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Show Official Ballot Title: For Shall the Utah Constitution be amended to clarify the status, purposes, and beneficiaries of school and institutional lands held in trust by the state? O Against Q) Proposition No. 3 ACCEPTANCE OF TRUST LANDS RESOLUTION Votes cast by the members of the Legislature at the 1997 General Session on final passage: HOUSE (75 members): Yeas, 72; Nays, 0; Absent, 3. SENATE (29 members): Yeas, 22; Nays, 0; Absent, 7. Impartial Analysis Proposition 3 clarifies the status of school and institutional trust lands designated by Congress at statehood and other lands which may be added to them. It provides that those lands are to be held in trust for specified beneficiaries and purposes, and distinguishes those lands from other public lands held in trust by the state for other beneficiaries and purposes. state to support public schools, universities, and other facilities and institutions. Proposed changes Proposition 3 clarifies that lands granted under Sections 6, 8, and 12 of the Enabling Act, together with lands which may be added to them by purchase, exchange, or other means, are school and institutional trust lands, held in trust for the specific purposes and beneficiaries stated in those sections of the Enabling Act. This proposition reinforces that the purposes and beneficiaries stated in the Enabling Act apply to all those lands. Proposition 3 distinguishes those lands from other public lands held in trust for other beneficiaries and purposes. Current law The Utah Constitution presently provides that all lands that have been granted to the state by Congress and all lands acquired by other means are public lands of the state. All of these lands are held in trust for the people of the state for the respective purposes for which they have been granted or acquired. Some of those public lands are lands that were granted to the state under the Utah Enabling Act. The Enabling Act was passed by Congress in 1894 to establish the conditions under which Utah could achieve statehood. Under Sections 6, 8, and 12 of the Enabling Act, Congress granted specified parcels of land to the Effective Date Proposition 3 takes effect January Fiscal Impact Proposition 3 has no fiscal impact. 26 1, 1999. |