[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 786 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 786

   To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey, at fair market 
   value, certain properties in Clark County, Nevada, to persons who 
 purchased adjacent properties in good faith reliance on land surveys 
          that were subsequently determined to be inaccurate.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 22, 1997

  Mr. Bryan (for himself and Mr. Reid) introduced the following bill; 
   which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey, at fair market 
   value, certain properties in Clark County, Nevada, to persons who 
 purchased adjacent properties in good faith reliance on land surveys 
          that were subsequently determined to be inaccurate.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) certain landowners who own property adjacent to land 
        managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the North Decatur 
        Boulevard area of Las Vegas, Nevada, bordering on North Las 
        Vegas, have been adversely affected by certain erroneous 
        private land surveys that the landowners believed were 
        accurate;
            (2) the landowners have occupied or improved their property 
        in good faith reliance on the erroneous surveys of the 
        properties;
            (3) the landowners believed that their entitlement to 
        occupancy was finally adjudicated by a Judgment and Decree 
        entered by the Eighth Judicial District Court of Nevada on 
        October 26, 1989;
            (4) errors in the private surveys were discovered in 
        connection with a dependent resurvey and section subdivision 
        conducted by the Bureau of Land Management in 1990, which 
        established accurate boundaries between certain Federally owned 
        properties and private properties; and
            (5) the Secretary has authority to sell, and it is 
        appropriate that the Secretary should sell, at fair market 
        value, the properties described in section 2(b) to the 
        adversely affected landowners.

SEC. 2. CONVEYANCE OF PROPERTIES.

    (a) Purchase Offers.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, on behalf 
        of the owners of real property located adjacent to the 
        properties described in subsection (b), may submit to the 
        Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the 
        Bureau of Land Management (referred to in this Act as the 
        ``Secretary''), a written offer to purchase the properties.
            (2) Information to accompany offer.--An offer under 
        paragraph (1) shall be accompanied by--
                    (A) a description of each property offered to be 
                purchased;
                    (B) information relating to the claim of ownership 
                of the property based on an erroneous land survey; and
                    (C) such other information as the Secretary may 
                require.
    (b) Description of Properties.--The properties described in this 
subsection, containing 68.60 acres, more or less, are--
            (1) Government lots 22, 23, 26, and 27 in sec. 18, T. 19 
        S., R 61 E., Mount Diablo Meridian;
            (2) Government lots 20, 21, and 24 in sec. 19, T. 19 S., R. 
        61 E., Mount Diablo Meridian; and
            (3) Government lot 1 in sec. 24, T. 19 S., R. 60 E., Mount 
        Diablo Meridian.
    (c) Conveyance.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to the condition stated in 
        paragraph (2), the Secretary shall convey to the city of Las 
        Vegas, Nevada, all right, title, and interest of the United 
        States in and to the properties offered to be purchased under 
        subsection (a) on payment by the city of the fair market value 
        of the properties, based on an appraisal of the fair market 
        value as of December 1, 1982, approved by the Secretary.
            (2) Condition.--Properties shall be conveyed under 
        paragraph (1) subject to the condition that the city convey the 
        properties to the landowners who were adversely affected by 
        reliance on erroneous surveys as described in section 1.
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