The Council on Environmental Quality commissioned this report on the innovative land use laws of several states to learn how some of the most complex land use issues and problems of re-allocating responsibilities between state and local governments are being addressed. Many of the laws analyzed are designed to deal with problems that are treated in the President's proposed National Land Use Policy Act of 1971, an act providing Federal assistance to states to develop programs dealing with land use issues of regional or state concern. The bill, for example, calls upon states to identify and control development in areas of critical environmental concern; assure that development of regional benefit is not blocked or unduly restricted by local governments; and control large scale development and land use in areas impacted by key facilities. Legislation cited and analyzed includes the: (1) Hawaiian Land Use Law, (2) Vermont Environmental Control Law, (3) San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, (4) Twin Cities Metropolitan Council, (5) Massachusetts Zoning Appeals Law, (6) Maine Site Location Law, (7) Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Program, (8) Wisconsin Shoreland Protection Program, and (9) New England River Basins Commission. Summaries of other innovative legislation together with six key issues in state land use regulation are also given. (BL)