1-1     By:  Cook (Senate Sponsor - Armbrister)               H.J.R. No. 52
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 18, 2001;
 1-3     April 19, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Natural Resources; April 30, 2001, reported favorably by the
 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; April 30, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                           HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
 1-7     proposing a constitutional amendment clearing land titles by
 1-8     relinquishing and releasing any claim of sovereign ownership or
 1-9     title to an interest in certain lands in Bastrop County.
1-10           BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1. Section 2A, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is
1-12     amended to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 2A.  (a)  The State of Texas hereby relinquishes and
1-14     releases any claim of sovereign ownership or title to an undivided
1-15     one-third interest in and to the lands and minerals within the
1-16     Shelby, Frazier, and McCormick League (now located in Fort Bend and
1-17     Austin counties) arising out of the interest in that league
1-18     originally granted under the Mexican Colonization Law of 1823 to
1-19     John McCormick on or about July 24, 1824, and subsequently voided
1-20     by the governing body of Austin's Original Colony on or about
1-21     December 15, 1830.
1-22           (b)  The State of Texas relinquishes and releases any claim
1-23     of sovereign ownership or title to an interest in and to the lands,
1-24     excluding the minerals, in Tracts 2-5, 13, 15-17, 19-20, 23-26,
1-25     29-32, and 34-37, in the A. P. Nance Survey, Bastrop County, as
1-26     said tracts are:
1-27                 (1)  shown on Bastrop County Rolled Sketch No. 4,
1-28     recorded in the General Land Office on December 15, 1999; and
1-29                 (2)  further described by the field notes prepared by a
1-30     licensed state land surveyor of Travis County in September through
1-31     November 1999 and May 2000.
1-32           (c)  Title [, and title] to such interest in the lands and
1-33     minerals described by Subsection (a) is confirmed to the owners of
1-34     the remaining interests in such lands and minerals.  Title to the
1-35     lands, excluding the minerals, described by Subsection (b) is
1-36     confirmed to the holder of record title to each tract.  Any
1-37     outstanding land award or land payment obligation owed to the state
1-38     for lands described by Subsection (b) is canceled, and any funds
1-39     previously paid related to an outstanding land award or land
1-40     payment obligation may not be refunded.
1-41           (d)  The General Land Office shall issue a patent to the
1-42     holder of record title to each tract described by Subsection (b).
1-43     The patent shall be issued in the same manner as other patents
1-44     except that no filing fee or patent fee may be required.
1-45           (e)  A patent issued under Subsection (d) shall include a
1-46     provision reserving all mineral interest in the land to the state.
1-47           (f)  This section is self-executing.
1-48           SECTION 2. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
1-49     submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 6, 2001.
1-50     The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or against
1-51     the proposition: "The constitutional amendment providing for
1-52     clearing of land titles by the release of a state claim of its
1-53     interest to the owners of certain land in Bastrop County."
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