House: No 2010 hearing on Idaho land sale amendments

BOISE - The House won't hold hearings on proposed amendments to Idaho's Constitution that would have given Department of Lands officials more flexibility to sell large parcels of state- or university-owned land without holding a public auction.

The decision Monday means the earliest the amendments could go before voters is 2012, not this November, as previously had been planned.

The demise of the amendments helped clear away one of the biggest remaining hurdles for lawmakers to adjourning the 2010 Legislature.

Both cleared the two-thirds threshold in the Senate, but the Intermountain Forest Association, a timber industry group, raised objections. Jim Riley, executive director of the group, feared the measures could inadvertently undo long-standing Idaho requirements that timber sales be done at public auction, which he says protect his members.

That's despite assurances from state Department of Lands officials that timber auctions are required by a 1907 law, not the state Constitution.

"There were some ramifications to this that were not fully understood," Riley said. "If this opened the door in the future for a timber sales that were negotiated, in some closed fashion, rather than a public auction, our folks who purchase those sales would be quite concerned. It's a fairness issue."

Department of Land Director George Bacon insisted the proposed changes affected land sales, not timber sales.

The 103-year-old law would have to be changed separately before the state could sell timber from Idaho's forests through a process other than auction, he said.

"I think the timber folks felt the Constitution controlled, but it doesn't," Bacon said.

These two amendments got a 5-0 endorsement this month from the Idaho State Lands Board, which consists of the governor, secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general, controller and public schools chief, who by constitutional mandate must manage Idaho's endowment land for maximum returns to public schools.

In addition to dumping the auction requirement, they would have let individual buyers purchase more than 320 acres of endowment land and 160 acres of university property at one time, something forbidden now.

But they were only introduced in the Idaho Senate only last week and hadn't undergone sufficient public vetting, House lawmakers feared - especially in light of the timber industry's concerns.

"That's a very serious matter when you're talking about the sale of state land," said Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Bone and House State Affairs Committee chairman. "At this point in the session, we don't want to make a mistake."

Had they passed legislative and voter muster, they could have given Idaho's lands agency more flexibility to address disputes over cottage sites on Payette Lake and Priest Lake, Bacon said.

In addition, he'd like to dispose of a 400-acre parcel between the resort towns of Ketchum and Hailey, called Buttercup, that's no longer being used for grazing and would make a prime spot for a vacation development.

Under the current rules, however, Idaho is hindered from entering partnerships with developer to complete infrastructure or even build homes that he says could maximize returns to the state.

"We're leaving about 30 percent of the value of some land transactions on the table, because of the requirement to do public auctions," he said. "If we'd had this authority, Buttercup would have been in the bank right now."

By waiting until at least 2012 before these measures go to voters, Bacon fears Idaho could miss out on an economic recovery that buoys real-estate prices for state land targeted for disposal.

"It just puts it off, it delays income to the state," he said.