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The
lawsuit, filed in federal court on Monday in Sacramento, the
state capital, comes less than a month after the Justice
Department brought a legal action targeting three California
laws largely aimed at protecting illegal immigrants from
deportation.
"California has once again passed an extreme statute found in no
other state to obstruct the federal government, this time by
interfering with the conveyance of federal land," the Justice
Department's acting No. 3 official, Jesse Panuccio, told
reporters.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement
that his office is prepared to protect the state's resources.
"Our public lands should not be on the auction block to the
highest bidder," Becerra said.
Governor Jerry Brown accused the Trump administration last month
of declaring war on the most populous U.S. state after the
Justice Department sued over the California immigration laws. A
hearing in that case is set for June.
The latest legal action involves California's Senate Bill 50,
which was signed into law in October and gives the state right
of first refusal over many federal land conveyances.
If the California State Lands Commission waives its right of
first refusal, it issues a compliance certificate. Without this
document, the land transfer cannot be legally recorded in a
county property office.
The Justice Department in its lawsuit argues that Senate Bill 50
is preempted by federal law.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Dan Levine
in San Francisco; Editing by Leslie Adler and Steve Orlofsky)
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