I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1966 
To provide protections and certainty for private landowners related to resur-
veying 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 Man-
agement, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Resurveys Entitle Ad-
jacent Landowners to Protection Act’’ or the ‘‘REAL Pro-
tection Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. BUREAU RESURVEY TRANSPARENCY; NOTICE RE-
QUIREMENTS. 
(a) NOTICE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days be-
fore the commencement of a resurvey of Federal 
land under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bu-
reau of Land Management, the Secretary shall no-
tify all property owners with land abutting or adja-
cent to the Federal land being resurveyed of the 
pending resurvey. If a resurvey extends the bound-
aries of Federal land, the Secretary shall notify af-
fected landowners of the results of the resurvey not 
later than 30 days after the completion of the sur-
vey. 
(2) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall use 
certified or registered mail to notify landowners 
under this subsection. 
(3) IDENTIFICATION OF LANDOWNERS.—When 
identifying affected landowners for the purpose of 
notification under this subsection, the Secretary 
shall use the most recently available tax records. 
(b) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 
completing a resurvey, the Secretary shall publish a notice 
in the Federal Register. Affected landowners may com-
ment to the Secretary and by submitting formal comments 
to the Federal Register notice. 
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SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF PERSONS. 
If a resurvey results in land previously thought to be 
privately owned to be reclassified as Federal land, the per-
sons thought to be a private owner of such land— 
(1) shall— 
(A) be given the right of first refusal to 
purchase the land for fair market value minus 
the value of any significant improvements made 
to such lands; or 
(B) be reimbursed for the fair market 
value of any significant improvements made to 
such lands; and 
(2) may not be charged with willful trespass 
onto such land unless the person used such lands 
with the knowledge that the lands should be classi-
fied as Federal land. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
For the purposes of this Act: 
(1) RESURVEY.—The term ‘‘resurvey’’ means 
an official rerunning and remarking intended to su-
persede the records of the original survey. 
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-
rector of the Bureau of Land Management. 
Æ 
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