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