03/09/10

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ The Utah Senate has approved the use of
eminent domain to take federal land in the state.

More than 60 percent of Utah is owned by the U.S. government,
and policy makers here have long complained that federal ownership
hinders their ability to generate tax revenue and adequately fund
public schools.

Utah spends less per student than any other state and has the
nation's largest class sizes.

The goal of the bill approved Tuesday is to spark a U.S. Supreme
Court battle that legislators' own attorneys acknowledge has little
chance of success.

But Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and other Republicans say
the case is still worth fighting because if the state wins it could
reap billions of dollars for state schools.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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