On the recordDecember 19, 2018
I find it unfortunate that the addition of two words is somehow unacceptable to the Members of this body--two words. They are two words, by the way, that would put Utah in the same category as Alaska and Wyoming. What do those States have in common? They both have repeatedly been victims of the Antiquities Act. You see, in every single State from Colorado to the west of Colorado, the Federal Government owns at least 15 percent of the land. In many of those States, it is much more than 15 percent of the land. In my State, it is two-thirds of the land--about 67 percent. What that means is that we have to get permission from the Federal Government to do just about everything. What that also means is that our schools are underfunded--everything from fire, search, rescue, education, local governance. All of these budgets are underfunded as a result of the fact that most of the land is owned by the Federal Government. We can't tax that land. We receive pennies on the dollar for a program called payment in lieu of taxes. It is pennies on the dollar because most of our land is not ours. Most of our land cannot be developed privately.…
