2003 House Bill 5313 ↩

House Roll Call 299: Passed

To revoke the reversion clauses in most tax-reverted land conveyed by the state to school districts and certain land conveyed to local governments, which would allow these entities to sell the land. The reversion clause provides that if the land is not being used for public purposes, ownership reverts to the state. The bill would divide proceeds from any resulting land sales equally between the state and the selling entity. The state's portion would go first to a fund to pay for future fire protection grants to local governments that have state-owned facilities, and only be used for the other proposed purposes when this is fully funded. The balance would be divided between the school aid fund, the state agricultural preservation fund, and a new fund for annual payments in lieu of property taxes (PILT) made by the state to local governments on state-owned land. The bill would affect 75,272 acres came into government possession as tax-reverted property, but would not apply to waterfront property.