[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2130 Reported in House (RH)]

<DOC>





                                                 Union Calendar No. 248
114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2130

                          [Report No. 114-327]

 To provide legal certainty to property owners along the Red River in 
                     Texas, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 30, 2015

 Mr. Thornberry (for himself, Mr. Carter of Texas, Mr. McCaul, and Mr. 
   Gohmert) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

                            November 4, 2015

 Additional sponsors: Mr. Sessions, Mr. Farenthold, Mr. Ratcliffe, and 
                        Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas

                            November 4, 2015

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
 [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 
                               30, 2015]


_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide legal certainty to property owners along the Red River in 
                     Texas, 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 ``Red River Private Property 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. DISCLAIMER AND OUTDATED SURVEYS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary disclaims any right, title, and 
interest to the land located south of the South Bank boundary line in 
the affected area.
    (b) Clarification of Prior Surveys.--Surveys conducted by the 
Bureau of Land Management before the date of the enactment of this Act 
shall have no force or effect in determining the South Bank boundary 
line.

SEC. 3. SURVEY OF SOUTH BANK BOUNDARY LINE.

    (a) Survey Required.--To identify the South Bank boundary line in 
the affected area, the Secretary shall commission a survey. The survey 
shall--
            (1) adhere to the gradient boundary survey method;
            (2) span the entire length of the affected area;
            (3) be conducted by Licensed State Land Surveyors chosen by 
        the Texas General Land Office, in consultation with the 
        Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office;
            (4) be completed not later than 2 years after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act; and
            (5) not be submitted to the Bureau of Land Management for 
        approval.
    (b) Approval of the Survey.--After the survey is completed, the 
Secretary shall submit the survey to be approved by the Texas General 
Land Office, in consultation with the Oklahoma Commissioners of the 
Land Office.
    (c) Surveys of Individual Parcels.--
            (1) In general.--Parcels surveyed as required by this 
        section shall be surveyed and approved on an individual basis 
        by the Texas General Land Office, in consultation with the 
        Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office.
            (2) Surveys of individual parcels not submitted to the 
        bureau of land management.--Surveys of individual parcels shall 
        not be submitted to the Bureau of Land Management for approval.
    (d) Notice.--
            (1) Notification to the secretary.--Not later than 30 days 
        after a survey for a parcel is approved by the Texas General 
        Land Office under subsection (c), such office shall provide to 
        the Secretary the following:
                    (A) Notice of the approval of such survey.
                    (B) A copy of such survey and field notes relating 
                to such parcel.
            (2) Notification to adjacent landowners.--Not later than 30 
        days after the date on which the Secretary receives 
        notification relating to a parcel under paragraph (1), the 
        Secretary shall provide to landowners adjacent to such parcel 
        the following:
                    (A) Notice of the approval of such survey.
                    (B) A copy of such survey and field notes relating 
                to such parcel.
                    (C) Notice that the landowner may file an appeal 
                under section 4.
                    (D) Notice that the landowner may apply for a 
                patent under section 5.
                    (E) Any additional information considered 
                appropriate by the Secretary.

SEC. 4. APPEAL.

    Not later than 1 year after the date on which a landowner receives 
notification under section 3(d)(2), a landowner who claims to hold 
right, title, or interest in the affected area may appeal the 
determination of the survey to an administrative law judge of the 
Department of the Interior.

SEC. 5. RED RIVER SURFACE RIGHTS.

    (a) Notification of Application Period for Patents.--
            (1) In general.--On the date that is 18 months after the 
        date on which the Secretary receives notification relating to a 
        parcel under section 3(d)(1), the Secretary shall determine 
        whether such parcel is subject to appeal.
            (2) Parcel not subject to appeal.--Not later than 30 days 
        after the date on which the Secretary determines a parcel is 
        not subject to appeal, the Secretary shall--
                    (A) notify landowners adjacent to such parcel that 
                the Secretary shall accept applications for patents for 
                that parcel under subsection (b) for a period of 210 
                days; and
                    (B) begin accepting applications for patents for 
                that parcel under subsection (b) for a period of 210 
                days.
            (3) Parcel subject to appeal.--If the Secretary determines 
        a parcel is subject to appeal, the Secretary shall, not less 
        than once every 6 months, check the status of the appeals 
        relating to such parcel, until the Secretary determines such 
        parcel is not subject to appeal.
    (b) Patents for Lands in the Affected Area.--If the Secretary 
receives an application for a patent for a parcel of identified Federal 
lands during the period for applications for such parcel under 
subsection (a)(2)(B) and determines that the parcel has been held in 
good faith and in peaceful adverse possession by an applicant, or the 
ancestors or grantors of such applicant, for more than 20 years under 
claim (including through a State land grant or deed or color of title), 
the Secretary may issue a patent for the surface rights to such parcel 
to the applicant, on the payment of $1.25 per acre, if the patent 
includes the following conditions:
            (1) All minerals contained in the parcel are reserved to 
        the United States and subject to sale or disposal by the United 
        States under applicable leasing and mineral land laws.
            (2) Permittees, lessees, or grantees of the United States 
        have the right to enter the parcel for the purpose of 
        prospecting for and mining deposits.
    (c) Pending Requests for Patents.--The Secretary shall not offer a 
parcel of identified Federal land for purchase under section 6 if a 
patent request for that parcel is pending under this section.

SEC. 6. RIGHT OF REFUSAL AND COMPETITIVE SALE.

