Jabbing a stick toward the eye of the Trump Administration, the California Legislature and Governor have proclaimed that the Federal Government, as of the first of this year, may not transfer federal property in California without the permission of the State. The State Lands Commission is delegated the authority to allow or disallow federal land dispositions. The law’s principal provisions are found in Public Resources Code Section 8560.
More specifically, the new law decrees that federal land conveyances are void if not previously approved by the State Lands Commission; it requires the Lands Commission to work with other state agencies to prevent “future unauthorized conveyances of federal public lands, or any change in federal public land designation”; and it provides severe civil penalties for persons, like citizens taking conveyances from the United States pursuant to contracts, who do not first offer the lands to the State.
