(1) The state board of land commissioners shall be composed of five members appointed by the governor, with the consent of the senate, one of whom shall be elected by the board as its president. The board shall meet at least once every month. (2) The governor shall endeavor to appoint members of the board who reside in different geographic regions of the state. Not more than three members of the board may be affiliated with the same political party. The board consists of: (a) One person with substantial experience in production agriculture; (b) One person with substantial experience in public primary or secondary education; (c) One person with substantial experience in local government and land use planning; (d) One person with substantial experience in natural resource conservation; and (e) One member at large who is a resident of the state. (3) (a) The term of each member shall be for four years. No member shall serve more than two consecutive terms. Members of the board shall be subject to removal, and vacancies on the board shall be filled as provided in section 6 of article IV of the state constitution. (b) and (c) Repealed. (4) The members of the state board of land commissioners shall not, by virtue of their appointment, be employees of the state. The board members shall be reimbursed for their reasonable and necessary expenses and receive a per diem of fifty dollars per day for each day the member attends a board meeting, subject to appropriation by the general assembly from the income from the trust lands. (5) The individual members of the state board of land commissioners shall have no personal liability for any action or failure to act as long as such action or failure to act does not involve willful or intentional malfeasance or gross negligence. (6) (a) The people of the state of Colorado have recognized in section 10 of article IX of the state constitution that the state school lands are an endowment of land assets held in a perpetual, intergenerational public trust for the support of public schools, which should not be significantly diminished; that the disposition and use of such lands should therefore benefit public schools including local school districts; and that the economic productivity of all lands held in public trust is dependent on sound stewardship, including protecting and enhancing the beauty, natural values, open space, and wildlife habitat thereof, for this and future generations. In recognition of these principles, the state board of land commissioners shall be governed by the standards set forth in section 10 of article IX of the state constitution in the discharge of its fiduciary obligations, in addition to other laws generally applicable to trustees. (b) The state board of land commissioners shall serve as the trustee for the lands granted to the state in public trust by the federal government, lands acquired in lieu thereof, and additional lands held by the board in public trust. The board shall have the duty to manage, control, encumber, and dispose of such lands in accordance with the purposes for which said grants of land were made and section 10 of article IX of the state constitution, and subject to such terms and conditions consistent therewith as may be prescribed by law. (c) It shall be the duty of the state board of land commissioners to provide for the prudent management, location, protection, sale, exchange, or other disposition of all lands heretofore, or which may hereafter be, held by the board as trustee pursuant to subsection (6) of section 9 of article IX of the state constitution, in order to produce a reasonable and consistent income over time. The state board of land commissioners shall protect and enhance the long- term productivity and sound stewardship of the trust lands held by the board. (d) The state board of land commissioners shall manage the development and utilization of natural resources on state lands in a manner which will conserve the long-term value of such resources, as well as existing and future uses, and in accordance with state and local laws and regulations.
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