To my colleagues in the Senate from the East, it may be hard to grasp just how deeply federal overreach affects daily life in Utah. In some counties, more than 90% of the land is owned and controlled, not by local leaders or communities, but by a distant, federal government. I saw this again this week in Morgan County. Ninety percent of their land is federally owned. As a former mayor, I know what it means to try to balance a budget, build a tax base, and grow responsibly. But how do you grow a community, how do you create opportunity, when 90% of your land doesn’t generate property tax? How do you plan for the future when most of your land is off-limits by federal decree?
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