On Thursday January 19th, I attended the Wyoming Public Lands Pint Night in Green River, WY. This evening consisted of an informational meeting followed by an open discussion on the Senate Joint Resolution No. SJ003 Bill on the Public Lands-constitutional amendment. Senators Eli Bebout and Larry Hicks have been the main drivers behind this bill mainly believed to be for transfer of mineral royalties and thinking that the federal agencies will sell off our public lands. The opinion from everyone that attended the event was that there is no worry that these lands will be sold but would need to worry if it every came into the hands of the state. This bill has been in three different legislation sessions and a study worth ~$75,000 was conducted to assess whether this bill had any grounds to move forward. The House of Representatives wanted it to be done to look at how our public lands are being managed by the feds that consist of BLM, the United States National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, the Fish and Wildlife Service under the Department of the Interior, and the United States Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture. I have attached what I believe is the study guidelines to assess the public lands.
http://legisweb.state.wy.us/InterimCommittee/2015/SFR-1202APPENDIX11.pdf
On Donald Trump's inauguration day, Wyoming Senate President Eli Bebout decided to not assign the bill to a committee. The Casper Star Tribute quoted Bebout saying people mistake the bill's intentions and it was meant to help manage the land better by giving it over to the state. Around 48% of Wyoming's public lands are managed and maintained by the federal government. One thing to think about is wildfires, if the federal government was taken away from maintaining them, Wyoming would go broke because the state does not have that kind of money and none of us want to loss our homes or scenery. I'm not saying to stop all wildfires because the land does not it but I am pretty sure you all know what I mean.
http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-senate-president-kills-public-lands-transfer-bill/article_88bfb04b-6449-539d-8e70-081d781da35d.html
Whatever you believe, time will only tell if this bill will come forth again and I feel that when it does things are going to happen fast. So we all need to keep our eyes and ears open and to keep sending emails to our Senators about how we feel. If you do happen to send an email remember to keep it clean, respectful, and to the point. From what I understand, the next time that this bill will be possibly proposed to be amended is for January 1, 2019.
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