| 1 | 1 | | 84R22443 BPG-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Springer, Frank, Phillips, VanDeaver, H.C.R. No. 113 |
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| 3 | 3 | | Geren |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | |
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| 6 | 6 | | CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 7 | 7 | | WHEREAS, The Red River Boundary Compact of 2000 set the |
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| 8 | 8 | | boundary between Texas and Oklahoma at the vegetation line on the |
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| 9 | 9 | | south bank of the Red River, with the exception of the Texoma area, |
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| 10 | 10 | | where the boundary is established pursuant to procedures outlined |
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| 11 | 11 | | in the agreement; and |
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| 12 | 12 | | WHEREAS, In 2013, the United States Bureau of Land Management |
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| 13 | 13 | | began developing a resource management plan for the use of land |
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| 14 | 14 | | along a 116-mile stretch of the Red River; it claims that as many as |
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| 15 | 15 | | 90,000 acres in Texas may actually be part of federal lands and |
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| 16 | 16 | | would therefore be public land under a 1923 Supreme Court ruling; |
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| 17 | 17 | | and |
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| 18 | 18 | | WHEREAS, Many Texas residents have held title to this land |
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| 19 | 19 | | for generations, and they have been paying property taxes on the |
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| 20 | 20 | | land while cultivating and maintaining it; the boundary between the |
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| 21 | 21 | | states was settled in 2000 for legal jurisdiction, when the U.S. |
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| 22 | 22 | | Congress ratified the compact, but now, confusion over the boundary |
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| 23 | 23 | | threatens the value of this privately owned land and makes it |
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| 24 | 24 | | difficult for property owners to make informed decisions concerning |
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| 25 | 25 | | its disposition and their livelihoods; and |
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| 26 | 26 | | WHEREAS, Private property rights are the bedrock of a free |
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| 27 | 27 | | society, and the actions of the Bureau of Land Management with |
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| 28 | 28 | | regard to land covered by the Red River Boundary Compact are an |
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| 29 | 29 | | egregious example of federal overreach; now, therefore, be it |
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| 30 | 30 | | RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 31 | 31 | | hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to direct the |
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| 32 | 32 | | Bureau of Land Management to affirm the provisions of the Red River |
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| 33 | 33 | | Boundary Compact and to acknowledge that the vegetation line on the |
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| 34 | 34 | | south bank of the Red River forms the boundary between Oklahoma and |
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| 35 | 35 | | Texas; and, be it further |
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| 36 | 36 | | RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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| 37 | 37 | | copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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| 38 | 38 | | the secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, to |
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| 39 | 39 | | the director of the United States Bureau of Land Management, to the |
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| 40 | 40 | | president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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| 41 | 41 | | Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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| 42 | 42 | | members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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| 43 | 43 | | this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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| 44 | 44 | | memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |
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