[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6247 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6247

  To provide for stability of title to certain lands in the State of 
                   Louisiana, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 28, 2016

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for stability of title to certain lands in the State of 
                   Louisiana, 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. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds as follows:
            (1) On December 8, 1842, the Surveyor General of the United 
        States Government approved an original survey of lands in 
        Northern Louisiana, which included the lands surrounding Lake 
        Bistineau.
            (2) Under the Equal Footing Doctrine, the State of 
        Louisiana was entitled to the lands underlying the navigable 
        waters in place at statehood within its limits.
            (3) The State of Louisiana delineated its ownership based 
        on the United States Government's Original Survey of 1842.
            (4) In 1901, the State of Louisiana transferred over 7,000 
        acres of land to the Commissioners of the Bossier Levee 
        District through Louisiana Act Number 89 of 1892.
            (5) The State of Louisiana conducted a survey in 1901 that 
        followed the same path around Lake Bistineau as the Original 
        Survey of 1842.
            (6) The Bossier Levee District subsequently conveyed the 
        subject lands to private ownership in 1904. Lands within the 
        subject lands continued to be bought and sold in good faith 
        based on the stability of this title.
            (7) On September 16, 1967, the Bureau of Land Management 
        submitted a re-survey of the subject lands for S30-T16N-R10W 
        and two adjacent islands. The re-survey presented a new line to 
        represent what the Bureau of Land Management surveyors believed 
        was the contour of Lake Bistineau 155 years earlier, when 
        Louisiana joined the Union. The Bureau of Land Management 
        approved the re-survey on January 15, 1969. That re-survey was 
        filed in the Federal Register (34 Fed. Reg. 2677), but the 
        Bureau of Land Management has presented no records of further 
        notifying all of the affected landowners of the re-survey's 
        effects or that the re-survey could be contested.
            (8) On September 27, 2013, the Bureau of Land Management 
        responded to an inquiry by certain affected landowners to 
        inform them that title to their property would ``appear to be 
        still vested in the United States''.
            (9) There are estimated to be more than 200 acres and more 
        than 50 residential homes on the recently disputed lands.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to direct the Secretary of 
the Interior to issue a recordable disclaimer of interest by the United 
States to any omitted lands or lands lying outside the record meander 
lines described in section 3(b).

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Recordable disclaimer of interest.--The term 
        ``recordable disclaimer of interest'' means a document recorded 
        in the Parish clerk's office or other such local office where 
        real property documents are recorded, in which the United 
        States disclaims any right, title, or interest to those lands 
        found lying outside the recorded meander lines of the subject 
        lands referred to in section 3(b), including omitted lands, if 
        any.
            (2) Omitted lands.--The term ``omitted lands'' means any 
        lands that were in place on the date of the Original Survey 
        referred to in section 3(b) but were not included in the 
        Original Survey of S30-T16N-R10W including adjacent islands and 
        the meander lines of the water body, even if due to gross error 
        or fraud in the Original Survey or by the original surveyor.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.

SEC. 3. LEGAL STATUS OF RE-SURVEY.

    (a) In General.--The document titled ``Dependent Re-Survey, 
Extension Survey and Survey of Two Islands, Sections 17, 29, and 30'' 
(completed on November 24, 1967; approved on January 15, 1969; and 
filed in the Federal Register (34 Fed. Reg. 2677)) shall not be 
considered or serve as a gross error determination and otherwise shall 
have no legal force or effect on the ownership of the subject lands.
    (b) Omitted Lands.--The meander lines in the Original Survey of 
December 8, 1842, for S30-T16N-R10W and two adjacent islands are 
definitive for purposes of determining title.
    (c) Disclaimer of Interest.--The Secretary shall prepare a 
recordable disclaimer of interest of the omitted lands, if any, 
including land descriptions using the lot or tract numbers as shown on 
the Dependent Re-Survey and lands lying outside the record meander 
lines.
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