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Union Calendar No. 555 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3342 

[Report No. 114–716] 

To provide for stability of title to certain lands in the State of Louisiana, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2015 

Mr. FLEMING introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


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•HR 3342 RH

A BILL 

To provide for stability of title to certain lands in the State 

of Louisiana, and for other purposes. 


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•HR 3342 RH

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

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds as follows: 

5 (1) On December 8, 1842, the Surveyor Gen6 eral of the United States Government approved an 

7 original survey of lands in Northern Louisiana, 

8 which included the lands surrounding Lake 

9 Bistineau. 

10 (2) Under the Equal Footing Doctrine, the 

11 State of Louisiana was entitled to the lands under12 lying the navigable waters in place at statehood 

13 within its limits. 

14 (3) The State of Louisiana delineated its own15 ership based on the United States Government’s 

16 Original Survey of 1842. 

17 (4) In 1901, the State of Louisiana transferred 

18 over 7,000 acres of land to the Commissioners of the 

19 Bossier Levee District through Louisiana Act Num20 ber 89 of 1892. 

21 (5) The State of Louisiana conducted a survey 

22 in 1901 that followed the same path around Lake 

23 Bistineau as the Original Survey of 1842. 

24 (6) The Bossier Levee District subsequently 

25 conveyed the subject lands to private ownership in 


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1 1904. Lands within the subject lands continued to 

2 be bought and sold in good faith based on the sta3 bility of this title. 

4 (7) On September 16, 1967, the Bureau of 

5 Land Management submitted a re-survey of the sub6 ject lands for S30–T16N–R10W and two adjacent 

7 islands. The re-survey presented a new line to rep8 resent what the Bureau of Land Management sur9 veyors believed was the contour of Lake Bistineau 

10 155 years earlier, when Louisiana joined the Union. 

11 The Bureau of Land Management approved the re12 survey on January 15, 1969. That re-survey was 

13 filed in the Federal Register (34 Fed. Reg. 2677), 

14 but the Bureau of Land Management has presented 

15 no records of further notifying all of the affected 

16 landowners of the re-survey’s effects or that the re17 survey could be contested. 

18 (8) On September 27, 2013, the Bureau of 

19 Land Management responded to an inquiry by cer20 tain affected landowners to inform them that title to 

21 their property would ‘‘appear to be still vested in the 

22 United States’’. 

23 (9) There are estimated to be more than 200 

24 acres and more than 50 residential homes on the re25 cently disputed lands. 


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1 SEC. 2. LEGAL STATUS OF RE-SURVEY. 

2 The document titled ‘‘Dependent Re-Survey, Exten3 sion Survey and Survey of Two Islands, Sections 17, 29, 

4 and 30’’ (completed on November 24, 1967; approved on 

5 January 15, 1969; and filed in the Federal Register (34 

6 Fed. Reg. 2677)) shall be void and have no legal force 

7 or effect. No future survey or re-survey of the lands that 

8 were the subject of that document undertaken by the Fed9 eral Government shall have any legal effect as to the title 

10 and boundaries of those subject lands. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 555 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3342 

[Report No. 114–716] 

A BILL 

To provide for stability of title to certain lands in 

the State of Louisiana, and for other purposes. 

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS