Bill Description: Senate Bill 1251 would preserve the property rights of people or businesses that hold permits or private rights on federal land should the state land board acquire the land upon which they hold those permits or rights.

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Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?

Senate Bill 1251 would amend Section 58-138, Idaho Code, to clarify that the state land board may not make an exchange involving federally managed lands "except upon the written agreement of every permittee and private right holder within such federally managed lands." The bill would also require that "such agreement, once obtained, must be kept on file at the department indefinitely."

The bill further states that "subsequent permits must automatically be offered to a former federal permittee or lessee consistent with any grazing preference held by such permittee or lessee on federally managed lands that were acquired through land exchange."

The purpose of this bill is to protect the property rights inherent in "grazing preferences, mining claims, rights-of-way, water rights, or other occupancy or use rights" of a private right holder. 

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