    (a) Right of Refusal.--
            (1) Offers to purchase.--After the expiration of the period 
        for applications under section 5(a)(2)(B), the Secretary shall 
        offer for purchase for a period of 60 days for each right of 
        refusal--
                    (A) the surface rights to the remaining identified 
                Federal lands located north of the vegetation line of 
                the South Bank to--
                            (i) the adjacent owner of land located in 
                        Oklahoma to the north with the first right of 
                        refusal;
                            (ii) if applicable, the adjacent owner of 
                        land located in Texas to the south with the 
                        second right of refusal;
                            (iii) if applicable, the adjacent owner of 
                        land located to the east with the third right 
                        of refusal; and
                            (iv) if applicable, the adjacent owner of 
                        land located to the west with the fourth right 
                        of refusal; and
                    (B) the surface rights to the remaining identified 
                Federal lands located south of the vegetation line of 
                the South Bank to--
                            (i) the adjacent owner of land located in 
                        Texas to the south with the first right of 
                        refusal;
                            (ii) if applicable, the adjacent owner of 
                        land located in Oklahoma to the north with the 
                        second right of refusal;
                            (iii) if applicable, the adjacent owner of 
                        land located to the east with the third right 
                        of refusal; and
                            (iv) if applicable, the adjacent owner of 
                        land located to the west with the fourth right 
                        of refusal.
            (2) Remaining identified federal lands defined.--In this 
        subsection, the term ``remaining identified Federal lands'' 
        means any parcel of identified Federal lands--
                    (A) not subject to appeal under section 4;
                    (B) not determined by an administrative law judge 
                of the Department of the Interior or a Federal court to 
                be the property of an adjacent landowner; and
                    (C) not patented or subject to a pending request 
                for a patent under section 5.
    (b) Disposal by Competitive Sale.--If a parcel offered under 
subsection (a) is not purchased, the Secretary shall offer the parcel 
for disposal by competitive sale for not less than fair market value as 
determined by an appraisal conducted in accordance with nationally 
recognized appraisal standards, including the Uniform Appraisal 
Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions and the Uniform Standards of 
Professional Appraisal Practice.
    (c) Conditions of Sale.--The sale of a parcel under this section 
shall be subject to--
            (1) the condition that all minerals contained in the parcel 
        are reserved to the United States and subject to sale or 
        disposal by the United States under applicable leasing and 
        mineral land laws;
            (2) the condition that permittees, lessees, or grantees of 
        the United States have the right to enter the parcel for the 
        purpose of prospecting for and mining deposits; and
            (3) valid existing State, tribal, and local rights.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 5 years after the date on which the 
survey is approved, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a list of the parcels of 
identified Federal lands that have not been sold under subsection (b) 
and a description of the reasons such parcels were not sold.

SEC. 7. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN.

    The Secretary may not treat a parcel of identified Federal lands as 
Federal land for the purposes of a resource management plan if the 
treatment of such parcel does not comply with the provisions of this 
Act.

SEC. 8. CONSTRUCTION.

    (a) Lands Located North of the South Bank Boundary Line.--Nothing 
in this Act shall be construed to modify the interest of Texas or 
Oklahoma or sovereignty rights of any federally recognized Indian tribe 
over lands located to the north of the South Bank boundary line as 
established by the survey.
    (b) Patents Under the Color of Title Act.--Nothing in this Act 
shall be construed to modify land patented under the Act of December 
22, 1928 (Public Law 70-645; 45 Stat. 1069; 43 U.S.C. 1068; commonly 
known as the Color of Title Act), before the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
    (c) Red River Boundary Compact.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to modify the Red River Boundary Compact as enacted by the 
States of Texas and Oklahoma and consented to by the United States 
Congress by Public Law 106-288 (114 Stat. 919).

SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Affected area.--The term ``affected area'' means lands 
        along the approximately 116-mile stretch of the Red River from 
        its confluence with the North Fork of the Red River on the west 
        to the 98th meridian on the east between the States of Texas 
        and Oklahoma.
            (2) Gradient boundary survey method.--The term ``gradient 
        boundary survey method'' means the measurement technique used 
        to locate the South Bank boundary line under the methodology 
        established in Oklahoma v. Texas, 261 U.S. 340 (1923) 
        (recognizing that the boundary line between the States of Texas 
        and Oklahoma along the Red River is subject to change due to 
        erosion and accretion).
            (3) Identified federal lands.--The term ``identified 
        Federal lands'' means the lands in the affected area from the 
        South Bank boundary line north to the medial line of the Red 
        River as identified pursuant to this Act.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of 
        Land Management.
            (5) South bank.--The term ``South Bank'' means the water-
        washed and relatively permanent elevation or acclivity, 
        commonly called a cut bank, along the southerly or right side 
        of the Red River which separates its bed from the adjacent 
        upland, whether valley or hill, and usually serves to confine 
        the waters within the bed and to preserve the course of the 
        river (as specified in the fifth paragraph of Oklahoma v. 
        Texas, 261 U.S. 340 (1923)).
            (6) South bank boundary line.--The term ``South Bank 
        boundary line'' means the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma 
        identified through the gradient boundary survey method (as 
        specified in the sixth and seventh paragraphs of Oklahoma v. 
        Texas, 261 U.S. 340 (1923)).
            (7) Survey.--The term ``survey'' means the survey required 
        by section 3(a).
            (8) Vegetation line.--The term ``vegetation line'' means 
        the visually identifiable continuous line of vegetation that is 
        adjacent to the portion of the riverbed kept practically bare 
        of vegetation by the natural flow of the river and is 
        continuous with the vegetation beyond the riverbed.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 248

114th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                               H. R. 2130

                          [Report No. 114-327]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To provide legal certainty to property owners along the Red River in 
                     Texas, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                            November 4, 2015

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed