REAL Protection Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5077 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, 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 Man- agement, the National Park Service, and the Forest Service, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Resurveys Entitle Ad- 4 jacent Landowners to Protection Act’’ or the ‘‘REAL Pro- 5 tection Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:33 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5077.IH H5077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5077 IH SEC. 2. RESURVEY TRANSPARENCY; NOTICE REQUIRE- 1 MENTS. 2 (a) NOTICE.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days be- 4 fore the commencement of a resurvey of Federal 5 land under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bu- 6 reau of Land Management, the National Park Serv- 7 ice, or the Forest Service, the Secretary concerned 8 shall notify all property owners with land abutting 9 or adjacent to the Federal land being resurveyed of 10 the pending resurvey. If a resurvey extends the 11 boundaries of Federal land, the Secretary concerned 12 shall notify affected landowners of the results of the 13 resurvey not later than 30 days after the completion 14 of the survey. 15 (2) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary concerned 16 shall use certified or registered mail to notify land- 17 owners under this subsection. 18 (3) IDENTIFICATION OF LANDOWNERS.—When 19 identifying affected landowners for the purpose of 20 notification under this subsection, the Secretary con- 21 cerned shall use the most recently available tax 22 records. 23 (b) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 24 completing a resurvey, the Secretary concerned shall pub- 25 lish a notice in the Federal Register. Affected landowners 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:33 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5077.IH H5077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5077 IH may comment to the Secretary concerned and by submit- 1 ting formal comments to the Federal Register notice. 2 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF PERSONS. 3 If a resurvey results in land previously thought to be 4 privately owned to be reclassified as Federal land, the per- 5 sons thought to be a private owner of such land— 6 (1) shall— 7 (A) be given the right of first refusal to 8 purchase the land for fair market value minus 9 the value of any significant improvements made 10 to such lands; or 11 (B) be reimbursed for the fair market 12 value of any significant improvements made to 13 such lands; and 14 (2) may not be charged with willful trespass 15 onto such land unless the person used such lands 16 with the knowledge that the lands should be classi- 17 fied as Federal land. 18 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 19 For the purposes of this Act: 20 (1) RESURVEY.—The term ‘‘resurvey’’ means 21 an official rerunning and remarking intended to su- 22 persede the records of the original survey. 23 (2) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec- 24 retary concerned’’ means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:33 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5077.IH H5077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5077 IH (A) the Secretary of the Interior, when re- 1 ferring Federal land under the administrative 2 jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management 3 or the National Park Service; and 4 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, when re- 5 ferring to Federal land under the administra- 6 tive jurisdiction of the Forest Servcie. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:33 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5077.IH H5077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS