State Lands 2015 Annual Portfolio Report

State Lands 2015 Annual Portfolio Report

Overview
Real Estate Portfolio - State Lands Portfolio

Greg Nyland
CalSTRS Portfolio Manager, Real Estate

Kevin Bassi
CalSTRS Investment Officer, Real Estate

General Information

Program Background

In 1853, with the passage of the Act of March 3, 1853 (10 Stat. 244), the federal government gifted 5.5 million acres to the state of California to be used for the support of public education. Between 1855 and 1984, nearly 90 percent of the “school lands” (all of the high quality land) was sold, leaving behind mostly desert land, most of which falling within the boundaries of the lands protected by the California Desert Protection Act.

General Information

Financial Review

In fiscal year 2014–15, school lands generated gross revenues of $7.8 million for CalSTRS, a decrease of 24.3 percent from the previous year. Gross revenue to CalSTRS from solid mineral leases decreased substantially from $1,673,233 the previous year to $712,157, a 53 percent decrease from the previous year.

General Information

Legislation Review

AB 982 Update – AB 982, which became law in 2011, directed the State Lands Commission and the Department of the Interior to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), designed to facilitate land exchanges to consolidate state school land parcels consistent with renewable energy development of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP).