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), relating to a plat of a survey of such sections of land, including Peggys and Hog Islands, surrounding Lake Bistineau in Louisiana, shall not be considered or serve as a gross error determination and otherwise shall have no legal force or effect on the ownership of those lands and islands.
The meander lines in the Original Survey of December 8, 1842, for such land and adjacent islands (which were not included in such survey) are definitive for the purposes of determining title to them.
The Department of the Interior shall prepare a recordable disclaimer of interest in the omitted lands, if any, including land descriptions, by using the lot or tract numbers as shown on the Dependent Re-Survey, and lands lying outside the record meander lines.
[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6247 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
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.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands.
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