I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5077 

To provide protections and certainty for private landowners related to resurveying certain Federal land under the administrative jurisdiction of the 

Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the Forest 

Service, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 13, 2019 

Mr. TIPTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide protections and certainty for private landowners 

related to resurveying certain Federal land under the 

administrative jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the Forest 

Service, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Resurveys Entitle Ad5 jacent Landowners to Protection Act’’ or the ‘‘REAL Pro6 tection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RESURVEY TRANSPARENCY; NOTICE REQUIRE2 MENTS. 

3 (a) NOTICE.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days be5 fore the commencement of a resurvey of Federal 

6 land under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bu7 reau of Land Management, the National Park Serv8 ice, or the Forest Service, the Secretary concerned 

9 shall notify all property owners with land abutting 

10 or adjacent to the Federal land being resurveyed of 

11 the pending resurvey. If a resurvey extends the 

12 boundaries of Federal land, the Secretary concerned 

13 shall notify affected landowners of the results of the 

14 resurvey not later than 30 days after the completion 

15 of the survey. 

16 (2) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary concerned 

17 shall use certified or registered mail to notify land18 owners under this subsection. 

19 (3) IDENTIFICATION OF LANDOWNERS.—When 

20 identifying affected landowners for the purpose of 

21 notification under this subsection, the Secretary con22 cerned shall use the most recently available tax 

23 records. 

24 (b) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 

25 completing a resurvey, the Secretary concerned shall pub26 lish a notice in the Federal Register. Affected landowners 


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1 may comment to the Secretary concerned and by submit2 ting formal comments to the Federal Register notice. 

3 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF PERSONS. 

4 If a resurvey results in land previously thought to be 

5 privately owned to be reclassified as Federal land, the per6 sons thought to be a private owner of such land— 

7 (1) shall— 

8 (A) be given the right of first refusal to 

9 purchase the land for fair market value minus 

10 the value of any significant improvements made 

11 to such lands; or 

12 (B) be reimbursed for the fair market 

13 value of any significant improvements made to 

14 such lands; and 

15 (2) may not be charged with willful trespass 

16 onto such land unless the person used such lands 

17 with the knowledge that the lands should be classi18 fied as Federal land. 

19 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

20 For the purposes of this Act: 

21 (1) RESURVEY.—The term ‘‘resurvey’’ means 

22 an official rerunning and remarking intended to su23 persede the records of the original survey. 

24 (2) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec25 retary concerned’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Secretary of the Interior, when re2 ferring Federal land under the administrative 

3 jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management 

4 or the National Park Service; and 

5 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, when re6 ferring to Federal land under the administra7 tive jurisdiction of the Forest Servcie. 

Æ 


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