House bill would assert state primacy on federal lands

By Olivia Maillet, Missouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — The House Government Efficiency Committee hearing on Tuesday was filled with residents from around the Ozark National Scenic Riverway area, waiting to share their testimonies of what they say are unjust interactions with U.S. park rangers operating outside the jurisdiction of that national park.
The testimonies were in favor of House Bill 1442, sponsored by Rep. Don Mayhew, R-Crocker. The bill would establish the State Natural Resource and Community Protection Act. Mayhew said that national park rangers in the Ozark National Scenic Riverway, on multiple occasions, closed public roads without permission and enforced federal game laws on state land.
Shannon County Sheriff Steven Hogan said that traffic violation stops conducted by national park rangers have been happening several miles away from their federal jurisdiction.
“It’s a sad day when even the sheriff of Shannon County feels that he may be targeted simply for driving through his own county,” Hogan said. “But it is even more tragic for the people of Shannon County who have to endure this harassment multiple times a day as they go through their peaceful, everyday lives.”
The bill would require federal agencies operating in Missouri to adopt and adhere to state management plans for water, wildlife and game, timber and mineral resources. It also requires that federal agencies operating in Missouri submit an assessment to the Missouri attorney general before implementing any regulations or actions affecting federally managed land.
Mayhew said he patterned his bill after the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which clarified that National Park Service regulations primarily apply to federally owned land, not non-federal land or waters.
In addition, the bill would prohibit federal law enforcement officers from impounding vehicles, seizing domestic animals or confiscating personal property.
“Confiscating private property is a long and lengthy process here in the state of Missouri for our police officers,” Mayhew said. “It should not be easy, nor should we want it to be, for the federal government to, on a whim, enter someone’s private property and take their private property and that has happened.”
Rep. Doug Clemons, D-St. Ann, wanted to know if Mayhew had considered the cost of fighting the federal government in court. He said the federal government “wouldn’t take the mandates well.”
Likewise, Rep. Michael Burton, D-Lakeshire, was concerned with imposing restrictions on how federal agencies regulated federal land.
“It looks like you are trying to take away all power from the federal government, and it is quite extensive," Burton said. "There are overlaps; the Missouri Department of Conservation fisheries are on state park land overseen by DNR (Department of Natural Resources), and they all have to work together.”
Through the bill, Missouri would be able to impose an annual property tax on all federally managed land within its boundaries.
The bill also allows residents or local governments negatively affected by national park ranger-caused events to file a suit in a Missouri court for damages or injunctive relief. The court would then be asked to order the federal government to stop interfering with the Ozark National Scenic Riverway’s residents.
“The idea that the national government, because of the inefficiency of the local governments over the years, and quite frankly the laziness of the local governments, is trying to fill the void with procedures and policies and rules is not something that just simply has to be,” said Rep. Darin Chappell, R-Rogersville.
“It was never intended to be this way; we just allowed it out of apathy," he said. "We need to reassert that Missouri is indeed a sovereign entity.”
Chappell’s speech prompted a round of applause from those who came to testify.