By Robert Robb | The Arizona Republic
In Arizona, the state taking over federal lands is considered a kook idea.
And in Arizona, it has been a kook idea. In 2012, lawmakers referred a ballot proposition flatly asserting that the state had sovereignty over federal lands within our boundaries. Voters rejected it by a 2 to 1 margin.
But the idea of the federal government transferring the lands it is supposed to be managing for multiple purposes, excluding areas set aside solely for conservation, isn’t inherently kooky. The non-kooky case is made in a paper published this week by the American Legislative Exchange Council, “Federally Managed Lands in the West.”
