Bill Text: TX HCR95 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Granting Grandfather's Blind, Ltd., and Donner Properties permission to sue the State of Texas, the General Land Office, and the School Land Board.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-18 - Referred to Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence [HCR95 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HCR95-Introduced.html
| 82R10036 SKB-F | ||
| By: Morrison | H.C.R. No. 95 | |
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| WHEREAS, Grandfather's Blind, Ltd., and Donner Properties | ||
| allege that: | ||
| (1) Grandfather's Blind, Ltd., owns the surface of a | ||
| body of land in Refugio County, Texas, that is estimated to contain | ||
| approximately 3,800 acres and that is commonly known as "Negley | ||
| Ranch," "Swan Lake Ranch," "Duncan Point," and other names; | ||
| (2) all the surface of this property was patented by | ||
| the State of Texas into private ownership through 13 patents or | ||
| awards, dating from 1861 through 1956, that together state a | ||
| collective patented area in Refugio County of 3,827.37 acres and | ||
| included inland lake waters; | ||
| (3) in five of these patents, dated 1946 or 1952, the | ||
| state reserved as a free royalty a one-sixteenth royalty on all oil | ||
| and gas production and a one-eighth royalty on sulphur and other | ||
| minerals, and in three of these patents, dated 1956, the state | ||
| reserved as a free royalty one-eighth of all oil, gas, sulphur, and | ||
| other minerals; | ||
| (4) since the issuance of the patents, various | ||
| landowners, mineral owners, and others have relied in good faith on | ||
| these patents, including the free royalty mineral reservations | ||
| stated therein, and with the exception of those free royalty | ||
| mineral reservations, all the minerals within the boundaries | ||
| described by each of the 13 patents are today owned by Donner | ||
| Properties, except for a portion owned by ConocoPhillips; | ||
| (5) the potential value of the property for future | ||
| mineral development is currently believed to be minimal; | ||
| (6) the property, which is mostly undeveloped, offers | ||
| a wildlife habitat having importance publicly recognized by the | ||
| U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, | ||
| and the principal use of the property is recreation and enjoyment of | ||
| its natural beauty; | ||
| (7) of the property conveyed by the 13 patents, | ||
| approximately 70 percent was conveyed by means of, and is owned | ||
| under, patents whose boundaries are defined entirely or almost | ||
| entirely by metes and bounds calls of course and distance and not by | ||
| calls to any shore or waters or other natural monument; | ||
| (8) of the property conveyed by the 13 patents, | ||
| approximately 30 percent was conveyed by means of, and is owned | ||
| under, patents that have at least one boundary defined by a call to | ||
| the shore of Hynes Bay, San Antonio Bay, or Guadalupe Bayou; | ||
| (9) under timeless rules of coastal geography law, the | ||
| shores of Hynes Bay, San Antonio Bay, and Guadalupe Bayou are | ||
| continuous, can be easily located and surveyed, and for survey and | ||
| boundary purposes exist today in substantially the same locations, | ||
| without gaps, as their locations reflected by the maps, surveys, | ||
| and property descriptions filed in the General Land Office in | ||
| connection with the patents; | ||
| (10) under Section 18.033, Civil Practice and Remedies | ||
| Code, the maps, surveys, and property descriptions filed in the | ||
| General Land Office in connection with each of the 13 patents are | ||
| presumed to accurately depict the boundaries between the patents | ||
| and the adjacent state-owned lands submerged beneath Hynes Bay, San | ||
| Antonio Bay, and Guadalupe Bayou; | ||
| (11) all waters situated within the footprint of the | ||
| 13 patents, being neither navigable in fact nor navigable in law, | ||
| are not in any part public water but are private water in which the | ||
| public has no right to boat or fish, and the right of the owners to | ||
| exclude the public from those waters is not subject to any public | ||
| easement or piscatory rights but is absolute and unqualified; | ||
| (12) for decades, private owners have paid property | ||
| taxes on all of the property conveyed by the 13 patents, including | ||
| the land covered by water; | ||
| (13) the General Land Office has never assigned state | ||
