[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1167 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1167

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 2, 2003

   Mr. Bond introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
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. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds and declares that--
            (1) certain landowners in Barry and Stone Counties, 
        Missouri, have innocently and in good faith relied on 
        subsequent land surveys, which they believed to have been 
        correct, and have occupied, improved, or claimed portions of 
        adjoining Federal lands based on such survey information; and
            (2) the appropriate Federal agencies should undertake 
        actions to reestablish the corners of the Public Land Survey 
        system, and to rectify boundary conflicts and landownership 
        claims against Federal lands resulting from subsequent Federal 
        and private land surveys, and do so in a manner which imposes 
        the least cost and inconvenience to affected private 
        landowners.
    (b) Purposes.--Within Barry and Stone Counties, Missouri, the 
purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to resolve any boundary disputes arising from these 
        subsequent land surveys; and
            (2) to minimize costs and inconvenience to the affected 
        private property owners in Barry and Stone County, Missouri.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act, the term--
            (1) ``appropriate Secretary'' means either the Secretary of 
        the Army or the Secretary of Agriculture;
            (2) ``boundary conflict'' means the situation where the 
        private claim of ownership for non-Federal lands, based on 
        subsequent land surveys, overlaps or conflicts with Federal 
        ownership;
            (3) ``Bureau of Land Management'' means the agency of that 
        name within the United States Department of the Interior, the 
        successor agency to the United States General Land Office.
            (4) ``Corps of Engineers'' means the U.S. Army Corps of 
        Engineers;
            (5) ``Federal land surveys'' means any land survey made by 
        an agency or department of the Federal Government with 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;
            (6) ``Forest Service'' means the Forest Service, an agency 
        of the U.S. Department of Agriculture;
            (7) ``National Forest System lands'' means Federal lands 
        within the National Forest System as such System is defined by 
        section 10(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources 
        Planning Act of 1974, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1609(a));
            (8) ``original land surveys'' means the land surveys made 
        by the General Land Office as part of the United States Public 
        Land Survey System in the State of Missouri, and upon which the 
        Government land patents were issued conveying the land from the 
        Federal Government into private ownership;
            (9) ``United States Public Land Survey System'' means the 
        rectangular system of original Government lands survey 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;
            (10) ``qualifying claimant'' means a private owner of real 
        property in Barry and Stone Counties, Missouri, who has 
        boundary conflict as a result of good faith and innocent 
        reliance on subsequent land surveys, and as a result of such 
        reliance, has occupied, improved, or made ownership claims to 
        Federal lands, and who files a claim for relief under this Act 
        within the time period prescribed in section 4(b); and
            (11) ``subsequent land surveys'' mean any land surveys made 
        after the original land surveys.

SEC. 3. RESOLUTION OF BOUNDARY CONFLICTS.

    (a) Authorities.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
including the Federal Property Administration Services Act of 1949, and 
without requirements for further administrative or environmental 
analyses or examination, the appropriate Secretary is authorized 
discretion to take any of the following actions, or combinations of 
actions, in order to resolve boundary conflicts with qualifying 
claimants on lands under their respective administrative jurisdiction--
            (1) to convey and quitclaim all right, title, and interest 
        of the United States in land for which there is a boundary 
        conflict; or
            (2) to confirm Federal title to and retain in Federal 
        management any land for which there is a boundary conflict 
        where there are Federal interests which may include 
        improvements, authorized uses, easements, hazardous materials, 
        historical and cultural resources; and
            (3) to 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) of 
        this subsection.
    (b) Consideration and Costs.-- The Appropriate Secretary shall--
            (1) waive consideration for the value of the Federal land 
        conveyed and quitclaimed pursuant to subsection (a)(1) upon a 
        finding that the boundary conflict was the result of the 
        innocent detrimental reliance by the qualifying claimant on a 
        subsequent land survey;
            (2) pay administrative, personnel and any other costs 
        associated with the implementation of this Act, including the 
        costs of survey, marking and monumenting property lines and 
        corners; and
            (3) reimburse the qualifying claimant for reasonable out-
        of-pocket survey costs necessary to establish a claim under 
this Act.
    (c) Valuation.--Compensation paid to qualifying claimants for land 
retained in Federal ownership pursuant to subsection (a)(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, and shall not include the value of Federal 
improvements to the land.
    (d) Preexisting Condition.--
            (1) The United States shall not compensate a qualifying 
        claimant or any other person for any preexisting condition or 
        reduction in value of any land which is the subject of a 
        boundary conflict because of any existing or outstanding 
        permits, use authorizations, reservations, timber removal, or 
        other land use or condition.
            (2) 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 under this Act, 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.
    (e) Reservations, Valid Existing Rights and Uses.--
            (1) Any conveyance pursuant to subsection (a)(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; and
            (2) For any land subject to a special use authorization or 
        permit for access or utilities, the appropriate Secretary may, 
        at the request of the holder, convert such authorization to a 
        permanent easement prior to any conveyance pursuant to 
        subsection (a)(1); and
            (3) The appropriate Secretary may reserve rights for future 
        public uses in conveyances made pursuant to subsection (a)(1) 
        of this section if the qualifying claimant is paid for the 
        reservation in cash or in land of equal value.
    (f) Responsibilities of Claimants.--The qualifying claimant shall 
have the responsibility for establishing that they qualify for the 
remedies allowed under this Act.

SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE.

    (a) Qualifying claimants shall notify the appropriate Secretary in 
writing of their claims of a boundary conflict with adjoining Federal 
land. Such notification shall be accompanied by the following 
information provided by the qualifying claimant which, except as 
provided in section 3(b)(3), shall be without cost to the United 
States--
            (1) a land survey plat and legal description of the 
        affected Federal lands claimed which are based upon a correctly 
        made land survey completed and certified by a Missouri State 
        licensed Professional Land Surveyor, and done in conformity 
        with the United States Public Land Survey System and in 
        compliance with the applicable State and Federal land surveying 
        statutes and regulations; and
            (2) information relating to the claim of ownership of such 
        Federal lands, including supporting documentation showing the 
        landowner relied on a subsequent land survey due to actions by 
        the Federal Government in making or approving surveys for the 
        Table Rock Reservoir; and
    (b) Any qualifying claimant must file for resolution of a boundary 
conflict within 15 years of the date of enactment of this Act.
    (c) Except for such additional authorities provided in this Act, 
nothing herein shall affect the Quiet Title Act (28 U.S.C. 2409a) or 
other applicable law, or affect the exchange and disposal authorities 
of the Secretary of Agriculture including, but not limited to, the 
Small Tracts Act (16 U.S.C. 521c), or the exchange and disposal 
authorities of the Secretary of the Army.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as necessary to 
carry out this Act.
                                 <all>