To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to resolve boundary discrepancies in San Diego County, California, arising from an erroneous survey conducted by a Government contractor in 1881 that resulted in overlapping boundaries for certain lands, and for other purposes.

March 11, 2004

Mr. HUNTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to resolve boundary discrepancies in San Diego County, California, arising from an erroneous survey conducted by a Government contractor in 1881 that resulted in overlapping boundaries for certain lands, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Rancho El Cajon Boundary Reconciliation Act'.

SEC. 2. RESOLUTION OF BOUNDARY DISCREPANCIES, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

(a) Authority to Resolve Boundary Discrepancies- The Secretary of the Interior may provide compensation to a landowner whose title to land in San Diego County, California, is based on an erroneous survey conducted by a Government contractor in 1881 and is rendered void because that title is inferior to the title to the same land established by a survey of the Rancho El Cajon conducted in 1872 and approved by the Commissioner of the General Land Office in 1876.

(b) Compensation-

(1) Forms of compensation- Compensation under subsection (a) shall be mutually agreed upon by the Secretary and the landowner and shall consist of--

(A) public lands in San Diego County, California, selected jointly by the Secretary and the landowner and conveyed by the Secretary to the landowner;

(B) a cash payment to the landowner; or

(C) a combination of a conveyance under subparagraph (A) and cash payment under subparagraph (B).

(2) Equal value- Compensation provided under subsection (a) for a parcel of land whose title was rendered void, as described in such subsection, may not exceed the fair market value of the land, as determined by an appraisal satisfactory to the Secretary and the landowner.

(3) Source of funds- The Secretary may make payments under this subsection using funds available to the Secretary to equalize land exchanges under section 206(b) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716(b)).

(c) Identification of Land and Landowners Affected by Boundary Discrepancy- Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall complete a study to identify those landowners whose title to land is void or otherwise clouded as a result of the erroneous survey referred to in subsection (a) and who would be eligible to receive compensation under this section. The Secretary shall use the authority provided by subsection (a) to compensate any landowner, already identified as of the date of the enactment of this Act, whose title to lots 1 and 2 of section 9, township 15 south, range 1 east, San Bernardino Meridian, is rendered void as described in such subsection.

(d) Public Lands Defined- In this section, the `public lands' has the meaning given the term in section 103(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (7 U.S.C. 1702(e)).

END