The Legislature passed a bill aimed at preserving open spaces and farmland but failed to provide the $300,000 to implement it.
Senate Majority Leader Leonard Blackham, R-Moroni, would like that addressed in a special session. However, it is up to Gov. Mike Leavitt whether to put it on the agenda for a special session, and it's not certain yet that he will even sign the bill.Some conservationists say last-minute alterations made by the House may actually hamper preservation.
One provision in the final version of Senate Bill 48 mandates "no net loss of private ownership of land in the state in acreage and value."
"The way in which the no-net-loss policy is worded in the bill may create a disincentive for landowners who want to preserve their land," said Wendy Fisher of Utah Open Lands, a private conservation trust.
"It actually could limit conservation tools."
Blackham, who sponsored the bill, disagrees.
"I'm very comfortable with that position" against shrinking the inventory of privately owned land in Utah, he said Tuesday.
"Eighty percent of the land in the state is already owned by the government. It doesn't make any sense to eliminate more."
The bill sets up a trust fund from the sale of "surplus lands" owned by the state and other appropriations and donations.
The bill prohibits use of the money to purchase real property.
Blackham insists the fund still will promote preservation because its monies can be spent to help purchase "conservation easements" - or future development rights, thus ensuring that farmland and other open spaces will be protected.
Attorneys for Utah Open Lands believe the provision could be interpreted to ban purchase of conservation easements, which legally are considered real property, said Fisher.
"Until the conflicting legal and interpretation issues are dealt with, there are some things in this bill that could work against preserving even agricultural land," said Fisher, who served on a yearlong conservation task force headed by Blackham.
Fisher's nonprofit land trust, along with other conservation groups, endorsed Blackham's measure when it passed the Senate, but, she said, the House amendments undermined the purpose.
"The governor has been notified in the last couple of days of some of the concerns over the bill," said Leavitt spokeswoman Vicki Varela. "Changes were made very late in the session, and everybody needs some time to sort through what the implications are."