I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1966 

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

Bureau of Land Management, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 6, 2017 

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

on Natural Resources 

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, 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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•HR 1966 IH

1 SEC. 2. BUREAU RESURVEY TRANSPARENCY; NOTICE RE2 QUIREMENTS. 

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 Secretary shall no8 tify all property owners with land abutting or adja9 cent to the Federal land being resurveyed of the 

10 pending resurvey. If a resurvey extends the bound11 aries of Federal land, the Secretary shall notify af12 fected landowners of the results of the resurvey not 

13 later than 30 days after the completion of the sur14 vey. 

15 (2) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall use 

16 certified or registered mail to notify landowners 

17 under this subsection. 

18 (3) IDENTIFICATION OF LANDOWNERS.—When 

19 identifying affected landowners for the purpose of 

20 notification under this subsection, the Secretary 

21 shall use the most recently available tax records. 

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

23 completing a resurvey, the Secretary shall publish a notice 

24 in the Federal Register. Affected landowners may com25 ment to the Secretary and by submitting formal comments 

26 to the Federal Register notice. 


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1 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF PERSONS. 

2 If a resurvey results in land previously thought to be 

3 privately owned to be reclassified as Federal land, the per4 sons thought to be a private owner of such land— 

5 (1) shall— 

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

7 purchase the land for fair market value minus 

8 the value of any significant improvements made 

9 to such lands; or 

10 (B) be reimbursed for the fair market 

11 value of any significant improvements made to 

12 such lands; and 

13 (2) may not be charged with willful trespass 

14 onto such land unless the person used such lands 

15 with the knowledge that the lands should be classi16 fied as Federal land. 

17 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

18 For the purposes of this Act: 

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

20 an official rerunning and remarking intended to su21 persede the records of the original survey. 

22 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

23 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di24 rector of the Bureau of Land Management. 

Æ 


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