Nevada senators submit bill to ask Congress to give state millions of acres of land
CARSON CITY — A resolution asking Congress to transfer 7.2 million acres of federal land to state control will be taken up again this session.
The Nevada Senate on Monday introduced Senate Joint Resolution 7 to request the transfer. The measure was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.
A similar resolution passed in 2015 with Republican support. The measure faces an uncertain future with Democrats in control of the Legislature.
The resolution says in part that “the paucity of state and private land in the State of Nevada severely constrains the size and diversity of the State’s economy.”
About 85 percent of Nevada is under the control of various federal agencies, with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management overseeing the largest share.
The Nevada Land Management Task Force in 2014 issued a report arguing that the state would benefit from such a transfer, although opponents of the idea disputed the findings and said Nevada could not afford to manage additional lands transferred from the federal government.
Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @seanw801 on Twitter.
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