1-1 By: Ratliff S.B. No. 1925 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed April 16, 1997; April 18, 1997, read 1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources; 1-4 April 24, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9, 1-5 Nays 0; April 24, 1997, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to preferential rights to purchase certain surveyed, 1-9 unsold land in Cass County dedicated to the permanent school fund. 1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-11 SECTION 1. (a) On receipt of a proper application, the 1-12 School Land Board, in the best interests of the permanent school 1-13 fund as determined by the board, may approve a preferential right 1-14 for an applicant in possession to purchase certain land in Cass 1-15 County dedicated to the permanent school fund before the land is 1-16 made available for sale to another person if: 1-17 (1) the tract of land is surveyed, unsold land of less 1-18 than 125 acres located in the L.C. Luckell Survey; and 1-19 (2) the purchaser pays not less than fair market value 1-20 for the tract. 1-21 (b) To qualify as an applicant in possession, a person must 1-22 be a natural person who: 1-23 (1) occupies or uses or whose predecessors in interest 1-24 occupied or used a defined tract of surveyed, unsold land dedicated 1-25 to the permanent school fund for purposes other than exploring for 1-26 or removing or purporting to lease or otherwise convey minerals, 1-27 including oil, gas, or sulphur, or geothermal resources from the 1-28 tract; 1-29 (2) acquired possession or whose predecessors in 1-30 interest acquired possession of the tract without knowledge of a 1-31 defect in, or lack of title out of, the State of Texas; 1-32 (3) has or whose predecessors in interest have a 1-33 recorded deed to the tract on file in the proper county courthouse; 1-34 (4) has or whose predecessors in interest have had the 1-35 tract enclosed or within definite, recognized boundaries and in 1-36 exclusive possession for a period of at least 30 years with the 1-37 belief that the tract was privately owned; and 1-38 (5) has, for at least the three years preceding 1-39 purchase under this Act, paid all taxes due on the tract, including 1-40 interest and penalties associated with any delinquency of the 1-41 taxes. 1-42 SECTION 2. (a) At the request of the School Land Board, a 1-43 person applying to the board to purchase a tract of land under this 1-44 Act must submit information the board considers necessary to 1-45 determine the qualifications of the applicant to receive a 1-46 preferential right to purchase the tract. 1-47 (b) The person applying for the preferential right to 1-48 purchase under this Act must submit a written application not later 1-49 than the first anniversary after the effective date of this Act. 1-50 SECTION 3. (a) The preferential right to purchase under 1-51 this Act does not apply to beach, submerged or filled land, or any 1-52 land previously determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to 1-53 be state-owned land. 1-54 (b) If a tract of land authorized to be sold preferentially 1-55 under this Act is within five miles of mineral production, the sale 1-56 is subject to the reservation of minerals to the state in the same 1-57 manner provided by law for the reservation of minerals in a sale to 1-58 a good faith claimant of unsurveyed land dedicated to the permanent 1-59 school fund within five miles of mineral production. 1-60 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the 1-61 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-62 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-63 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-64 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-1 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-2 passage, and it is so enacted. 2-3 * * * * *