PHOENIX (AP) -- Just months after Arizona voters rejected rival ballot measures on state trust land, lawmakers are pushing a new, scaled-back proposal.

Partially a response to actual or threatened legal challenges to past state practices, the measure would provide exemptions to the Arizona Constitution's current prohibition on sale or disposal of trust land unless it is advertised and auctioned for at least the true value of the land, based on an appraisal.

Arizona has approximately 9.3 million acres of trust land remaining from property given the state by the federal government at statehood for the benefit of schools and other public institutions.

Use of Arizona's trust land has been controversial in recent years as urban areas have grown into surrounding desert and forests. While conservationists have pushed for preservation of open space, developers are seeking access to property for building. Meanwhile, educators want more money for schools and ranchers are fighting to preserve grazing rights.

One key provision of the proposed 2008 ballot measure would designate dozens of parcels totaling 196,000 acres in 13 counties - all but Gila and Greenlee - for conservation as open space. That land could be sold to local governments or other entities at appraised prices but without auction. Sales would have to take place by Dec. 31, 2014.

Arizona launched a program for that purpose a decade ago but it was halted by objections that it violated the mandate to sell trust land at auction in order to get the most dollars possible for the trust.

The property listed in the proposed ballot measure includes acreage in or near such sensitive sites as Kartchner Caverns in Cochise County, Walnut Canyon National Memorial outside Flagstaff, Lake Pleasant Recreation Area in Maricopa County, Picacho Peak State Park in Pinal County and Saguaro National Park in Pima County.

A second key provision would let trust land be used for road and utility rights of way either without payment for current uses or with appraised-value payment for new uses.

A legal challenge now in the courts contends that the trust hasn't benefited from easements the state granted for roads and other purposes.

The proposed new ballot measure, which would go on the November 2008 general election ballot as constitution amendment, has support from groups representing school boards, homebuilders and cattle ranchers.

The measure has been given preliminary approval by the state House and a formal vote had been scheduled Thursday, but the sponsor said he postponed it until next week to meet with Arizona Education Association representatives as a gesture of good faith.

Some Democratic lawmakers had objected that Nelson's talks hadn't included the AEA, and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Phoenix said opposition from the politically potent teachers union could doom a 2008 ballot measure.

"That is a recipe for another loss at the ballot," she said.

The AEA teamed up with conservationists last year to push one of the two trust land ballot measures defeated in 2006. Proposition 106 would have designated approximately 694,000 acres statewide for conservation, created new planning rules to boost income and created an appointed board to oversee the Land Department.

It failed by 38,000 votes out of more than 1.4 million votes cast.

A rival measure, put on the 2006 ballot by the Legislature at the urging of ranchers and homebuilders, was rejected 3-to-1 by voters. Proposition 105 would have granted urban-area local governments new authority to manage trust land and had the Legislature designate up to 400,000 acres of trust land in rural areas for conservation.

Nelson, a Proposition 105 supporter, said Proposition 106 was a "Christmas tree" laden with provisions that weighed it down. He said the proposed new ballot measure was intentionally narrower in scope.

"If we are ever going to solve these problems, I think we need to do it in pieces, and it will be one step at a time," Nelson said. "We're trying to keep it simple so people can read it and understand it."

House passage would send the ballot-measure resolution (HCR2039) to the Senate, and Nelson said changes could be made when the measure is considered by that chamber.

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On the Net:

Arizona Legislature: http://www.azleg.state.az.us

Arizona Land Department: http://www.land.state.az.us

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