A Public Lands Commission - Who Knew?

Rep. Scott Jensen's motion to direct the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands to sell its land holdings to the DNR's stewardship program and give the proceeds to schools, libraries and local governments caused lengthy debate in the Joint Finance Committee.

The BCPL's trust fund owns nearly 78,000 acres in 34 counties, with about 69,000 acres concentrated in nine northern counties. (The motion was presented in lieu of Budget Paper 165).

Representatives from the Fiscal Bureau said a valuation has never been done on the land and refused to give an estimate of how much the land would cost.

Jensen said passing the motion, tantamount to a major policy shift, would end the debate between the JFC and the governor over the state's stewardship program. The motion also directs the DNR to explore selling the properties to private interests, with the exception of some environmentally sensitive holdings that would remain in the stewardship program. Jensen said the sale makes good environmental and fiscal sense for the state.Democrats pointed out that under the Constitution, the agency could ignore the directive. But Jensen said if the directive is ignored, the agencies would have to answer to the Legislature and taxpayers for its inaction.

He said the directive "represents property tax relief." The reason: the BCPL doesn't pay local property taxes while the stewardship program would.Rep. Mark Pocan said shifting the land ownership would tie up stewardship funds, limit hunting and fishing money, and merely add red tape.

"For people who say they don't like bureaucracy, they sure seem to like bureaucracy when it comes to raiding the stewardship fund," Pocan said.By way of brokering a deal on the issue, Jensen and Rep. Dean Kaufert said they promise not alter the governor's stewardship funding request."We will leave stewardship alone," Kaufert pledged.The motion passed 10-6, with GOP Sens. Robert Cowles and Joe Liebham voting with the Dems.