80R6777 MRB-F

By: Shapleigh S.B. No. 863

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the authority of the commissioner of the General Land Office to accept, approve, and file corrected field notes to certain tracts of land in El Paso County and Hudspeth County.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 51, Natural Resources Code, is amended by adding Section 51.254 to read as follows:

Sec. 51.254. CORRECTED FIELD NOTES IN EL PASO COUNTY AND HUDSPETH COUNTY. (a) The commissioner may accept and file corrected field notes to any tract of land located within the following containment area:

(1) All of Township 4, Block 76, T. & P. Ry. Co., Hudspeth County;

(2) All of Townships 3 and 4, Block 77, T. & P. Ry. Co., El Paso County;

(3) All of Block 6, Public School Lands, El Paso County;

(4) All of Township 2, Block 78, T. & P. Ry. Co., El Paso County;

(5) All of Township 3, Block 78, T. & P. Ry. Co., El Paso County;

(6) All of Township 4, Block 78, T. & P. Ry. Co., El Paso County;

(7) All of Township 2, Block 79, T. & P. Ry. Co, El Paso County;

(8) The part of Township 3, Block 79, T. & P. Ry. Co, El Paso County, lying North and East of the Kuechler/McCombs Survey line running from the Southwest corner of Section 21 to the Northwest corner of Section 6;

(9) The Northeast half of the R. Sparks Survey 325, Abstract 9981, El Paso County; and

(10) All of Township 2, Block 80, T. & P. Ry. Co, El Paso County, lying North and East of the Kuechler/McCombs Survey Line.

(b) The corrected field notes must be made by the county surveyor of the county in which the land is located or by a licensed state land surveyor and must be based on the ground location of the tract as located according to the R.W. Baker Survey of 1937 as the survey exists on the ground in El Paso County and Hudspeth County at the time the corrected field notes are made.

(c) The commissioner may issue corrected patents to any tract as resurveyed in El Paso County or Hudspeth County after the:

(1) approval by the commissioner;

(2) filing of the corrected field notes; and

(3) payment by the landowner of all appropriate patent fees and for any applicable excess acreage in Public School Land Block 6.

(d) A resurvey made under this section does not shift or in any way change the lines of any tract of land that has been located on the ground by a final judgment of a court. If the lines of a tract have been fixed on the ground by a final judgment, corrected field notes made under this section must conform to that judgment.

(e) The perimeter of the containment area must be located according to the Jacob Kuechler Survey of 1879 as the survey exists on the ground in El Paso County and Hudspeth County at the time the perimeter is located, and the corrected field notes made under this section must conform to the Jacob Kuechler Survey of 1879 along and outside that perimeter. Surveys within the containment area that abut the perimeter must extend to the perimeter.

(f) The owner of any tract of land in the containment area who files corrected field notes in the land office in accordance with this section shall submit, in a form approved by the commissioner, the corrected field notes along with the affidavits of the owners of all surrounding tracts. The affidavits must show that all of the owners of the surrounding tracts agree to the location of the lines as shown by the corrected field notes. The commissioner may not approve the corrected field notes unless the affidavits of the owners of the surrounding tracts are submitted as required by this subsection.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2007.