Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

LB1247                                                                               LB1247
                                                                                 2024
                               LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
                            ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
                                     SECOND SESSION
                      LEGISLATIVE BILL 1247
      Introduced by Hansen, 16.
      Read first time January 16, 2024
      Committee: Natural Resources
  A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to the Board of Educational Lands and Funds;
      to amend section 72-204, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, and
      sections 37-201 and 72-232, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
      2022; to require that certain school land owned or leased by the
     board be open to the public for hunting as prescribed; to provide
      powers and duties to the Game and Parks Commission relating to the
     use of   such school land for hunting;   to require the Board of
      Educational Lands and Funds and the Game and Parks Commission to
      enter into an agreement relating to such school land use and the
     proceeds from the purchase of   access stamps;   to harmonize
      provisions; and to repeal the original sections.
  Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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LB1247                                                                      LB1247
                                                                        2024
         Section 1. Section 37-201, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
  2022, is amended to read:
        37-201 Sections 37-201 to 37-811 and 37-1501 to 37-1510 and section
    2 of this act and the State Park System Construction Alternatives Act
    shall be known and may be cited as the Game Law.
        Sec. 2.   (1) The commission shall make available on the Nebraska
    Game and Parks website a map of the school lands owned or leased by the
     Board of Educational Lands and Funds that are available for walk-in-
     access hunting pursuant to section 5 of this act.
         (2)(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b) of this subsection, any
 person desiring to hunt on school land owned or leased by the Board of
    Educational Lands and Funds and available for hunting in accordance with
     this section and section 5 of this act shall obtain an access stamp. Such
 person shall apply to the commission and pay a fee established by the
    commission for the access stamp of not less than twenty-five dollars and
     not more than fifty dollars for Nebraska residents and not less than
     fifty dollars and not more than one hundred dollars for nonresidents.
         (b) Hunters with written permission to hunt on such school land from
  a tenant who is leasing such school land shall not be required to obtain
  an access stamp.
         (3) The commission shall enter into an agreement with the Board of
     Educational Lands and Funds to share the proceeds of such access stamps.
         (4) Any officer authorized to enforce the Game Law may, at any time,
  enter the school lands owned or leased by the Board of Educational Lands
  and Funds that is available for walk-in-access hunting pursuant to this
  section and section 5 of this act for the purpose of enforcing the Game
  Law.
        (5) The commission may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to
    carry out this section.
         Sec. 3. Section 72-204, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
  amended to read:
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LB1247                                                                              LB1247
                                                                                2024
         72-204 The Board of Educational Lands and Funds shall cause school
  land to be classified for rental purposes (1) at least once each five
  years, (2) each time that the land is leased or that an assignment of a
  lease is made, and (3) when the board deems it to be in the best interest
 of the state. The leasing of the land shall be regulated by sections
    72-232 to 72-239 and section 5 of this act. When a lease is offered for
     sale, the new rental shall be made public. When the board has ordered the
  reclassification of any of the school lands in any county, it shall
 prescribe the method and promulgate rules governing the classification of
     educational lands. It shall have a classification of all the educational
     lands in the county prepared by a competent person, who shall make a
  detailed field examination of each forty-acre tract of educational lands
  for the purpose of obtaining information as to the type and rating of the
  soil, its adaptability, the topographical character of the land, and the
  location and number of acres of each type. His or her report of such
  field examination shall be prepared in the form of a detailed map with
 complete explanations and shall be filed with the board. The board may
     employ private appraisal firms to aid it in determining the value of
  educational lands.
         Sec.   4.   Section   72-232,   Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
     2022, is amended to read:
         72-232 The Board of Educational Lands and Funds shall have authority
     to adopt such rules and regulations as it shall deem necessary in the
  leasing of school lands and to prescribe such terms and conditions of the
  lease, not inconsistent with sections 72-205, 72-232 to 72-235, 72-240.02
     to 72-240.05, and 72-242 and section 5 of this act, as it shall deem
  necessary to protect the interests of the state. The board shall adopt
  and enforce a soil conservation program. Failure of the lessee to utilize
  the land for the purpose for which the land was leased or to observe and
 carry out soil conservation requirements as provided in the rules and
    regulations of the board shall be cause for cancellation of the lease.
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LB1247                                                                                            LB1247
                                                                                              2024
        Sec. 5.       (1) Beginning October 1, 2024, and subject to the Game Law,
    as old leases expire and new leases are entered into, the Board of
    Educational Lands and Funds shall require that school land with a public
    road access point that is owned or leased by the board, be made available
    for hunting in accordance with section 2 of this act if it is not used
    for (a) wind or solar energy or (b) recreation. The use of such school
    land for hunting shall be walk-in access only.
        (2)     The board shall provide information to   the Game and Parks
    Commission relating to the location of any such land available for walk-
     in-access hunting and provide updates as   necessary for purposes of
  assisting the commission with providing a map to the public and enforcing
  the Game Law in accordance with section 2 of this act.
         (3) The board may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to
     carry out this section with respect to public safety and land use.
         Sec.     6.     Original section    72-204,    Reissue Revised Statutes of
    Nebraska, and sections 37-201 and 72-232, Revised Statutes Cumulative
 Supplement, 2022, are repealed.
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Statutes affected: 
Introduced: 37-201, 72-204, 72-232