The rumor was true!

Last week, we wrote about a rumor we heard regarding an unexpected change regarding Senate Bill 1677.

Finally, the information has been made available online. If you haven't read the original SB 1677, you might not notice the difference. SB 1677 originally required a two-thirds approval for the sale of "ceded" lands. Media reports and capitol insiders suggested that a two-thirds approval is difficult to achieve so a two-thirds approval effectively prevents the sale of "ceded" lands. But recently, the State House of Representatives' Water, Land & Ocean Resources Committee (WLO) and the Judiciary Committee (JUD) have changed the language of SB 1677. Instead of requiring a two-thirds approval for the sale of lands, now, a two-thirds dis-approval is needed to stop the sale of lands. Below is the relevant changed language.

     (2) Making proposed sales or exchanges of state lands subject to legislative disapproval by:
          (A) The adoption of a resolution by a two-thirds majority vote of either the senate or the house of representatives; or
          (B) The adoption of a concurrent resolution passed by simple majority vote of both houses of the legislature.

This change in the House, after SB 1677 already passed the Senate, means that this bill will most likely need to be brought to conference for the Senate and House to discuss the bill, assuming SB 1677 is passed out of the House Finance Committee (FIN).

It is very disappointing that the two committees, WLO and JUD, changed the language. A good amount (the majority actually) of testimony supported 1677 before the language of a two-thirds majority dis-approval was made.

As of the time of this posting, SB 1677 has not yet been scheduled for a hearing with the FIN committee. We will keep you updated.