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.

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