| lease tract numbers to any property located within the recorded | ||
| boundaries of any of the 13 patents but has created state lease | ||
| tracts adjacent to the property whose boundaries follow, adjoin, | ||
| respect, and agree with the private boundaries as shown on the maps, | ||
| surveys, and property descriptions filed in the General Land Office | ||
| in connection with the 13 patents, and the electronic "Interactive | ||
| Land/Lease Mapping System" published and maintained on the Internet | ||
| by the General Land Office also shows boundaries that agree with the | ||
| boundaries established by the patents; | ||
| (14) over time, land within the 13 patents has eroded | ||
| or accreted in various places, and as a result, some private waters | ||
| over the 13 patents are not physically separated by land from public | ||
| waters of adjacent bays; | ||
| (15) members of the public, especially during hunting | ||
| season, have invaded and disturbed the owners' peaceful enjoyment | ||
| of their property, creating an unreasonable risk of breaches of the | ||
| peace, potential premises liability issues, and other problems | ||
| inconsistent with this state's system of property rights; | ||
| (16) the public confusion and resulting risk of injury | ||
| and harm can be dispelled, and the peace restored, only by a court | ||
| decree fixing and determining with certainty the location of the | ||
| boundary that separates the land and private water owned by the | ||
| owners under the 13 patents from the state-owned submerged land and | ||
| public water of Hynes Bay, San Antonio Bay, and Guadalupe Bayou that | ||
| surround the property on three sides, and also determining the | ||
| rights of the owners to exclude the public from the land and the | ||
| water within the bounds of the 13 patents; | ||
| (17) Grandfather's Blind, Ltd., has attempted to | ||
| affirm the boundaries originally established by the 13 patents | ||
| issued by the General Land Office and has been told by the General | ||
| Land Office that it no longer owns the land covered by water; | ||
| (18) the owners do not seek recovery of monetary | ||
| damages from the state, but seek only to obtain the determination of | ||
| their boundary and determination of their rights through a court | ||
| order that: | ||
| (A) fixes and determines the boundary that | ||
| separates the land privately owned by the owners under the 13 | ||
| patents from the adjacent land owned by the state; | ||
| (B) decrees that the owners have the absolute and | ||
| exclusive right to use and enjoy all of the land within the outer | ||
| perimeter of the 13 patents and to exclude the public therefrom, | ||
| including land that is covered by water; | ||
| (C) decrees that with the exception of those | ||
| certain mineral interests reserved to the state as a free royalty | ||
| under the express terms of some of the patents, all of the minerals | ||
| within the outer perimeter of the boundary established by those | ||
| patents, including minerals lying under lands covered by water, are | ||
| owned according to the terms of the conveyances made under the | ||
| patents; and | ||
| (D) decrees that the owners have the absolute and | ||
| exclusive right to use and enjoy all of the water within the outer | ||
| perimeter of the 13 patents, which is private water that is not | ||
| navigable and to exclude the public from boating on, fishing in, or | ||
| otherwise using that water; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That | ||
| Grandfather's Blind, Ltd., and Donner Properties are granted | ||
| permission to sue the State of Texas, the General Land Office, and | ||
| the School Land Board subject to Chapter 107, Civil Practice and | ||
| Remedies Code; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the suit authorized by this resolution may be | ||
| brought in Refugio or Travis County; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the relief awarded in the suit authorized by | ||
| this resolution is limited to the relief authorized under Chapter | ||
| 37, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, or Chapter 22, Property Code, | ||
| or both; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the commissioner of the General Land Office, | ||
| and the chairman of the School Land Board, both offices currently | ||
| being held by the same person, be served process as provided by | ||
| Section 107.002(a)(3), Civil Practice and Remedies Code. | ||
