"*                      S.J.R. 27 of the 67th Session" 


Senate Joint Resolution No. 27--Committee on Natural 
    Resources

                 January 16, 1995
                 _____________

    Referred to Committee on Natural Resources


SUMMARY--Proposes to amend ordinance of Nevada 
          constitution to repeal disclaimer of 
          interest of state in unappropriated public 
          lands. (BDR C-1002)

FISCAL NOTE:  Effect on Local Government: No.
              Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.



EXPLANATION--Matter in italics is new; matter in bra
ckets [ ] is material to be omitted.

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION--Proposing to amend the ordinance of the 
        Nevada constitution to repeal the disclaimer of interest of 
        the state in unappropriated public lands.


  WHEREAS, The State of Nevada has a strong 
moral claim upon the public land retained by the Federal 
Government within Nevada's borders; and
  WHEREAS, On October 31, 1864, the Territory of 
Nevada was admitted to statehood on the condition that it 
forever disclaim all right and title to unappropriated 
public land within its boundaries; and
  WHEREAS, Nevada received the least amount of 
land, 2,572,478 acres, and the smallest percentage of its 
total area, 3.9 percent, of the land grant states in the Far 
West admitted after 1864, while states of comparable 
location and soil, including Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, 
received approximately 11 percent of their total area in 
federal land grants; and
  WHEREAS, The State of Texas, when admitted to 
the Union in 1845, retained ownership of all unappropriated 
land within its borders; and
  WHEREAS, The federal holdings in the State of 
Nevada constitute 86.7 percent of the area of the state, and 
in Esmeralda, Lincoln, Mineral, Nye and White Pine counties 
the Federal Government controls from 97 to 99 percent of the 
land; and
  WHEREAS, The federal jurisdiction over the 
public domain is shared among several federal agencies or 
departments which causes problems concerning the proper 
management of the land and disrupts the normal relationship 
between a state, its residents and its property; and
  WHEREAS, The intent of the framers of the 
Constitution of the United States was to guarantee to each 
of the states sovereignty over all matters within its 
boundaries except for those powers specifically granted to 
the United States as agent of the states; and
  WHEREAS, The exercise of dominion and control 
of the public lands within the State of Nevada by the United 
States works a severe, continuous and debilitating hardship 
upon the people of the State of Nevada; now, therefore, be 
it
  RESOLVED BY THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF 
NEVADA, JOINTLY, That the ordinance of the 
constitution of the State of Nevada be amended to read as 
follows:
  In obedience to the requirements of an act of the Congress 
of the United States, approved March twenty-first, A.D. 
eighteen hundred and sixty-four, to enable the people of 
Nevada to form a constitution and state government, this 
convention, elected and convened in obedience to said 
enabling act, do ordain as follows, and this ordinance shall 
be irrevocable, without the consent of the United States and 
the people of the State of Nevada:
  First. That there shall be in this state neither slavery 
nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment 
for crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly 
convicted.
  Second. That perfect toleration of religious sentiment 
shall be secured, and no inhabitant of said state shall ever 
be molested, in person or property, on account of his or her 
mode of religious worship.
  Third. That the people inhabiting said territory do agree 
and declare, that [they forever disclaim all right and title 
to the unappropriated public lands lying within said 
territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole 
and entire disposition of the United States; and that] lands 
belonging to citizens of the United States, residing without 
the said state, shall never be taxed higher than the land 
belonging to the residents thereof; and that no taxes shall 
be imposed by said state on lands or property therein 
belonging to, or which may hereafter be purchased by, the 
United States, unless otherwise provided by the Congress of 
the United States.
And be it further
  RESOLVED, That the Legislature of the State of 
Nevada hereby urges the Congress of the United States to 
consent to the amendment of the ordinance of the Nevada 
constitution to remove the disclaimer concerning the right 
of the Federal Government to sole and entire disposition of 
the unappropriated public lands in Nevada; and be it further
  RESOLVED, That, upon approval and ratification 
of the amendment proposed by this resolution by the people 
of the State of Nevada, copies of this resolution be 
prepared and transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to 
the Vice President of the United States as presiding officer 
of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
and each member of the Nevada Congressional Delegation; and 
be it further
  RESOLVED, That this resolution becomes 
effective upon passage and approval, except that, 
notwithstanding any other provision of law, the proposed 
amendment to the ordinance of the constitution of the State 
of Nevada, if approved and ratified by the people of the 
State of Nevada, does not become effective until the 
Congress of the United States consents to the amendment or 
upon a legal determination that such consent is not 
necessary.

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