State Land Department avoids layoffs for now

The State Land Department won't have to lay off more than 100 employees after all, at least for the next few months. The Arizona Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted the state's request to continue funding the department's operational expenses with trust-land proceeds. The court will allow the funding through the end of the fiscal year on June 30. "We are very grateful for the judge's decision and think that it is certainly in the best interest of the trust and its beneficiaries," State Land Commissioner Maria Baier said. "It would have been devastating to the assets of the trust and to the beneficiaries if the department had become inoperable." Last month, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe ruled that a 2009 law passed by Gov. Jan Brewer and the Legislature to use about $10 million a year in state-trust proceeds to help pay for running the department was unconstitutional. Previously, all the proceeds went directly to schools and public institutions while department operational costs came out of the state's general fund. Donahoe required the state to immediately stop spending trust proceeds as well as pay back any proceeds that already had been spent.

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