78R3166 MDR-F

By:  Zaffirini                                                  S.C.R. No. 11 



CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, Snowmass, Inc., and Elizabeth S. and Samuel H. 
Vester, Jr., allege that:
		(1)  they are the owners of mineral interests beneath a 
tract of land in Zapata County, Texas, containing  approximately 
640 acres, known as the Northwest 1/2 of Section 313, T.G. Bagley 
Survey, Certificate 1007;
		(2)  the property was patented by the State of Texas on 
March 13, 1945 to Lyle J. Perkins, under Patent No. 128, Volume 
98-A, in which the state reserved as a free royalty, a one-eighth  
royalty on the production of sulfur and other mineral substances 
from which sulfur may be derived or produced, and a one-sixteenth  
royalty on the production of all other minerals beneath the 
property;
		(3)  since the issuance of the patent, various 
landowners, mineral owners, and oil and gas companies have relied 
in good faith on the free royalty mineral reservation;
		(4)  notwithstanding the free royalty mineral 
reservation as stated in the patent, the state now claims that the 
property is mineral classified and that the state is the owner of 
100 percent of the minerals because of the judgment of the court in 
Cause No. 54,731, The State of Texas vs. Lyle J. Perkins, et al., 
98th District Court of Travis County, Texas, decided on December 
20, 1934;
		(5)  that court awarded Lyle J. Perkins a preference 
right to purchase the property under the Sales Act of 1931, subject 
to a reservation on behalf of the permanent school fund of the State 
of Texas of title to all of the minerals beneath the property in 
favor of the permanent school fund of the State of Texas, and 
ordered that the property, on the sale to Lyle J. Perkins in 
accordance with the preference right, be subject to lease for oil 
and gas developments by the surface owner under the terms of the 
Relinquishment Act of 1919;
		(6)  the free royalty mineral reservation as stated in 
the patent is the correct interest that was retained by the state  
under the plain letter of the patent and under principles of both 
law and equity;
		(7)  the state's position as to the minerals beneath the 
property would render claimants' and other persons' interests in 
the minerals nonexistent and worthless;
		(8)  the conflicting positions as to the ownership of 
the minerals beneath the property prevent claimants from selling or 
leasing minerals to third parties and prevent development of 
production of oil and gas underneath the property;
		(9)  the title of the minerals beneath the property can 
only be resolved by court decree determining the rights of persons 
claiming interest in the property and the minerals lying beneath 
the property, as patented; and
		(10)  Snowmass, Inc., and Elizabeth S. and Samuel H. 
Vester, Jr., are entitled to relief as a result of their claims, 
including a determination or declaration of the status and 
ownership of the minerals beneath the property, or a declaration of 
the respective rights of the parties in the property, as patented; 
now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That 
Snowmass, Inc., and Elizabeth S. and Samuel H. Vester, Jr., are 
granted permission to sue the State of Texas and the General Land 
Office subject to Chapter 107, Civil Practice and Remedies Code; 
and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the suit authorized by this resolution shall 
be brought in either Travis County or Zapata County; and, be it 
further
	RESOLVED, That the attorney general and the commissioner of 
the General Land Office be served process as provided by Section 
107.002(a)(3), Civil Practice and Remedies Code.