Bill Text: TX HCR30 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Urging Congress to direct the Bureau of Land Management to affirm the provisions of the Red River Boundary Compact and to acknowledge that the vegetation line on the south bank of the Red River forms the boundary between Oklahoma and Texas.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-05-29 - Signed by the Governor [HCR30 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HCR30-Enrolled.html
H.C.R. No. 30 |
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WHEREAS, The Red River Boundary Compact of 2000 set the | ||
boundary between Texas and Oklahoma at the vegetation line on the | ||
south bank of the Red River, with the exception of the Texoma area, | ||
where the boundary is established pursuant to procedures outlined | ||
in the agreement; and | ||
WHEREAS, In 2013, the United States Bureau of Land Management | ||
began developing a resource management plan for the use of land | ||
along a 116-mile stretch of the Red River; it claims that as many as | ||
90,000 acres in Texas may actually be part of federal lands and | ||
would therefore be public land under a 1923 Supreme Court ruling; | ||
and | ||
WHEREAS, Many Texas residents have held title to this land | ||
for generations, and they have been paying property taxes on the | ||
land while cultivating and maintaining it; the boundary between the | ||
states was settled in 2000 for legal jurisdiction, when the U.S. | ||
Congress ratified the compact, but now, confusion over the boundary | ||
threatens the value of this privately owned land and makes it | ||
difficult for property owners to make informed decisions concerning | ||
its disposition and their livelihoods; and | ||
WHEREAS, Private property rights are the bedrock of a free | ||
society, and the actions of the Bureau of Land Management with | ||
regard to land covered by the Red River Boundary Compact are an | ||
egregious example of federal overreach; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to direct the | ||
Bureau of Land Management to affirm the provisions of the Red River | ||
Boundary Compact and to acknowledge that the vegetation line on the | ||
south bank of the Red River forms the boundary between Oklahoma and | ||
Texas; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, to | ||
the director of the United States Bureau of Land Management, to the | ||
president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. | ||
Springer | ||
Stucky | ||
Gonzales of Williamson | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I certify that H.C.R. No. 30 was adopted by the House on April | ||
13, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 139, Nays 0, 2 present, not | ||
voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
I certify that H.C.R. No. 30 was adopted by the Senate on May | ||
19, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
APPROVED: __________________ | ||
Date | ||
__________________ | ||
Governor |