceeds used to fund internal state operations.;State and federal land acts may state disposition methods or trust standards for these lands. Arizona and New Mexico have the strongest restrictions, in that land can only be sold at public auction for no less than its appraised value. Arizona cannot exchange land with the federal government; Colorado and Utah exchange state trust lands under their flexible statutory and administrative codes.;Because these federal land grants occurred in a checkerboard fashion, sections were not contiguous to one another. Some trust lands were and remain located within lands reserved by Congress for other federal purposes, previously granted for mining purposes, or occupied by settlers.;Trust lands within federal lands create problems for state trust land administrators. Between governments, policies and management philosophies may differ and access to the other government's lands may be difficult. Selling these state trust lands subject to intergovernmental impediments decreases the value of a state's lands and increases the difficulty of managing them.;Without exchange authority, acreage cannot be effectively managed or disposed of at reasonable values. Arizona's disposition philosophy of revenue maximization by auction is inconsistent with the contemporary disposition philosophies of Utah or Colorado. These states have flexible regulatory, statutory, or constitutional provisions guiding the disposition of their trust lands. With exchange authority, Colorado and Utah can consolidate noncontiguous sections to efficiently block, manage, and sell their lands. Arizona, without exchange authority, can only dispose of "infill" lands by public auction to the highest bidder.;This dissertation will show that Arizona should amend its state constitution, statutory scheme, and administrative code to allow exchanges with the federal government, allow greater beneficiary and public participation in the state trust land process, and allow different transaction types.