[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1167 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.1167

                       One Hundred Eighth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
           the twentieth day of January, two thousand and four


                                 An Act


 
 To resolve boundary conflicts in Barry and Stone Counties in the State 
                              of Missouri.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. RESOLUTION OF BOUNDARY CONFLICTS, VICINITY OF MARK TWAIN 
NATIONAL FOREST, BARRY AND STONE COUNTIES, MISSOURI.
    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
        (1) The term ``appropriate Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
    the Army or the Secretary of Agriculture.
        (2) The term ``boundary conflict'' means the situation in which 
    the private claim of ownership to certain lands, based on 
    subsequent Federal land surveys, overlaps or conflicts with Federal 
    ownership of the same lands.
        (3) The term ``Federal land surveys'' means any land survey 
    made by any agency or department of the Federal Government using 
    Federal employees, or by Federal contract with State-licensed 
    private land surveyors or corporations and businesses licensed to 
    provide professional land surveying services in the State of 
    Missouri for Table Rock Reservoir.
        (4) The term ``original land surveys'' means the land surveys 
    made by the United States General Land Office as part of the Public 
    Land Survey System in the State of Missouri, and upon which 
    Government land patents were issued conveying the land.
        (5) The term ``Public Land Survey System'' means the 
    rectangular system of original Government land surveys made by the 
    United States General Land Office and its successor, the Bureau of 
    Land Management, under Federal laws providing for the survey of the 
    public lands upon which the original land patents were issued.
        (6) The term ``qualifying claimant'' means a private owner of 
    real property in Barry or Stone County, Missouri, who has a 
    boundary conflict as a result of good faith and innocent reliance 
    on subsequent Federal land surveys, and as a result of such 
    reliance, has occupied or improved Federal lands administered by 
    the appropriate Secretary.
        (7) The term ``subsequent Federal land surveys'' means any 
    Federal land surveys made after the original land surveys that are 
    inconsistent with the Public Land Survey System.
    (b) Resolution of Boundary Conflicts.--The Secretary of the Army 
and the Secretary of Agriculture shall cooperatively undertake actions 
to rectify boundary conflicts and landownership claims against Federal 
lands resulting from subsequent Federal land surveys and correctly 
reestablish the corners of the Public Land Survey System in Barry and 
Stone Counties, Missouri, and shall attempt to do so in a manner which 
imposes the least cost and inconvenience to affected private 
landowners.
    (c) Notice of Boundary Conflict.--
        (1) Submission and contents.--A qualifying claimant shall 
    notify the appropriate Secretary in writing of a claim that a 
    boundary conflict exists with Federal land administered by the 
    appropriate Secretary. The notice shall be accompanied by the 
    following information, which, except as provided in subsection 
    (e)(2)(B), shall be provided without cost to the United States:
            (A) A land survey plat and legal description of the 
        affected Federal lands, which are based upon a land survey 
        completed and certified by a Missouri State-licensed 
        professional land surveyor and done in conformity with the 
        Public Land Survey System and in compliance with the applicable 
        State and Federal land surveying laws.
            (B) Information relating to the claim of ownership of the 
        Federal lands, including supporting documentation showing that 
        the landowner relied on a subsequent Federal land survey due to 
        actions by the Federal Government in making or approving 
        surveys for the Table Rock Reservoir.
        (2) Deadline for submission.--To obtain relief under this 
    section, a qualifying claimant shall submit the notice and 
    information required by paragraph (1) within 15 years after the 
    date of the enactment of this Act.
    (d) Resolution Authorities.--In addition to using existing 
authorities, the appropriate Secretary is authorized to take any of the 
following actions in order to resolve boundary conflicts with 
qualifying claimants involving lands under the administrative 
jurisdiction of the appropriate Secretary:
