Arizona Land

Arizona Lands Must Be Restored to Arizona –

It is time for the Arizona legislature to come together and put forth legislation that the governor will sign, to begin the process of restoring to Arizona millions of acres now under the management and control of the federal government. As I stated while campaigning for the US Senate this past year, according to Article 1 Section 8 Clause 17 and Article 4 Section 3, the federal government has no business controlling state lands. We, as elected officials at the federal and state levels, must begin the process of restoring the millions of acres of Arizona land now under federal jurisdiction.

I believe that as elected state officials, we must be the leaders in several areas:

• We should meet with those who hold federal elected office and instruct them to begin the process of restoring our lands to US at the federal level. After all, they’re supposed to represent US, not rule US.
• We should immediately begin to draft legislation to pass and get the governor to sign, to start a process to reclaim our millions of acres. In addition, we should have Attorney General Tom Horne file a suit, as did Hawaii. The state of Hawaii won in 2009, getting their lands restored to them.

We also must begin informing all of our fellow citizens in Arizona of the problem and the benefits we’d receive by getting our lands back. Now to name a few, we’d be able to decide within our own state government agencies just where we can mine, harvest forests, improve lands for recreation and open other areas to be used for same. We’d also be able to put up some lands for sale for private development both by large companies and individuals. This would give us a larger tax base to pay off Arizona’s debt of over $5 Billion as well as improve our children’s educational system. The biggest benefit would be to remove the federal government’s control of our state’s future and of ours as well.

We as a state have rights, and we need to begin to exercise them. We have already seen how the federal government treats US when it comes to defending our border. This is an important issue, and only the first step in restoring to US our state’s sovereignty and rights.

This is only one of the issues I believe we need to address. I will work with officials in Arizona as well as other western states who have the same problem, such as Utah. I will also meet with those in Hawaii who have already done this successfully. Remember, we’re supposed to be a sovereign state. It’s time we begin to act like one.