[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.