S.B. No. 1038
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to public school lands and other lands in the public
    1-2  domain, including their sale and patenting.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 51.070, Natural Resources
    1-5  Code, is amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (a)  Unpaid and delinquent interest on sales of public school
    1-7  land shall bear interest at a rate set by the board, which interest
    1-8  shall be payable at the times and on such terms as are established
    1-9  by the board by rule or by contract <compounded annually as it
   1-10  accrues on the date of payment set by the board>.
   1-11        SECTION 2.  Section 51.244, Natural Resources Code, is
   1-12  amended to read as follows:
   1-13        Sec. 51.244.  DELIVERY OF PATENT.  (a)  When a patent is
   1-14  ready for delivery, the commissioner shall send it, together with
   1-15  the check for payment of the fee required by Section 51.242 of this
   1-16  code and the name and address of the owner or his agent, by
   1-17  certified <registered> mail to the clerk of the proper county.
   1-18        (b)  On receiving the patent, the clerk shall record it and
   1-19  shall send the patent, together with the name and address of the
   1-20  owner or his agent and the remaining recording fees, by certified
   1-21  <registered> mail to the clerk of another proper county until the
   1-22  patent has been recorded in each county in which all or part of the
   1-23  land is located.
    2-1        (c)  After the patent is recorded in all the proper counties,
    2-2  it shall be sent by certified <registered> mail to the proper
    2-3  party.
    2-4        SECTION 3.  Subsection (a), Section 51.054, Natural Resources
    2-5  Code, is amended to read as follows:
    2-6        (a)  Except as otherwise provided in this section, land
    2-7  <Land> dedicated to the permanent school fund shall be sold subject
    2-8  to a reservation set by the board <School Land Board> of not less
    2-9  than one-eighth of all sulphur and other mineral substances from
   2-10  which sulphur may be derived or produced and not less than
   2-11  one-sixteenth of all other minerals to the state; provided, that if
   2-12  leasing rights are retained hereunder, the reserved minerals shall
   2-13  be subject to lease as provided by Subchapter B, Chapter 52,
   2-14  Natural Resources Code, and Subchapters B and E, Chapter 53,
   2-15  Natural Resources Code.  The mineral reservation to the state shall
   2-16  be determined by the board before the land is offered for sale.  If
   2-17  the board determines that a mineral reservation under this section
   2-18  would substantially reduce the value of the surface of land by
   2-19  restricting its suitability for agricultural, commercial, or
   2-20  residential use, the board may take such action or waive such
   2-21  rights as are in the best interest of the permanent school fund,
   2-22  including, without limitation, establishing designated exploration
   2-23  or drilling sites, waiving surface or other rights of access or
   2-24  development, or conveying the land with no mineral reservation.
   2-25        SECTION 4.  Subsection (a), Section 53.013, Natural Resources
    3-1  Code, is amended to read as follows:
    3-2        (a)  The <After receipt of the rental payment set by the
    3-3  commissioner, the> commissioner may <shall> issue to the first
    3-4  applicant a permit to prospect the area designated in the
    3-5  applicant's application for a period up to <of> one year from the
    3-6  date the application is filed.  If the commissioner elects to grant
    3-7  the application for a permit to prospect under the provisions of
    3-8  this subchapter, the permit shall not be issued until after the
    3-9  land office receives the rental payment set by the commissioner.
   3-10        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-12  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   3-15  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   3-16  passage, and it is so enacted.