# Plain Language Summary: Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration Exchange Act of 2023

This bill allows the federal government and the State of Utah to swap certain pieces of land with each other. Specifically, it approves an agreement between the U.S. Department of Interior, Utah's School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (which manages land that generates money for Utah's schools), and the state to trade federal land for state-managed land. The bill essentially says Congress agrees this land swap is a good idea and gives it the official green light to move forward.

The actual land parcels involved are detailed in a formal agreement dated March 17, 2023, but the bill doesn't spell out exactly which pieces of land are being traded—that information is in separate documents that will be available for public inspection at the Bureau of Land Management offices. The two sides have 45 days after this bill becomes law to complete the initial land transfers. If the lands being swapped don't have equal value, the bill requires them to figure out how to make up the difference, either by adding more land or making cash adjustments. They have 18 months to get professional appraisals done to determine the actual value of what's being traded.

The bill also includes some technical provisions about mineral rights and mining claims on the federal land being transferred. It protects certain water supply lands near Sunnyside, Utah by excluding specific parcels from the swap. Once Utah receives federal land through this exchange, that land becomes permanently protected from future mining or mineral leasing. For most people in Utah, this mainly affects how certain public lands are managed going forward, though the bill is designed to benefit Utah's school trust fund by giving the state control over lands that can generate revenue for education.

Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration Exchange Act of 2023

Curtis, John R.

Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration Exchange Act of 2023 This bill ratifies an agreement between the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, the state of Utah, and the Department of the Interior for the exchange of certain federal and state lands in Utah. The bill provides for the equalization of values of such lands. The bill provides for the withdrawal of <ul> <li>federal land to be conveyed to Utah from mineral entry prior to the exchange, and</li> <li>state land conveyed to the United States from all forms of appropriation and disposal.</li> </ul>