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This Austin Update will be the first in a series in which I will summarize certain propositions that will be on the November 6th ballot. This Update will cover Propositions #1 and #17. More information is available at www.capitol.state.tx.us.
PROPOSITION #1: CLEARING BASTROP COUNTY LAND TITLES - Early Texas settlers received "patents"to their land from the state. In 1900 all land that had not received a patent reverted into the School Land Fund. In 1925, a vacancy of 221 acres was discovered in Bastrop County. A "vacancy" is a piece of unsurveyed land that is property of the Permanent School Fund (PSF) and not part of any patented survey. Some of the adjoining owners to the 221 acres purchased portions of the tract, occupied, fenced and paid taxes on portions of the PSF land. Private owners of the land in question are without legal recourse to acquire the patent because the lands had been constitutionally dedicated to the Permanent School Fund. This proposition would surrender any claim of the State of Texas to the 221 acres in question in Bastrop County while allowing the state to retain the mineral rights.
Proponents say: This amendment is necessary to clear the land title, will save the expense of a lengthy court battle and resolve inequity.
Opponents say: The state received compensation for just 21 acres in the disputed tract. Relinquishing claims to the land would represent a loss of an estimated $383,000 to the PSF.
PROPOSITION #17: SETTLING LAND DISPUTES - This amendment would allow the state to release claim to certain lands, except for mineral rights, and to clear the title defects for the owners of the land. Claimants would have to show that they acquired the land on or before January 1, 1952, and they were unaware the land belonged to the state.
Proponents say: This amendment would create a permanent procedure to settle land-title disputes involving public school lands without the expense and trouble of a constitutional amendment election for each dispute (such as Proposition #1). The General Land Office (GLO) would be given the right to review cases. The GLO estimates that as many as 1,000 claims over disputed land remain unsolved, and Texas voters should not have to judge each one individually.
Opponents say: The Legislature and Texas voters should retain the right to review specific decisions made to give up the state's interests and to resolve title problems involving landowners.
State Representative Ron Clark
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768-2910
(903) 893-9426 * (512) 463-0474
(512) 475-3767 (fax)
ron.clark@house.state.tx.us
http://www.grayson.edu/district62/RonClark.html
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