S.B. 44 Statewide Resource Management Plan Amendments: transcript

Thank you. Can I, I don't know the Time. Got a hand out there. It looks like a big one. I don't know. Keep me, I Do you have a digital version? All get one.

state Resource Management Plan amendment. Thank you so very much. I'm grateful to be joined here by this great copilot. I'll let the introduction come in her, in her voice to you. Uh, but this is, uh, On the cover, you see draft. And the reason it's draft is because this, uh, there's been some changes. If you open the, the, the next cover, hopefully if we pass this out, you can tear that draft off. And then you'll have the 2026 State Resource management plan, which is a significant and important, uh, document that we have in terms of managing and caring for all the resources in our state. As you open the next turn, that, uh, page that doesn't have draft on it over, you'll see a whole host of different resources that this covers. Genesis of this came many years ago when we were meeting with the all the county commissioners with our, it's now our federalism commission. But at that point it was the, uh, commission with stewardship of public lands, asking them, tell us about the health access and, and utilization of our, of the public lands in your county. And there was just a one of those, uh, a lot of challenges and, and concern with the state of affairs somewhat similar to the, in the Declaration of Independence almost, you know, the, the, the, the, the listing of the gr the, the, the offenses of the colonies against the king. There was a comment made in that meeting. Defining comment said, you know, in federal statute, if you have a resource management plan, the federal agency has to give deference to that as long as it's possible. And to that point, there were two counties in the whole, all of the United States that had resource management plans. So we put in place a multi-year process to ensure that each county had their own resource management plan, went through a public hearings and adopted by the counties. And we did the same thing overall for the state. We funded ongoing funding to make sure it's updated and, and, and, uh, it's, it's available electronically. Uh, staff asked if we have electronic copy we sent, can we make sure they get a, a co for, for their notes? If you'll please you have that for the, for the, uh, record. Uh, but, uh, periodically their flip call, uh, works on updating. And there's been a lot of, uh, needed updates. And this is what this represents. There's several, I have a list of approximately 32, uh, different areas from economic considerations to mining and minerals to predator management and wetlands, wild horse burs. The bill itself is just, it's small 50 lines and, uh, very small change. It says, this bill takes effect May 6th, 2 20 26. And what it's doing is updating these changes that are recommended. Would you please share, uh, perspective and the process we went through, and then we'll open up for questions.

I'm Nicole Nissen. I'm the Planning Program Manager at the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office. And so every year we do update this plan. We work with all of the other state agencies. We update charts, tables, numbers, and if there's any policy needs or updates that we have, we do that. So some of the big highlights this year is in the energy section. We added, um, information on Operation Gigawatt in the land access. We added information on some of the most current RS 2, 4, 7, 7 rulings. Um, the outdoor recreation section we added quite a bit. Um, we added 10 outdoor outdoor recreation infrastructure needs. And then we highlighted some successes in that, that realm. And so that's, that's kind of what we did. But, you know, it's a really great opportunity to get to work with our, all of our other state agencies to make sure that we're, this is updated. Not every agency, especially federal agencies, update their plans regular. So we get to have the most current policies that we get to address the most pressing needs for our state. And so that's, that'll conclude my

Thank you. Oh, these Are, these plans are used oh, probably daily at our office. I mean, this is how federal agencies understand what the state's priorities are on public lands. They don't have to guess what, what we're gonna come to 'em and say is important to Utahans. They know right up front so that they can, as they're starting to develop a project or a plan, they can immediately know where, which direction Utah Utahns would like to go. And so we, we use this quite regular. We've used it with, um, forest planning efforts. So as the forests update their forest management plans, we use it there. Um, as we work with federal agencies on travel management planning, we work with them there. Um, I've even used it more recently on working with the BLM on camping designations in the San Rafael swell. So it's, I mean, this is almost, I, I mean, really what we use daily to help guide our efforts at our office.

