LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                          Austin, Texas

                           FISCAL NOTE
                       74th Regular Session

                          April 17, 1995



 TO:     Honorable Robert M. Saunders, Chair    IN RE:  House Bill No. 1798
         Committee on Land and Resource                 By: McCoulskey
         Management
         House of Representatives
         Austin, Texas






FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on House Bill No.
1798 (Relating to the creation of a panel with authority to
approve the release of the state's interest in land in certain
circumstances.) this office has determined the following:

The bill would create a three member panel, consisting of the
Attorney General, the Comptroller of Public Accounts, and the
Commissioner of the General Land Office, to issue a patent
releasing the state's surface and mineral interest in land if the
patent applicant meets certain conditions.  The bill would limit
the panel's authority by excluding certain lands from the
application of the bill's provisions.  The bill would add new
sections to Chapter 11 of the Natural Resources Code defining the
process by which applications are made and reviewed, specifying
the conditions an applicant must meet and establishing the basis
on which the panel would consider patent applications. The bill
would take effect only if a constitutional amendment is approved
granting the legislature the authority to cure certain land
titles by the issuance of patents under certain conditions.

Because it is not possible to estimate the number of tracts of
land made eligible by this bill that would be claimed in the
future, the revenue loss to the state cannot be determined. 
However, it is estimated that the number of affected tracts would
be few


No fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.    




The fiscal implication to  the State cannot be determined.
 

Source:   Office of the Attorney General, Comptroller of Public
Accounts,
                         General Land Office and Veterans' Land
Board
          LBB Staff: JK, KW, DF