[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3954 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3954

    To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to resolve boundary 
    discrepancies in San Diego County, California, arising from an 
  erroneous survey conducted by a Government contractor in 1881 that 
  resulted in overlapping boundaries for certain lands, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 11, 2004

  Mr. Hunter introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to resolve boundary 
    discrepancies in San Diego County, California, arising from an 
  erroneous survey conducted by a Government contractor in 1881 that 
  resulted in overlapping boundaries for certain lands, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rancho El Cajon Boundary 
Reconciliation Act''.

SEC. 2. RESOLUTION OF BOUNDARY DISCREPANCIES, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, 
              CALIFORNIA.

    (a) Authority to Resolve Boundary Discrepancies.--The Secretary of 
the Interior may provide compensation to a landowner whose title to 
land in San Diego County, California, is based on an erroneous survey 
conducted by a Government contractor in 1881 and is rendered void 
because that title is inferior to the title to the same land 
established by a survey of the Rancho El Cajon conducted in 1872 and 
approved by the Commissioner of the General Land Office in 1876.
    (b) Compensation.--
            (1) Forms of compensation.--Compensation under subsection 
        (a) shall be mutually agreed upon by the Secretary and the 
        landowner and shall consist of--
                    (A) public lands in San Diego County, California, 
                selected jointly by the Secretary and the landowner and 
                conveyed by the Secretary to the landowner;
                    (B) a cash payment to the landowner; or
                    (C) a combination of a conveyance under 
                subparagraph (A) and cash payment under subparagraph 
                (B).
            (2) Equal value.--Compensation provided under subsection 
        (a) for a parcel of land whose title was rendered void, as 
        described in such subsection, may not exceed the fair market 
        value of the land, as determined by an appraisal satisfactory 
        to the Secretary and the landowner.
            (3) Source of funds.--The Secretary may make payments under 
        this subsection using funds available to the Secretary to 
        equalize land exchanges under section 206(b) of the Federal 
        Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716(b)).
    (c) Identification of Land and Landowners Affected by Boundary 
Discrepancy.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary shall complete a study to identify those 
landowners whose title to land is void or otherwise clouded as a result 
of the erroneous survey referred to in subsection (a) and who would be 
eligible to receive compensation under this section. The Secretary 
shall use the authority provided by subsection (a) to compensate any 
landowner, already identified as of the date of the enactment of this 
Act, whose title to lots 1 and 2 of section 9, township 15 south, range 
1 east, San Bernardino Meridian, is rendered void as described in such 
subsection.
    (d) Public Lands Defined.--In this section, the ``public lands'' 
has the meaning given the term in section 103(e) of the Federal Land 
Policy and Management Act of 1976 (7 U.S.C. 1702(e)).
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