Thank you. This, uh, chair and committee, as we look at this, oftentimes there's, there's a conflict of, uh, cont conflict of, of a vision of what we, we would desire. And certainly what this does is a well thought out, very intentional, uh, body of guidance and direction that is, is used ongoing as, as, uh, co interacts with our federal agency. It's certainly used by others as well I, in, in terms of, of guiding, directing the policy and how we effect. But the nice thing about it is, is it has, uh, it, it really has gone through a vetting process and, and creating, and this really, we're the only state, all 29 counties that have resource management, not only state, to my knowledge at this point, that has resource management plan. This is one of the key aspects of our infrastructure we put in place to, to care for and be wise stewards with that. We'll be glad to proceed as you wish.

That is correct. And I'll, I'll, I'll invite, uh, Ms. Nelson to, to respond as well. But the, I can think of, there's been a handful of years that we haven't done, there hadn't been a need for an update, but the last couple, three, four years, it has been on an annual basis.

Yes. And it, it's a key, key aspects. It needs to be a living, vibrant, uh, vision that, that we have. So please, would you Yeah, we're, we try to update it every year to make sure that we have the most current information and if there's any policy needs, you know, direction that you guys might have that we put into state, um, statute, make sure that the federal agencies know that. So yes, we do, we do look at the need for an update every year and most years we do.

Thank you, chair. I just have a procedural question with this bill. Do you end up having to come back every year to, to change the date?

And then there's, we, we summarize the list, but essentially by changing the date in, in the, in this bill, we're, we're, we're accepting this, uh, document as part of our, our, our, uh, policy here in the city of Utah. So every year we get this delivered to us. What a gift.

Thank you. I'd like to recommend that we, uh, I'd like to make a motion that we recommend SB 44, uh, favorably. Uh,

Thank you, chair. Thank you for the motion. And I, I do want to just pause and again, thank, uh, our Public Lines Coordinating Office act. Uh, I'll call manager. Nelson is very, uh, uh, kind and, and humble, but she really leads, has led the efforts here under the direction of the director, uh, reg Johnson and Deputy director and, and the whole team. But it's a great team that works on this and appreciate the work and the consideration of the committee. Thank you.

No, I'll, I'll just say that. Um, majority Leader Snyder just said it's not always this nice every year. So if, if you could like, just make sure that it's always this beautiful in the future, that'd be well appreciated. By all, it's gonna be disappointed. It's okay. I, I, I don't believe it. I think this is the standard of quality.

Thank you Mr. President. Uh, this bill, this piece of legislation comes from our Federalism commission. It's a, it's a recommended bill. As you look on your desk, you have what is called our State Resource Management Plan. This is a, a, an important living document that is, uh, frequently updated. We do it on an annual basis. Included in the document is the recommended amendments to the state of summary of the recommended amendments to the the State Resource Management Plan. As you open up the front, uh, cover, the reason it's a draft is because it's remains a draft until tell. And if we pass this s sp 44, but the, the front cover, the table of context contents has several different areas that articulate the great resources we have here in the state of Utah and what we intend to do with these resources. A resource management plan is very critical in federal code. It talks about if there is not a resource management plan in a specific area, the state that the federal agency on federally managed public lands can act as, as a please. But if there is a resource management plan, then there needs to be deference given to that plan. So this is a real important aspect is we deal with the amount of, uh, public lands that are managed by our federal counterpart. And also, I identifies what we're going to do with the, the state lands that the state manages. Uh, appreciate the opportunity to work with the good staff. Our, our Public Lands Coordinating Office. They do a great job with this. You can see it's very comprehensive. It's, uh, standard, it's a high water market. Our nation, uh, as as we look at managing our resources to have, have this here and appreciate, uh, any comments or questions at this point? Mr. President,

I'll waive, uh, summary and, uh, move the question.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. This may be one of the most difficult bills. We'll do all session. It just changes the date from 25 to 26. We update our, our, uh, resource management plan every year. We have a resource management plan that deals with how we we manage all the lands and resources in the state. We're the only state that does that. This just authorizes the plan for 2026. So Mr. Speaker with that? That's the, uh, that's the bill.