        (1) Convey by quitclaim deed right, title, and interest in land 
    of the United States subject to a boundary conflict consistent with 
    the rights, title, and interest associated with the privately-owned 
    land from which a qualifying claimant has based a claim.
        (2) Confirm Federal title to, and retain in Federal management, 
    any land subject to a boundary conflict, if the appropriate 
    Secretary determines that there are Federal interests, including 
    improvements, authorized uses, easements, hazardous materials, or 
    historical and cultural resources, on the land that necessitates 
    retention of the land or interests in land.
        (3) Compensate the qualifying claimant for the value of the 
    overlapping property for which title is confirmed and retained in 
    Federal management pursuant to paragraph (2).
    (e) Consideration and Cost.--
        (1) Conveyance without consideration.--The conveyance of land 
    under subsection (d)(1) shall be made without consideration.
        (2) Costs.--The appropriate Secretary shall--
            (A) pay administrative, personnel, and any other costs 
        associated with the implementation of this section by his or 
        her Department, including the costs of survey, marking, and 
        monumenting property lines and corners; and
            (B) reimburse the qualifying claimant for reasonable out-
        of-pocket survey costs necessary to establish a claim under 
        this section.
        (3) Valuation.--Compensation paid to a qualifying claimant 
    pursuant to subsection (d)(3) for land retained in Federal 
    ownership pursuant to subsection (d)(2) shall be valued on the 
    basis of the contributory value of the tract of land to the larger 
    adjoining private parcel and not on the basis of the land being a 
    separate tract. The appropriate Secretary shall not consider the 
    value of any Federal improvements to the land. The appropriate 
    Secretary shall be responsible for compensation provided as a 
    result of subsequent Federal land surveys conducted or commissioned 
    by the appropriate Secretary's Department.
    (f) Preexisting Conditions; Reservations; Existing Rights and 
Uses.--
        (1) Preexisting conditions.--The appropriate Secretary shall 
    not compensate a qualifying claimant or any other person for any 
    preexisting condition or reduction in value of any land subject to 
    a boundary conflict because of any existing or outstanding permits, 
    use authorizations, reservations, timber removal, or other land use 
    or condition.
        (2) Existing reservations and rights and uses.--Any conveyance 
    pursuant to subsection (d)(1) shall be subject to--
            (A) reservations for existing public uses for roads, 
        utilities, and facilities; and
            (B) permits, rights-of-way, contracts and any other 
        authorization to use the property.
        (3) Treatment of land subject to special use authorization or 
    permit.--For any land subject to a special use authorization or 
    permit for access or utilities, the appropriate Secretary may 
    convert, at the request of the holder, such authorization to a 
    permanent easement prior to any conveyance pursuant to subsection 
    (d)(1).
        (4) Future reservations.--The appropriate Secretary may reserve 
    rights for future public uses in a conveyance made pursuant to 
    subsection (d)(1) if the qualifying claimant is compensated for the 
    reservation in cash or in land of equal value.
        (5) Hazardous substances.--The requirements of section 120(h) 
    of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
    Liability Act (42 U.S.C. 9620(h)) shall not apply to conveyances or 
    transfers of jurisdiction pursuant to subsection (d), but the 
    United States shall continue to be liable for the cleanup costs of 
    any hazardous substances on the lands so conveyed or transferred if 
    the contamination by hazardous substances is caused by actions of 
    the United States or its agents.
    (g) Relation to Other Conveyance Authority.--Nothing in this 
section affects the Quiet Title Act (28 U.S.C. 2409a) or other 
applicable law, or affects the exchange and disposal authorities of the 
Secretary of Agriculture, including the Small Tracts Act (16 U.S.C. 
521c), or the exchange and disposal authorities of the Secretary of the 
Army.
    (h) Additional Terms and Conditions.--The appropriate Secretary may 
require such additional terms and conditions in connection with a 
conveyance under subsection (d)(1) as the Secretary considers 
appropriate to protect the interests of the United States.
    (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out the purposes of 
this Act.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.