Legislative Briefing
The
Policy Implications to Nevada of Hage v. U.S.
March 5, 2003,
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Pinon Plaza
Resort (Best Western)
2171 Highway 50
East, Carson City
Briefing
Topics Include:
q
Review of the
Preliminary Decision in Hage v. U.S. and the January
29, 2002 Final Decision:
In its landmark Final Decision the Court ruled in its Findings of Fact that Plaintiffs “submitted
an exhaustive chain of title which showed that the plaintiffs and their
predecessors-in-interest had title to the fee lands…” The land policy
implications of this ruling are just being realized!
q
Property Law and
the Courts: Why
property cases fall under the jurisdiction of state courts and how the grazing permit is
used as the “hook” to bring them up to Federal District Court.
q
Jurisdiction on
Federal Land:
A discussion of the
limitations on federal law enforcement authority on federal land and why federal and state
laws do not provide for confiscation of livestock without due process of law and a court
order.
q
Definitions: What do “vested”, “title”,
“fee”, “public lands” and many other terms really mean to the courts
and property owners?
q
Is Your Ranch
(Grazing Allotment) “Public Land”?
“It is well settled
that all land to which any claims or rights of others have attached does not fall within
the designation of public land.” Bardon v. Northern Pac, R. Co., 12 S.Ct. 856,
145 U.S. 535, 538, 36 L.Ed. 806. Grazing
allotments had to have claims and rights attached to them in order to be adjudicated.
q
The Economic
Impacts of Nevada’s Livestock Industry: The economic devastation wreaked on
regulation-burdened ranches has spilled over to impact other businesses in Nevada’s
rural communities. Counties facing bankruptcy
will ultimately have to be bailed out by the State. It
is in the State’s, as well as the urban economic sector’s, best interest to
protect and encourage a thriving livestock industry.
q
County and Federal
Taxation of Grazing Allotments:
For years the federal
government denied that ranchers have any ownership interests in their grazing allotments. However, upon a rancher’s death, the I.R.S.
will present an estate tax bill on those same allotments.
The government can’t have it both ways.
q
The Impact on
Property Asset Values Reached Through Use of “Highest-And-Best-Use” Valuations: A New Mexico State University Study illustrates the
methodology of “Highest-And-Best-Use” valuation and how, in the case study, it
raised the asset values of a ranch by a factor of eighteen!
Regulation burdened ranches are grossly devalued.
However the liability for compensation for taking property by government
regulations, whether by county, state or federal regulations, must by law be determined
based upon highest-and-best-use valuation.
q
State and County
Government Obligations for Law Enforcement and Protection of Private Property on Grazing
Allotments.
Registration: $40.00 for non-legislators
Please
R.S.V.P. and for further information, contact Ramona Morrison at: 775.424.0570, fax 775.424.0571, email rhmorrison@bww.com.
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